If you were wondering what its been like for us coming home after the 15 months of travel, you've stumbled upon the right episode.  Over the course of our journey we were looking forward to the day we finally did come home to see family and friends.  Along with that was sadness about the trip finally coming a close and various challenges we had 'fitting' back in to the real world.  This is also the final episode of our series - an amazingly therapeutic experience, but also a great chance to let our listeners know about our travels in a more in depth/intimate way.

Show notes:

*Re-entering Canada - Rainbow bridge over looking the falls with family and friends awaiting

*December still in flux

*"Back to the grind" - dealing with comments about getting back to real life

*Settling back into Toronto Life

*Re-assessing life plans

*Random Difficulties

We all have those moments that make you pause and take notice of whats going on around you.  In this episode we look at the moments on this trip that really moved us in one way or another.

Show notes:

*Places - Natural Beauty and Landscapes, Built History, The importance of experiencing dark history,  The world feeling a whole lot smaller.

*Unexpected Moving Moments - Kindness of strangers, Help from fellow travellers, The down side of being open to strangers

*Kindness of Family/friends - how people went above and beyond to make this trip extra special

*Realizations about our experiences in this context

As a long term traveller you're bound to encounter a variety of challenges.  In this episode we go over some of the challenges we faced and how we coped with them.

Show notes:

Logistics - Rigid schedule vs. Flexibility

Mental Challenges - early nervousness, no face to face network

Culture Shock - Language, currency, food etc..

Communication Clearness

Absence of routine/Not knowing everything - constant adjustments, balancing needs

Outside Pressures - expectations, measuring sticks between other travellers

Sprinkled throughout our journey were some pretty remarkable multi-day hikes.  From the 2 day Grand Canyon(rim to rim) to our final 33 day, 915km El Camino de Santiago, we explore just about everything regarding our hikes.  

Show notes:

Why? - exploring the reasons behind our decision to hike and getting into our choices.

Preparations - Physically, Mentally, Booking Process(Bookmundi.com), Baggage for each

Hikes - Grand Canyon, Quilotoa Loop, Everest Base Camp, Kilimanjaro(Marangu), El Camino de Santiago

Struggles and Challenges

Positives and the Value of Hiking

Dotted throughout our trip were six diverse volunteer experiences that really added value to our travels.  In this episode we talk about some of our reasons for seeking out these volunteer experiences and what exactly we looked for when deciding.

Show notes:

*Why we decided to volunteer

*What we looked for when searching out volunteer experiences

*Places we volunteered

*The value in the experience for us personally

*How this impacts our lives moving forward

Everyone travels for a reason.  Whether it be getting away from the snow storms of Canada or to experience something different and be outside of your comfort zone.  This week we unravel some of our reasons for going on this adventure.  We also take a look at the process we went through when planning things out.  Hope you enjoy!

Show notes :

*Questions received after Marriage

*Nature of our relationship

*Nik's previous backpacking experience 

*Make memories now

*A learning Opportunity

*How we planned out our itinerary 

*Booking Process

*Our expectations for travel

In this episode Nik and Renee talk about their new podcast(while trying to shake off their podcast jitters) - An overview of some of the topics to be covered in future episodes along with a few frequently asked questions answered.