I'm Coming Home

Good evening all!

Well, I can tell the world tonight, I am home!

I arrived back in Canada on the 19th of August after a wonderful nineteen and a half weeks of travel. I do apologize to everybody that I didn’t tell - I was trying to keep it a secret because it was in fact my sisters birthday on the 30th, and we as a family wanted to surprise her, and she is an AVID facebook-er, so I didn’t want my return to leak out into the realms of cyberspace by accident....

**The Pastry Supplier to the Belgian King - Lille, France - Copyright 2011**

Suffice to say - things here are SO big. It was strange to be driving on Deerfoot on the way home from the airport, noticing the massive median between directions of traffic, followed by the huge green-space between the road and the first layer of buildings... It’s amazing how much space we have.

**Baguettes For Easter - Cambremer, France - Copyright

I was on a flight that was arriving from London, and there were many English people on board who were doing their first trip to Canada, and it was funny to hear all of them as we approached Calgary: “Ohh, it’s so big” “Look at the size of that city!” “They have so much space here!”

I laughed.

**Yes, It's Pointing Home - Reyðarfjörður, Iceland - Copyright 2011**

And coming home, Calgary was still everything that I knew it to be. Huge...

It was wonderful though, to be driving in the foothills, drinking cheap, filtered coffee, and walking down by the river again though. I must say, we live in an absolutely beautiful part of the world, and I consider myself very lucky to live here! It’s also fun to be seeing all of this “familiarity” with the comparative experience of having seen many other incredible cities!

By the way... I LOVE MY CATS!!!!!

Saffie and Finn are up to their usual feline selves. I forgot how wonderful it is to curl up with a furry companion and settle in for an evening of warm tea, and sleep.

**Une Côte D'Albatre - Fécamp, France - Copyright 2011**

Trip Statistics!!!!!

Days Couchsurfing: 65

Nights Camping: 26

Nights Wild Camping: 17

Nights in Hostels: 26

Nights on Sleeper Trains: 1

Total Days: 135 door to door

Kms by Bike: ~2550

Kms by Trains: 6221

Kms by Hitch-hiking: 1327

Kms by Co-Voitureage: 764

Total Kms: ~10 862

Flat Tires: 5, and my bike was un-ridable by the end...

Bottles of Wine: Lost track by day 25

Pounds Lost: 30

Photos: 7875

Times I read the same book: 4

Pairs of socks destroyed: 6

Things lost: 1 - the business card for my travel agent.

So, yeah, home sweet home!

**An Icelandic Courtesy Flag - Iceland - Copyright 2011**

I’ll keep posting photos up on here for anybody who’s interested. I’ll most likely probably continue to post strange things about my perhaps bizarre perspective on stuff and things using my typically absolutely incorrect grammar, and sometimes usually horrific spelling...

Much love to all,

-Ryley

“You Are Loved. All Is Well”