El final llego... y ...

EN

That is it! after over 9 months we are back in Europe and our trip has come to an end...even though we know this is the beginning of something as exciting!

These months were incredible and before we leave the blog as a simple static souvenir, we would like to thank you all for following us, supporting us from far away and making this trip possible for us.

In this post, we would like to thank specially all the people that welcomed us in their homes, the friends and family we met around the world and made our trip so special as well as all the fellow travellers we met on our way.

FR
Ça y est! Après plus de 9 mois, nous sommes de retour en Europe et notre voyage a pris fin...même si nous savons que ceci est le début d'une expérience tout aussi excitante!

Ces mois étaient riches, incroyables, magnifiques, grandioses. Avant que ce blog ne devienne plus qu'un souvenir statique, nous aimerions vous remercier de nous avoir suivi et soutenu. Merci à nos familles et amis qui nous ont aidé à organiser ce voyage.

Dans ce post, nous aimerions prendre un peu de temps pour remercier les gens qui nous ont ouvert leur porte, parfois sans même nous avoir rencontré,  la famille et les amis que nous avons retrouvé en cours de route, et puis nous ne voulons pas oublier ceux que nous avons rencontré sur la route et dont la gentillesse, la simplicité ou encore les discutions nous ont touchés.

ES

Ya estamos de vuelta! Despues de mas de 9 meses, ya estamos en Europa y nuestro viaje se ha acabado....pero sabemos que este momento es tambien el principio de una aventura igual de buena!

Estos ultimos meses fueron increibles, maravillosos. No hay muchas palabras para describir estos meses de aventura. Antes de cerrar este blog, nos gustaria agradecer a toda la gente que nos ha seguido y apoyado. Gracias a nuestras familias y amigos por haber nos ayudado a organisar este viaje.

En este post, nos gustaria tomar un momento para agradecer a los que nos abrieron su puerta, la familia y amigos que hemos visto durante el viaje y a los otro viajeros que hemos conocido y que hicieron nuestra experencia inolvidable! 

You'll find below a little special note for:

The ones who welcomes us -
Ceux qui nous ont ouvert leur porte -
Los que nos abrieron su puerta:

 

 

Alberto, Helen Fidel y Rita - Brighton, UK

Alberto is one of Pau's friends from University who lived in Brighton at the same time as us.
Brighton was the first stop of our trip. Brighton is where everything started, where Pau and I met, where Pau and I lived together. The time we spent with Alberto and Helen before we left for the other continents was precious. We spent time with the children and just chatting about the things we were about to discover...Helen dreamed that I would come back pregnant! Dreams do not come true!!! Dreams are just ideas!
Gracias por estos dias comodos y agradables...pronto volveremos!

Mateus - New York city, USA

Mateus is a brazilian friend I met in Brighton 8 years ago.  Mateus has been and is one of my dearest friends and one of those that have always supported me and motivated me in my art practice. It was a joy to see him again. He welcomed Pau and I like never I would have guessed. His generosity, his energy and his vibe took us around Philadelphia and New York. Mateus, obligados!

Lot and Laurens -  Huaraz, Peru

Lot and Laurens are belgian friends we met through Marie, one of my best best friends in Belgium. They charmed us in Brussels by inviting us to their flat to play Ping pong! The bond was made! When they left for Peru, we lost 2 of the few good friends we had in Brussels. But they convinced us to come and see them in Huaraz. We weren't even planning to go to South America....thanks to them, we added a few countries to our route and will never regret it! Then we met them a month later in Buenos Aires just for a drink!!!
Chicos, muchas gracias, con ustedes, vivimos Peru de distincta manera. Con ustedes, vimos y vivimos una de las experencias mas ricas de nuestro viaje....Iquitos y el amazonas. Con ustedes, en Huaraz, descansamos y nos sentimos realmente en casa. Gracias por las comidas, los batidos, las cenas, los momentos de charla y gracias por ser ustedes, simples, sin artificios, solo ustedes!

Francisco, Chiri, Manuelita y Antonia - Buenos-Aires, Argentina

Francisco is my nefew's godfather! Francisco and Chiri are my brothers dearest Argentinian friends. I met them over 10 years ago when I lived in London. They happened to live there for a few months and Dimitri had put us in contact. London was hard for me but I remember the (cheap) meals we made with Francisco, Chiri and Rebecca...

