Day #284 - London to USA (Last Day)

Thursday, December 23rd

Gentlemen (women), welcome to the final day of my journey. You are the Top 1 Percent of all faithful blog followers, the ELITE, the "Best of the Best", I think in a way - we've made each other better this year.

It's 2:45am. I'm sitting here in my hotel room in London - frantically finishing up some final things before my 5:30am departure to Heathrow. It was long ago determined that I would not sleep tonight. That's OK - I think that just about every trip I made back to the states on this journey - I did not sleep prior to departure (my sick night in Istanbul, my sick night in Paris, the night I came home to see my dad, and now tonight).

Well, I'm going to be posting 3 more pages with some summary items. But, maybe you can tell with my words, this is a pretty weird feeling for me right now. This year has been incredible. It's been special. I'm so lucky to have great family and friends. I don't know - but I really feel like this journey has exceeded my expectations. I hope I can take with me some things I've learned and apply them to my everyday life. Thank you for sharing this with me.

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Alright - to bring it home, the #1 country on my list, "O'zapft is!" - (the keg is tapped) ------ GERMANY

Israel (#12)
Iceland (#11)
Norway (#10)
Greece (#9)
Austria (#8)
Spain (#7)
Italy (#6)
Switzerland (#5)
Ireland (#4)
France (#3)
United Kingdom (#2)
Germany (#1)


GERMANY (#1)
Well, I spent 30 days in this country - 1 month. It must be clear in what I have written, because many people have emailed me today stating that they felt Germany would be my #1 selection from the very beginning. That's good.

I spent 8 days in Baden-Baden - the Black Forest area. This is a smaller community - but an incredibly peaceful location. I never felt better in any particular town than here. I spent 7 nights in Munich. I saw the Christmas markets and particpated in the Ocktoberfest celebration. I spent 4 nights in Berlin. It's here, standing over Hitler's Bunker and looking out over the remnants of the Berlin Wall, that I asked myself: "Am I really here?". I spent 4 nights in Frankfurt. I did day trips to Heidelberg and Cologne - and did a boat ride on the Rhine River. This day may have sealed the #1 selection. Sitting out on the deck of this boat, with a tall adult frosty beverage, talking with the local Germans, who spoke better English than I did. Then I spent 4 nights in some smaller towns - Schrobenhausen, Regensburg, Bamberg ---- incredible areas to visit. What about the passion play in Oberammeragau. Special. The town itself is reason enough to make a visit. And finally, a night in Hamburg, where I saw arguably the best sunset of my trip.

And with all that said --- the main reason I picked Germany is because I felt the best here. It was right. People speak English, people are organized, they are calculated. They enjoy a beer, but are not scared of working. It's home to the Mercedes ---- and Ocktoberfest. It has incredible history -- World War II -- it started and ended here. It has natural beauty -- the Black Forest, the Rhine River Valley, and the Alps. Basically, when I looked at my requirements for obtaining the best - this place met each and every one.

With admiration and respect --- I'm proud to list GERMANY as my #1 country on my Gap Year 2010.