Today is the last day of my world trip.   I'm not sure what to think about this.   I'm almost out of Instant Rock Star hair wax and I can't buy it here so it must be time to go home.

Here are some interesting facts about my trip to help me summarise it all.  In no particular order.

Number of flights I took:  16
Number of flying hours:  72
Best airline service:  LAN Chile
Kookiest Airline:  WestJet  (Canada)
Worst Airline:  American Airlines
Number of beds I slept in:  18
Most fun city:   New York
Most interesting city:  Berlin
Most touristy city:  Amsterdam
The city I least enjoyed:  Brussels
Best Bars:   Stockbar Montreal / Parking Montreal / Eagle New York / Faultline Los Angeles
New Friends along the way:  Tom in Berlin, Marcus in Berlin, Andres in Buenos Aires, Henry in New York, Issey in New York, Stephen in New York (from Melbourne), Hector in Santiago, Steve in Los Angeles, Bill in Cleveland, Scott in Cleveland.
Best times:  Hanging with Stephen in New York, Andrew in Europe, Marc and Matt in Canada, and Daniel and Todd in Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
Most drunk moment:  Faultline in LA with Todd.
Worst trip:  The Amtrak trip from New York to Toronto
Best trip:   The train ride with Andrew from Berlin to Prague.
Worst incident:  Being sick through Prague - Frankfurt - Brussels and Amsterdam.
Meeting old friends:  Richard from Louisianna, Charles from Boston, Joe from San Diego, Ralph and Andi in Frankfurt.
Beaches:  Bournemouth Beach UK, Hanlon Beach Centre Island Toronto, Will Rodgers Beach Los Angeles, Laguna Beach Laguna.
Best Resort:  CCBC Palm Springs
Nicest Accommodation:   The apartment in Buenos Aires and the B&B in Berlin.

Apart from seeing some amazing places and having some really great experiences the best part of my trip was most certainly seeing my old friends and making some new ones along the way.   I really appreciated the effort everyone put in to meeting me, giving me a place to stay and especially for letting me into their lives for a few days.  In chron order as I remember it:

Andrew:  I had the best time hanging out with Andrew in London, Berlin and Prague.  We have loads of stuff in common and his motivation never ceases to amaze me.   I am very excited that he has chosen to move back to Australia next year.
Marcus:  From the guesthouse in Berlin.   For being a great host and taking me for the heaviest workout session ever at his beautiful gym.
Tom:  What a great tour guide!  We had such a fun day in Berlin walking around and learning so much about Berlin.   If I could do any of the days of my trip again this would be it.  If you are planning on going to Berlin do look Tom up.  A link to his online profile is on my Berlin page.
Richard (from Louisianna):  How cool was it to meet up in London after all these years?  Richard and I met in San Francisco in 1999 and have been travelling buddies ever since.  We always end up bumping into each other in different parts of the world.  He's a lot of fun to hang out with.
Ralph and Andi:   What a great weekend in Frankfurt I had!  Unfortunately I was sick at the time but it was so nice to be there for Andi's birthday and to meet all their friends.  It was great seeing some of the Frankfurt night life too!
Joe and Paul (from Melbourne):   Sorry guys but I ended up flushing all that coke you gave me down the loo.  What a waste!   But it was great seeing you both so briefly in Amsterdam.
Stephen (from Melbourne):  Was probably one of the most significant new friends I made on this trip.  We had a great time shopping and checking out the bars in New York.   Steve is a really cool guy and I can't believe we had to go to New York to meet!
Charles:  Caught the bus all the way down to New York to take me out for dinner.  I was so stuffed after dinner but still managed to fit into dessert at a great cafe with an amazing range of cakes.   It was really cool seeing Charles again.  I stayed with Charles in Boston in 2002 and toured around New England with him.  It was great seeing him again during this mammoth trip.
Marc and Matt:   Showed me a great time in Canada.   I really enjoyed the weekend in Montreal with Marc.  Especially when the barman in the stripper bar asked Marc if he would be having "the usual" when we'd just arrived.   I also liked our trip to Centre Island and having dinner with Matt's uncle Stuart.   I miss them both a lot and I hope that they will live in Australia again at some time.
Mark and David:   Cleveland boys rock!   I had the best time in Cleveland and loved hanging out with you guys.   Mark and David run RGIN.com the place where I host Loft Radio.  And I was so glad I made the choice to take the time to get up to Cleveland Ohio, it really was one of the high points of my trip.  And Mark and David know how to throw a great party too!
Billyboy:   Bill was so much to hang out with in Cleveland.  If Bill lived in Melbourne I know we'd be hanging out all the time.  Thanks for taking me to the $5.88 shop too!   Now there will be a little bit of Cleveland in Melbourne.
Scott-Boy:   This was a surprise meeting.  I had known Scott via the net for a few years, but never thought we'd actually get to meet.  And what a nice guy he is too!   We had a lot of fun swapping stories and eating at Dianna's Diner in downtown Cleveland.  Thanks to Bill for organising the meeting.
Daniel and Todd:   I miss these boys a lot.  And I really hope they won't stay away from Australia for too long.   I had a great time checking out some of the cool places in Los Angeles, shopping like crazy at the outlet stores and lying around the swimming pool at the CCBC in Palm Springs.   Every holiday should be like this.  I hope we can take a vacation together again sometime.
Joe:   Joe drove up to Laguna from San Diego.  Joe is amazingly beautiful.   I've had a thing for Joe for as long as I can remember.  He is an all round nice guy and pretty dam sexy as well.   He is also the only one of my friends who has had a spread in Freshmen magazine.  (Feb 2001 if you are looking).
Andres:   I will apologise first because there should be a hyphern above the "e" in his name.  But I don't know how to type it.   I met Andres a couple of times in Buenos Aires.  Buenos Aires was an unfamiliar city to me and Andres was a big help in showing me around and explaining a few things to me.  I also know a lot more Spanish now and have an Empanada addiction thanks to Andres.  Andres should be an ambassador for Buenos Aires.  

I'm sorry if I have left anyone out.  I met a lot of great people along the way who are not mentioned here who took me around their cities and gave me advice on where to drink, shop, eat and sight see.   I met a lot of people who were rude and arrogant too...  in their own way they provided me with some entertainment as well.  

There is not much I wouldn't change in the trip that I did.  I learnt a lot about how people live in different parts of the world.   I learnt that you can only really learn about a place by pinning yourself to someone who actually lives there.   Tour guides are great but they only just scratch the surface.  

When I return to work in September this I will still have 2 months vacation time accrued and enough frequent flyer points to go round the world one more time.     Who's coming   ??
 

Special Note:   If you read my travel log during my trip and kept up with my whereabouts I'd really appreciate it if you could write me and let me know what you thought of it.  How was the format?  How was my writing?  Please be honest in your feedback. 
Thanks,
Phillip