Llegamos a su casa en autobus, y buscando la casa, de repente vi a Chiri y Manuela venir hacia nosotros para recibirnos! Que alegria, Chiri no habia cambiado ni un pelo, su sonrisa enorme me recordo en una sola vez los momentos pasados en Londres. Y que placer de por fin conocer a Manuelita. Llegamos el ultimo dia del anyo y con ellos celebramos el anyo nuevo. Pasamos una noche estupenda, relajada, en la terraza, con una parillada como dios manda! Nos quedamos alli 10 dias, a charlar, a comer, a estar juntos. Era como estar en casa de primos, era como nos conociamos desde siempre, era como estar con familia. Nunca podremos agradeceros suficiente por lo que habeis hecho por nosotros. No sabeis lo feliz que estamos de haber pasado 10 dias con ustedes! No sabeis como de triste estabamos de salir de Buenos Aires, de despedirnos de las ninas!

Pero, por mi, seran los primeros que vendremos a ver de nuevo!!! No se si es buena o mala noticia pero habeis ganado el premio!!

Mark and Carol -  Melbourne, Australia

Mark and Carol and my sister's friends. They met in Oman a few years ago while working. We had never met Mark and Carol before ringing at their door bell at 11 at night the first day we arrived in Australia.

Mark and Carol, with simplicity, you opened that door to us and showed us our room. No fuss, you welcomed us, trusted us and looked after us as if we were Rebecca and Deo! That's what we loved with you. We just felt that everything was normal. It was a real pleasure to be with you, to get to know you and to share dinners and chats with you. Thank you so much for the thousands tips and advice you gave us, thank you for answering our thousand questions about dangerous animals in Australia, thank you for lending us your bikes (hmhm), and your tent (that changed colour meantime!). Thank you for the laughs and the easy and comfortable moments.

Maria and Ahmed - Brisbane, Australia.

Maria was like my "never known sister". My mother met her in Pakistan, over 10 years ago when working. Mum came back from every trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan talking about this amazing girl she knew. Maria and her family! Then Maria moved to Australia. I always knew Maria was so special because my dearest mother loves her so much. And now I can say that Maria is like a "known sister".

We arrived at Brisbane airport after a sleepless night from Perth and Maria insisted to come and pick us up....she told me: 'I have an old green audi, you'll recognise me.' And I did. And her smile and her eyes! There she was! Without knowing, we recognised eachother! She had prepared a board with my name! We got into the car and it was like we had always known eachother! Amazing! We were aiming to stay just a couple of days...we ended up staying a whole week! We were welcomed by her husband Ahmed, shown around the house, fed, taken for amazing touristic tours by Ahmed, introduced to the family, ate amazing afghan food, were taught about nutrition and health. Maria and Ahmed, thank you soooo much for taking care of us as prince and princess. Thank you for the deep conversations, thank you for the lazy sport watching moments, thank you so so so much for all the time you spared to be with us.

Ali and Rob - Melbourne, Australia
 

Ali is my cousin. We stayed in their new flat the last week before leaving Australia! And it was like being at home. Family is family! Wilsons have the same way of welcoming people, the same way of being. And after already almost 6 months travel, feeling like you are close to your mothers genes is very comforting. I hadn't seen Ali in donkey years.  But spending time together at the other side of the world was fantastic. We had so many years to catch up, so many stories and news to tell eachother. Ali and Rob, thank you for you generosity, for you warm welcoming. That last week in Australia was amazing, you showed us bits of your lives, took us to your friends party, cooked amazing healthy meals for us and looked after us like babies. Thank you and hope to see you soon!

Rebecca and Deo -  Tiruvanamalai, India

Rebecca is my sister if you didn't know! We were at home away from home! Rebecca and Deo: Thanks! You know why, you know what! Please don't live so far away, we miss you soooo much!!!

Leaving Tiru was the hardest day in India for me. I couln't imagine being in India without Rebecca and Deo and I couldn't bare the idea of being far away from them again...I had to accept it and I realised I had them all around with me. Like 2 little guardian angels....every experience, every moment I wanted to show them, tell them about it...we passed by the cities they lived in in the previous years, we met people they knew, we went to restaurants they used to go to. The last week in Rishikesh, a shop assistant told me: “you've been here before, I know you from somewhere”.....maybe he was saying this for selling purpose but I was proud to say that he probably knew my sister. In Varanassi, we went and delivered a card to their previous landlords and the guy told me: “I saw you in the street earlier on and I thought it was Rebecca then realised it wasn't so didn t come up to you. Now you are here in my house with this card!” Yeah...that's my sister! And I am proud to be mistaken for her!

The people we met up with -
Ceux qu'on a retrouvé en cours de route -
Los que vimos durante el viaje

Miguel, Isra, Gloria, Mathais, Jordi - Salvador and Boipeba, Brazil

Miguel and Isra are Pau's friends from Castellon that now are living in Barcelona. Gloria, Mathais and Jordi are from the group of friends from Barcelona. All of them decided to spent a few days in Brazil during christmas.

Cuando planeamos el viaje no sabiamos que la pandilla de Barcelona estaba planeando un viaje a Brasil en Navidades. Tampoco sabiamos exactamente la ruta asi que dejamos los detalles hasta el ultimo momento. Y cual fue nuestra sorpresa cuando al decidir ir a Boipeba ellos tambien decidieron lo mismo. Boipeba es una isla donde no hay coches, no hay ruido de vehiculos y las playas son como en las peliculas, playas interminables con palmeras y cocos por todos lados.

Pasamos unos dias relajados con Isra, Mathais, Gloria y Jordi y luego nosotros nos quedamos una semana mas para coger fuerzas para el resto del viaje. Estuvo muy bien compartir unos dias con amigos en las playas brasilenyas. Unos dias despues pudimos disfrutar de un comida con Miguel que aun no habiamos visto.

Amigos, nos vemos en Barcelona, nuestro nuevo destino, pero esta vez para vivir.

Adrienne - Buenos-Aires, Argentina

Adrienne, secondary school mate. Adrienne, c'était génial de se voir à Buenos Aires. La journée passée ensemble était superbe, on a marché plein, tu nous as montré les joyaux architecturaux de Buenos Aires et nous as donné une bonne impression de la vie d'une belge à Buenos Aires. Apràs tant d années, je me suis sentie vraiment confortable avec toi et j'ai l'impression qu'on a plus de choses en commun que je ne le pensais. La prochaine fois à Buenos Aires, je viendrai dans ta maison, sûr! Et cette fois je prendrai une photo de toi!!! A bientôt!

Connie - Buenos-Aires, Argentina

Connie lived with us in Moha, Belgium when Dimitri was in Argentina....this is 19 years ago!!! We had met 12 years ago when I went to Buenos Aires but since then, she was just in all our family's heart.
Connie, gracias por este dia estupendo pasado con tu familia. Estavamos tan contentos de haber conocido a tus hijas tan hermosas. Gracias gracias y la proxima vez, eperemos verte en Europa! Un beso enooooorme!
















Freddy et Patrick - Bali et Gili Islands, Indonesia

Freddy and Patrick are friends from Brighton. It was kind of a coincidence that we ended up in the same place, at the same time. It was a happy coincidence.
Les amis, merci pour ces moments ensemble, on va pas s'attarder à vous faire trop de compliments, c'est pas votre genre. On était tout simplement contents d'être avec vous. On a bien rit, on était bien!
Grosses bises!

 

Caro - Everywhere in Australia!!!

Carooooooooooo. Caro is a former collegue of mine from Brussels. She has been our most amazing travelling companion!

Caro... ben... que dire!!! Tu nous a manqué pour le reste du voyage! Ces semaines passées ensemble en Australie sont pour moi des moments les plus inoubliables de notre voyage. Ce mois de camping dans l'ouest, les tentes, la voiture, les courses, la musique, les serpents, les fous rires, les cubis, les bleux sur les hanches, les routes interminables, les toilettes sèches, les kangourous, les photos, la chaleur, les dauphins (...oui les dauphins!), les tortues, les raies et bien sur les requins.....j en finirai jamais. Tu sais de quoi je parle. Tu peux pas imaginer comment nous sommes contents d'avoir partagé tout ça avec toi. Et on aimerait te remercier du fin fond de notre coeur pour le courage que tu as eu de t'embarquer dans cette aventure avec nous! Franchement, sans toi, ça aurait été maussade : Pau n'aurait pas mangé de viande, je n'aurai pas bu de vin, on aurait pas eu la joie de retrouver la clef dans le sable, on aurait pas vendu le matos, on ne connaitraît pas le KMart, on serait pas retourné change 3 fois les chaises....et des millions de choses de plus.

J'adore le fait qu'on s'est dit aurevoir trois fois et puis qu'on repartait ensemble en roadtrip...on arrivait pas a se sèparer...L'Australie n'aurait pas été l'Australie sans toi. Merci merci merci merci ma Carooooooooooo et vivement le souper steak-frites-bière de retrouvailles...et d'autres voyages ensemble j'espère!
 

Corentine, Sydney

Corentine is another of my secondary schoolmates. Coco, c'était cool de se revoir à Sydney. C 'était une chance aussi car tu venais de revenir. Merci pour les soirées passées ensemble, merci pour ton temps. Tout le meilleur pour la suite en Australie...on espère quand même te revoir de temps en temps en Europe. Bisous!

Christina, Sydney, Australia

Christina is my aunt. She was travelling in Australia with a few friends and it was a coincidence that we were in Sydney at the same time. We spent a nice afternoon together, chatting, having a pic nic in the park and taking a nice boat trip around the opera house. Thanks Christina for the time you spared to show us around. Pau was so happy to meet you too, he is convinced all Wilsons look alike now. It was a nice afternoon and surreal at the same time...meeting for a pic nic at the other side of the world! Hope to see you more often! And not only at the other side of the world!

The fellow travellers -
Les voyageurs qui nous ont marqués -
Los que conocimos alli

Ana (España) -Bolivia

We met Ana on the bus from Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia and we didn't seperate for over a week. We spend time in the Isla del Sol together as well as La Paz.
Ana, gracias por estos momentos simples y agradables. Por comer el mais inchado conmigo, por la bajada del sol en el lago Titicaca, por vivir la locura de La Paz con nosotros, por compartir ideas, emociones y momentos fuertes con nosotros. Fue un placer conocerte y muy pronto nos vemos en Barcelona!

Aurélie et Stéphane (Suisse) -  Iguazu, Brazil ; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Leh, India

We met Aurélie and Stéphane in Iguazu.
Tout de suite, on vous a trouvé vraiment chouette. Un peu différents des autres voyageurs. Sans trop d'artifices, sans cette manie du voyageur de crier haut et fort ou il est allé, ce qu'il a fait. Vous étiez là, drôles, simples et sympas. Et puis on vous a vu par hasard dans la rue de Buenos-Aires, quelle chance! On était content, on avait envie de vous revoir. Et on a passé un chouette moment a partager une bière, des petits biscuits italiens avec du philadelphia, des chips au milieu de la place de 5 de mayo. Et puis on s'est quitté encore une fois, simplement...et puis a Leh, Pau a reconnu Stéphane de loin. Waow, c'était incroyable. On s'est embrassé et on a passé la journée ensemble et le soir suivant on a fait pic nic dans la guesthouse. C'était gai, c'était bon, vraiment. Merci pour ces petits moments qui nous ont fait très chaud au coeur. Vous le savez comme nous, en route, on rencontre beaucoup de gens mais peu nous marquent. Merci!

Suzon (France), Eva (Germany) and Cyril (France) -Blue Mountains, Australia

Suzon, Eva and Cyril were are co-woofers in the 12 tribes community.
Suzon and I were sharing a room. Eva was a few doors away. Living with the community was one of the most weird experiences of the year and being able to talk about it all to our co-workers was so important. Suzon and I would just chat all evening, exchanging our comments, doubts and laughs. As well as our co-workers, they were our co-walkers and we spent nice afternoon contemplating the blue mountains and talking about the aliens hiding behind the eucalyptus. Fresh laughs, nice moments. Thanks guys and really hope to see you somewhere in the world!
 

Florence (France) -  Darahmsala, India

We met Florence in India.

Ah Florence! Ben oui, on s'est rencontré a Daramhsala en faisant la queue pour s'inscrire pour les teachings du Dalai Lama. C'était un moment très fort pour nous. On venait de quitter ma soeur, j'étais fragile, en questionnement. L'énergie de Daramshala était forte et les influences nombreuses. Tu as été notre confidente, la personne avec qui on pouvait et se sentait tout a fait libres de nous exprimer sur des sujets parfois durs a partager. Ton experience et ton ouverture d'esprit nous a fait du bien, nous a reconforté. On était triste de ne pas te voir au Laddakh mais on savait qu'il y aurait une raison.

Merci d'avoir repris contact avec nous, merci pour ce skype depuis l'ashram, merci d avoir partagé ton exprience avec nous. Merci et bon chemin!

Then, we'd like to thank all the others, Pete and his simple conforting vibe, Gabriel et Sophie pour les heures assis sur les chaises dans le jardin du guesthouse, Audrey et Thomas pour votre peps et ce voyage inoubliable en moto, Ben pour ton entrain et ta joie de vivre,...

And all the ones we exchanged a few minutes with, the ones who helped us to find our way and the ones who just smiled and greeted us on their land.

Merci,

Gracias

Thank you