Trip of a lifetime!

Our round the world trip has been, for both of us, the best experience we have had in all our short twenty-something years. We can't stress how much we wish everyone would make time for such an enriching, rewarding life experience.

We've been back for a couple of weeks and have been meeting family and friends and fielding scores of questions on our adventures (does no one read the blog?!). So we sat down with Pepe, our Mexican companion, with us from the beginning:
and put together a definitive list of the positive and negative, the highs and the lows.

So what did we learn?

Nationalities:
- Which nationality travel the most? The Swiss! Yes tiny Switzerland seems to churn out more travellers than cheese. We met them everywhere, from Mexico to Cambodia. We also met a lot of Israelis in South America.

- The most eco-friendly nation was... New Zealand. Most other countries we visited seem to see planet earth as one huge rubbish dumping ground.

- The prize for the friendliest travellers? The Canadians, we love them!

- The booby prize for the least friendly travellers? The French.

- Anyone can travel at any age with children. We've seen old men hobbling up Machu Picchu and parents with small children at local markets round the world.

Countries:
Our favourite country? That's a really really difficult one. But since everyone has asked us this question since we arrived back home we have had to come up with an answer. But it's so difficult! So we need to rephrase the question into: which countries do we want to visit again?
Peru, Australia and China (and Mexico too for Vix). All these countries have so much to offer and we really only scratched the surface with Australia and China.

People Around the World:
- The people in all the countries we visited are poorer than us in London but they smile more.
- Everyone around the world loves football. The Vietnamese definately give the English a run for their money.
- People around the world think that in order to have a successful restaurant you need to play the Beetles to tourists. We heard a lot of Beetles tunes!
- The prize for the world's cutest kids goes to... Cambodia!

Money and Spending:
- Always ask how much something is before you touch it.

- The best way to get a fair price? Walk away. It generally brings the price down about 50%.

- Try not to pay for anything in advance.

- Always ask for a receipt, especially if you have cleverly bargained for a lower price on a hotel room. You don't want to get caught out the next day when they ask you to pay a higher price. Also always get a receipt for any belongings you put in a hotel reception safe.

- Overnight bus journeys aren't as bad as they sound and are a great way of saving money on a hotel room.

- It's often best not to haggle down to the nearest 20p. Just think of it as a donation to the local economy.

- Cash is king. Don't rely on your credit card in the middle of the Amazon jungle.

- US dollars are king, especially in South America and Asia. Always have at least $50 on you.

General Activities:
- You get what you pay for. So if you opt for the cheapest tour don't be upset that you are with 50 other tourists and a non-English speaking guide.

- Go for it! Even if it means eating beans on toast for a week because you hadn't budgeted for that bungee jump/sailing trip just do it because you will probably regret it later if you don't.

- Do rent a motorbike if you can, it's such fun!

- Our most valuable possessions on our travels? Wax earplugs. Don't leave home without them.

We hope you enjoyed reading the blog and sharing our experiences and most of all we hope it will inspire other people to do the same thing. Break the mould, travel the world!