I wrote this as a summary of the trip for the farewell gathering of the World Travellers - the 140 odd (I'll say!) people who were on the half-round voyage from March 22/Singapore to July8/Miami. I'm clearing the computer, slowly, and I thought this might be the best place to stash this:

"Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that no matter where you go you take you with you. Well, that depends. If you go on Oceania, you change – usually for the better. You make new discoveries, you make new friends, but if you’re not careful, you gain weight. You hear people speaking of their travels in terms of what they’ve “done”. They’ve done the Panama Canal (several times, apparently!); they’ve done Africa; they’ve done Ceylon, Ayres Rock and Bombay - or whatever they’re called now. But what have their travels done to them? Did they gain insights they never had before? Did they learn more about other people as well as about themselves? I hope so. Sail along with me, the best is yet to be."

Since then, since I returned three days ago now, the world is getting thicker and time is getting thinner, and money is getting stickier.

And I have miles to go before I sleep. (More on that.)