We're Back!!

It is hard to believe that our three month adventure has come to an end; but it lived up to all our expectations and more! We had a great time abroad and traveling around Southeast Asia and Japan; and really appreciated this opportunity to explore these parts of the world and better understand their cultures. A big thank you to everyone that helped give us this opportunity, supported our decision and followed our blog along the trip!

Now that we're back, probably the most common question, we get asked is "Which country did you like the most?" And it ends up this is the most difficult question to answer! Each country and its people were so unique, that it is hard to choose just one place we enjoyed the most. The Lao people were so laid back; Singapore was very clean; Malaysia was super easy to travel in and had many modern conveniences at cheap prices; Northern Thailand was friendly and had some nice places in the mountains; Vietnam had beautiful scenery; and Japan was so modern and efficient that it was amazing to think so many people lived in such a populated area, but it sounded more like a small town at times. But if we had to pick just one.....the winner of Southeast Asia would be Vietnam! This is because it was overall the nicest to travel in -- the people were friendly, the prices were inexpensive, and there were so many great places to see there without too much hassle in transportation. But Japan would also come in at the top for its great transportation system, the VERY friendly and polite people and the cleanliness in both noise and air.

We are were happy that we were able to spend Easter with Kristin's extended family and made it back in time for that. But as of Monday we will both be back in the full swing of things -- Kristin goes back to work and Alex starts job searching.

We are so blessed that God gave us this opportunity to see His creation and we are eternally grateful for this experience! Thanks again to everyone who traveled with us in spirit!

Until next time.... Sayounara (Japanese)! Tam Biet (Vietnamese)! Selamat (Malay)! Saukdee (Lao)! Sawatdee (Thai)!

Here are a few photos from the one day we had in the San Francisco area before catching our flight back to Omaha:

NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA:
ENJOYING SOME WINE AFTER THE RED-EYE FLIGHT FROM TOKYO:

LOMBARD STREET, SAN FRANCISCO: