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Final Thoughts: Tokyo

Friday, December 18th, 2009

 tokyo-day-2-3-176.jpg

By The Numbers

• Pounds lost/gained: Mel -5, Brendan +5
• Trains taken: 40+
• Number of times Brendan had to eat a second of third mean because Mel didn’t like what she’d ordered: almost every meal
• Number of Japanese words Mel picked up: 1 (nomihodai “all you can drink”; oishii “delicious”—used sparingly; atsukan “hot sake”
• Number of times Brendan annoyed Mel with his in-depth knowledge of Japan: shockingly, zero
• Number of times Mel wanted to go home: 4
• Number of times she decided it wasn’t so bad after all: 5
• Number of anxiety hours prior to every meal: 2
• Number of people crossing the street in Shibuya at each light: 5-10,000
• Budget for one week: probably the same thing we’ll spend in 5 weeks in Indonesia

Moments We’d Rather Forget

• Mel’s tummy problems. I have to be the first person in Japan’s 10,000 year history to have stomach problems from the food
• All random menu items previously blogged about

Highlightstokyo-day-4-6-037.jpg

• Shabu-shabu, teppanyaki
• Meeting Brendan’s Tokyo friends (special shout out to Patrick)
• Surviving the insanity and randomness

Lessons Learned

• In Tokyo, everything you assume is wrong. Vegetable sandwiches will have ham, most “Western” food bears only a passing resemblance to the food we know, walk on the left, don’t ever touch a door to open it…
• Never ask why. There is no answer. Don’t ask why there is no answer.

Random

…I know you want to ask…

The Final Score

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Santorini Sunset

As avid Brel Chronicles readers, you probably already know that Mel had surgery 2 weeks ago in Athens. Well things have not gone as planned, and we’ve been dealing with some serious post-surgery complications in Santorini, with daily doctor visits and a lot of drugs. Unfortunately, the prognosis, while good, will require months of rest and recovery.

While Greece and the rest of Europe are beautiful places to visit, it’s tough to recover without the support of friends and family and the comfort of home. And while Nurse Powell has been amazing, he probably wouldn’t mind some help from the Canadian medical system.

And so we have made the extremely difficult decision to end our trip and return to Canada.

This journey has been incredible: we’ve seen great places, met wonderful people and experienced life to the fullest. And yes, we found the perfect beach, drank great espresso and consumed our body weights in wine.

Who knew that the Brel match wasn’t really Vacation vs. Travel. It was Life vs. Travel, and in the end, they became the same thing.

Final Score:

Life: 1 Travel: 1

Mid-Brel-Adventure Review

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
It´s hard to believe, but the Brel Adventure is half over. Seems as good a time as any to take a look back: Random Stats
  • Countries visited: 7
  • Cities visited: about 30
  • New passport stamps: 23
  • Favourite countries: Costa Rica and Argentina
  • Favourite city: Buenos Aires
  • Number ... [Continue reading this entry]

Final Thoughts…Ecuador

Friday, June 20th, 2008
Brel!  By the Numbers
  • Number of check-ins during our Quito hotel tour: 7
  • Number of pounds Mel shed in a desperate bid to not return to Toronto at her all-time highest weight: 7ish
  • Days of consecutive sobriety after all that wine ... [Continue reading this entry]

Final Thoughts…Chile

Friday, May 16th, 2008
wineries-015.jpg  Moments We´d Rather Forget...
  • How much we made everyone worry that we were too close to the erupting volcano
  • The sticker shock - especially after a month in Argentina
  • How North American it all seemed...
Highlights...

Final Thoughts…Argentina

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
 Hola Argentina! By The Numbers
  • Number of Purchases:
    • Leather purses: 7
    • Leather jackets: 5
    • Shoes and boots: 7
  • Number of animals who gave their lives for our purchases (including a guanaco): uh, not really sure we want to know this
  • Number of days ... [Continue reading this entry]

Final Thoughts…Uruguay

Friday, April 11th, 2008
We spent a quick four days exploring some of the highlights of Uruguay. While not enough time to do it justice, we were able to get a flavour. By the Numbers • # of bottles consumed of medio y medio (a fantastic ... [Continue reading this entry]

Final Thoughts…Brazil

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Come on, we know you’re all imagining this is what we do every day… Hiking Mel

By the Numbers

Final Thoughts – Belize

Saturday, February 16th, 2008
By the Numbers • Number of sweet rum drinks consumed: innumerable • Greatest number of bug bites on Mel at any one time: 85 • Number of books read since beginning our adventure: Mel: 10; Brendan: 1 • Average ... [Continue reading this entry]

Final Thoughts – Costa Rica

Thursday, January 31st, 2008
    By the Numbers… • Number of identified birds in Operation Bird Discovery – 47 • Pounds of gallo pinto (rice and beans) consumed – 6 • Number of monkey photos taken by Monkey Photographer BP – 1,000+ • Percentage ... [Continue reading this entry]