Lessons Learned So Far

We are now officially halfway through our trip and amazed at how quickly the time has gone. Here's some interesting things we've learned so far:

Bank charges are terrible:

We don't like carrying a lot of cash so we visit ATMs during the month and these fees add up. Then you need to add conversion fees (charges converting Canadian to local currency are 2.5% or more ). When you use a credit card, their conversion rates are also high. We have a Mastercard with 'no exchange fees' but we've found the final rate to be about the same as VISA.

You have to haggle:

Bartering/ haggling and in-your-face 'buy this', 'eat here' and 'take this tour' are endless. The harassing seems non-stop at times as hucksters can see non-locals a mile away. If you don't haggle, you could be spending a lot more money than you need to.

The big attractions- lots of tourists:

They push for pictures and hurry to get ahead and this gets frustrating. Many tourists (20-50%) are Chinese. They stay together, only speak their language and have the money to spend. When you see a bus unload and the umbrellas go up in perfect weather, you know they're Chinese. It's the butting in line and going in front of you with no manners that is irksome. It's just the way it is.

Traffic is nothing in Canada compared to other countries: 

It is absolute gridlock in some cities. A red light can mean nothing and if you have a green light, you seriously have to watch out! Too many examples but some frightening misses in Quito, Lima and Casablanca. In Cairo, I've never seen anything like it, it's mind-boggling.

Travelling takes time and it can be exhausting: 

We were surprised at the amount of time required for planes, buses, rail, cabs and car hires, including just sitting around waiting.  Security is BIG and arduous. In South America, your luggage is screened before it leaves you and on arrival it goes through another screening process before you leave the airport. In Morocco and Egypt, you're screened at the front doors before entering the terminal. In Turkey, you're double screened. Then you go through passport control and body scan. Even though we're grateful for this, it all takes time. Thank goodness we don't have time constraints.

Compared to other parts of the world, we really have it good in Canada:

We have a fabulous government compared to a lot of what we saw, safe streets, an excellent banking system (no machine guns), our homes are safe and we have an excellent quality of living. At times we were shaken at how impoverished some places were. Yet for the most part they are just as happy as we are (except for extreme poverty).

Our marriage is stronger than ever. This, despite being together 24 hours a day for almost 6 months:

 That said, there have been many interesting discussions like who is right with directions in getting from point A to B (a daily phenomenon), the choice of accomodations (you picked this dump?), questioning how many times one needs to hike mountains (can't we just look at it?)... the list is endless.

Bottom line- we continue to be excited about the new things we see, the tastes of different foods, the different cultures and just meeting so many nice people We're having a blast and we're only halfway through!!