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May 20

Ok, some final thoughts, as it's time to wrap this up and move on to other adventures. Before we do that, we must introduce "MadDog", our faithful travelling companion.

Joanne and I have talked about going on a trip around the world for a number of years and when we saw the ad for this trip, we thought, why not? (I have to admit that my first reaction was, but it starts only 3 weeks after we get home from Peru and Ecuador!). We thought: this will give us a taste of countries that we're kind of iffy on and then we'll know whether we've 'been there, done that' or we want to go back for a closer and better look. Had we done this trip on our own, we know that we would not have seen a fraction of the things we saw, or done a number of the things we did. We would not have volunteered our services to a school in Kathmandu, or to the Sisters of Charity also in Kathmandu. We would not have gone to "PasarBandar Baru Sentul" (a street market in the wrong side of town) in Kuala Lumpur. We wouldn't now know that there's a fine for first-time spitting in Singapore or how many types of tea are sold at "Ten Fu's Tea shop" in Beijing. W e would not have looked for the mosque that is one the one pound Egyptian banknote or discovered what the Romanian phrase"Dacataceai filosof ramaneai" means, and we certainly would not have taken the train (better known as the 20 hours of hell) from Thessaloniki to Bucharest. It certainly answered the question of where we would go back to and where we never have to go again.

We travelled with some fantastic people and shared some great moments with them. As some one else mentioned on their blog, the emotions were all over the place. They went from great joy and happiness to extreme frustrations and anger. This is to be expected when you put together a whole bunch of A-type personalities and throw a contest at them. I think that for the most part, everyone got along very well and that some long term friendships have been formed.

I would like to make special mention of a couple of teams that outdid themselves in the
fundraising department. Zoe and Rainey have been recognized by the organizers for the money that they raised. They did an outstanding job and were a great and a fun team. Another great team, and 2 first class people, were a couple of fellows from Calgary: Randy and Eric, who not only raised $ 40,000.00 but played the game in the true spirit of contest, with integrity and honesty. Another Alberta team, James and Shelley also put a great deal of effort into raising money for their charities and raised a lot of money. Well done! As a matter of record, no one from Canada was able to compete for the prize for most money raised, as the Great Escape Foundation is an American organization and not registered in Canada. Because of that, the money we raised in Canada was sent directly to the charity of choice rather than the G.E. Foundation and Bill and Pamela were unable to monitor how much was actually raised.

In closing, for our next trip around the world, we now know what we could and should be looking for instead of just hitting the hot spots in each location. Our take-home lesson: do some serious planning and homework, maybe make yourself up a little scavenger hunt and really get into the heart of the country that you're visiting. This is something that could be done on any trip or vacation and it would certainly make for a far more interesting trip.
All in all it was a great trip and we have no regrets. We're proud of what we accomplished, the money we raised for Doctors without Borders (which they sure can use now) and how we played the game. In the end our integrity was worth more than winning, and we applaud all those who played by the rules.

We want to thank everyone who supported us throughout our journey. Your good wishes
and your cheering us on meant more than you'll ever know. Some days it was the only thing keeping us going, so please, give yourselves a pat on the back, you deserve it.

The most common question asked of us (other than "are you insane?") has been "would you do it again?"
Answer: YES, as the basic concept of this contest is great and if some major flaws were to be corrected, then it would be brilliant.








MadDog is ready for the next adventure.