We’ve been back “home” for six weeks now, and have been staying in Salem, NH, in an in-law apartment with Jesslyn’s mom, Deb and stepfather, Jim. I think that situation is supposed to be reversed, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It is a great situation for us, thank you so much Deb and Jim. The past six weeks have really flown by. I've been spending time job hunting, taking an online Amazon Web Services class, and reading. I just accepted a job offer with Rethink Robotics in Boston, so we know where we are going to settle down. I joke that I will be getting paid to play with robots, but in seriousness, I am very excited to work in a revolutionary new area of manufacturing automation called collaborative robotics. Since we've been home, it has been wonderful to reconnect in person with friends and family, and the New England Fall weather has been phenomenal. For my final blog post, I thought an FAQ would be fitting since we get asked these questions a lot, and it also happens to be the format of my very first post.
Speaking of reflections and beautiful Fall weather, here is the reflection off a small pond next to the Windham, NH rail trail from a couple weeks ago.
Q: What was your favorite place?
A: By far, the most common question we get is something along the lines of “what was your favorite _______?”. Favorite country, part, city, activity, etc. It’s a good question, but doesn’t have a concise answer. We loved so much of our trip, so it is difficult to pick favorites. We tend to qualify our answers, for example, “our favorite place for a beach vacation”, or “our favorite place to live”. For beach vacations, we loved the Greek island of Milos. It was very chill and very affordable. We also loved Thailand for the scuba diving and the food, in addition to the beach. Where would we live? We both thought that Berlin was a super-cool city.
Q: What was your favorite activity?
A: There were many great moments. Some contenders for the top spot would be scuba diving in the cenote caverns or diving with hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos. I also loved hiking in the Andes in Ecuador, and caving and fly fishing in New Zealand.
Q: Where was the best food?
A: As you can probably imagine, the food in Italy was fantastic everywhere, my favorites being a wild boar ragu, spaghetti carbonara, the cured meat and cheese boards, and the fresh truffles. Some places had specific dishes I fell in love with. In Croatia, we had 'lamb under the bell', for which you have to place your order a few hours ahead of time. They build a wood fire and let it burn down to charcoal, then they place the lamb along with potatoes, turnip, and carrots next to the coals. They cover it all up with a heavy iron dome (the bell) and let it slow roast. In Vietnam, I loved the pho, with it's rich broth and fresh cilantro, Thai basil, green onions, and chili peppers. It was my savior when I battled severe head cold. Overall, however, I have to say that Thai food is my favorite. It is so flavorful and usually spicy. I never got sick of it the whole time we were there. Before our trip I loved pad kee mao, also known as drunken noodles and it is still a favorite. We also ate a lot of red and green curry. Both Jesslyn and I had an affinity for green curry. The good stuff is rich and creamy with coconut milk and gets a lot of its flavor and color from an herb called kefir lime. In Thailand, we had the best food from the little, dirty places with plastic chairs, no roof, and no sign.
Q: What was the worst part?
A: I love when people flip the question and ask about the worsts, because it is often a more interesting story. We did have some trying experiences, like medical emergencies and theft, and those were the worst, but they were also valuable learning experiences. What countries are worth skipping? Jesslyn covered this in her last blog, and I concur. I would say that Laos wasn’t particularly exciting for us. Also, while we enjoyed Australia, we didn’t seem to find the rich history, culture, or outdoors we found in other places. Even the diving on the Great Barrier Reef wasn’t as good as other places.
Q: What did you miss the most?
A: Family and friends. After that, I would say the modern conveniences we take for granted. After spending the last part of our trip in South America, we missed long, hot showers, fast internet, drinking (or brushing our teeth with) tap water. Once we left Italy and its gelato, we missed good ice cream.
Q: Do you find that people are very different in other parts of the world?
A: For the most part, I find people of the different cultures we experienced are more similar to us than they are different. The people we met care about the same things that most Americans care about, like earning a living and having fun with family and friends. Keep in mind that we only got to know locals on a personal level in places not too different from the U.S. like Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and South America. The answer to this question might be different had we been to Africa, India, or the Middle East, or if we got to know some of the locals on a more personal level in Asia. Also keep in the mind that the U.S. is a big, diverse place, so it is hard to generalize, and the people we got to know are a small sample size, so again, tough to generalize about their countries. I am not saying that all people are the same, but there are bigger differences between people within a country, than between people of different countries. There are kind people, jerks, outgoing, and shy people everywhere. I did notice a couple of general differences however. The first is that I found families to be little tighter knit in other places, often with multiple generations living under the same roof. The other difference is that while we met some incredibly hard working people, we also encountered many people who tipped the work/life balance more towards life than most of the Americans I know. I honestly don’t know if that is good or bad, because on one hand, I admire people who don’t care about making lots of money, instead focusing their time on what makes them happy, but on the other hand I also admire those who have made great achievements through hard work and grit. I guess it is a personal choice and I respect whatever one chooses.
Q: How does the U.S. compare to the other places you’ve been?
A: The U.S. does some things better, and some things worse. As I touched on, I am grateful for the infrastructure that provides clean water, sanitation, and reliable electricity and communications. The U.S. is also very clean compared to some places. We were taken aback by the litter in many places in SE Asia. On a bus in Laos, we witnessed people throw empty foil chip bags out the window without hesitation. As we were walking along a rural county road in Sapa, Vietnam we couldn’t believe all of the trash strewn along the side of the road. Our guide tried to explain that the people of the local villages have only recently been exposed to artificial packaging. Throwing a banana peel on the ground isn’t quite the same as an empty water bottle. I know it is easy to criticize from our perspective, and that if you are struggling to put food on the table, saving the environment might lower on your list of priorities. I hope that there is more education to help people understand that protecting the environment is in their best interest economically.
What could we improve in the U.S.? Well, as good as the infrastructure is here, our public transportation infrastructure seems to be lacking. The inter and intra city trains are much better in other cities and countries. Take a ride on the NYC subway, then go to Europe or even Bangkok, and your will find much cleaner, modern, and punctual subways. Trains between cities in Europe are twice as fast, and half the price.
People in other countries seem to be very well informed on world politics, history, and geography, and know a surprising amount about the US. They are paying very close attention to the election. We were often asked, “what’s up with Donald Trump?”, even as far back as a year ago.
We wrote this blog as a way to let everyone know what we were up to, as well as to capture the memories for ourselves. It isn’t meant as a travel guide, but we are more than happy to share our advice if you are planning your own adventure. When we get some time, we will add some more maps, curate some photo albums, and restructure the blog to make it easier to navigate. Thank you to all our friends and family for your support throughout our trip and since our return. We have been amazed by the number of people who have been following our trip and reading the blog, even people whom we have never met. We have been happy to share our adventures with all of you!
- Jake
PS: Since we've been home, we've been reminded of how special this place is as well. Here are a few recent pics.
An owl at the town park where Benson's used to be in Hudson, NH.
A stoic cormorant keeping an eye out for fish at Walden Pond in Concord, MA.
A woodpecker at Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, NH.
This garter snake was also at Pawtuckaway.