Home at ‘Last’!

March 27, 2013

We arrived home, in Southern California, yesterday. During the final days of our journey we had many ‘lasts’: last bus trip, last hotel room, last time packing, last country visited, and finally, the last few miles home. As we cruised up the coast of North America on the Star Princess, we used the warm weather days of the voyage to relax and prepare for our reentry into the United States.

During one of the sea days, we lectured for the fifth and final time on Princess, sharing with our fellow passengers our photos and videos highlighting some of the unique cultures and remote places we visited during our expedition.

Final Princess Cruises presentation on the Star Princess

Our last stop during the cruise was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. By coincidence, our oldest daughter, Lauren, had decided to go there with several friends for spring break, not knowing we would be passing through at the same time. She came to meet us at the marina and we had a nice breakfast and a couple of hours to catch up before we needed to re-board the ship for the final day and a half journey home.

Visiting our daughter Lauren in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Leaving Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

We arrived in San Pedro, California, early Tuesday morning. Anticipating potential issues with U.S. immigration and customs after being gone so long, we told our youngest daughter, Kristen, to take her time in driving the 40 miles from Orange County to pick us up. Before entering immigration, we attached a sheet to the customs form listing the 53 countries we had visited since leaving the United States last year (if you are wondering, the day we were in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, back in December, we were ‘in transit’ and did not go through immigration at that time). When we got to the front of the immigration line, we handed the agent our form. He looked at the list and just laughed. We left 30 seconds later, somewhat disappointed that there was not more drama with our entry back into the United States.

Early moring arrival in San Pedro, California

Our time re-entering the U.S. contrasted with our experience leaving it. When we boarded the Pacific Princess on the first day of our journey, in San Diego, California, one our rolling duffels was scanned twice. After a couple of agents looked at the monitor during the second screening, we wondered what the issue was. Finally, we were motioned over and asked why we had a small shovel in our luggage. We explained that we were “Trekking the Planet” and that we needed the shovel to assist with potential bathroom situations that we might encounter while camping in the wild. Somewhat embarrassed at this explanation, the agents quickly waved us through.

On this last day of our trip, after quickly clearing customs in San Pedro, we found ourselves standing next to the street outside Pier 93. It seemed surreal, as we stared at the familiar, yet unfamiliar, surroundings around us. Our daughter Kristen soon arrived, and then we were really home, spending the rest of the day hearing from other family members, old friends and our new friends we had made during the journey. We needed to go to the store to buy some food and to do some laundry. It seemed like a whirlwind of activity and a little overwhelming for us.

We don’t know how long it will take to get used to being home. What we don’t want to do is to let go of all the experiences we have had, the amazing people we met and the incredible friendships we made. We especially don’t want to lose that feeling of curiosity and continual discovery that we had while traveling. So we can only take it moment by moment, one day at a time, and let the transition happen, while having memories that will last a lifetime.

Arriving back in Southern California 423 days, 1 hour, 20 minutes and 46 seconds after we began Trekking the Planet


6 thoughts on “Home at ‘Last’!

  1. Marianne Reply

    What did you do about your house when you were gone? Did you have someone staying there?

    • Darren and Sandy Reply

      Hi Marianne –

      We rented out our house and are now staying with family until the renter moves out in the middle of April. Sandy

      • Marianne Reply

        OK, thanks. We are a few years off (hopefully) until our big adventure, but more than likely it would only be for 4 or 5 months. Did you have your mail forwarded to family? How did you file tax returns?
        Thanks!
        Marianne

        • Darren and Sandy Reply

          We used a mail forwarding service that scans mail to the Internet and allowed us to view the content from anywhere in the world. We did tax returns on-line and filed them electronically. Sandy

  2. Sharon Johnson Reply

    What an incredible, fantastic, wonderful adventure you two have had. Thanks for taking us all along with you as you journeyed the globe. In quite a few cases, I had to “Google” to find out where you actually were which I image was the point of this whole journey. I hope that kids who followed your trek around the world also resorted to googling you also.

    After traveling so long, I imagine that it won’t take long for your feet to get itchy!

    Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.