More Incredible People!

I've been in Hanoi and Halong Bay these past 6 days and I cannot say enough great things about Vietnam! I absolutey love this place and it is quickly rising to the top of my favorite places in the world. I plan to write more about Vietnam in my next few blogs but I want to catch up on a few incredible people that I have met in the last 10 days....

After Koh Tao, I went back to Bangkok for 4 days before I left for Vietnam. I met this woman named Gay who was staying in the same place as me. Gay is 82 years old from Minnesota but she has spent the last 60 years of her life in Hawaii. Gay was in Bangkok for a few days and was set to leave for Butan after Bangkok. This woman is amazing. She has traveled around the world for over 60 years. Gay does not look 82 nor does she live the life of a typical 82 year old. She has so much energy and she is ready to take on any adventure. Gay said something to me that struck a chord...."You are never running out of time. Don't ever feel like you are." A perfect example would be the fact that she went to law school when she was in her mid 40s. After she got divorced she decided to go to law school and graduated when she was 45. After a successful career as an attorney, she was apointed to be a judge in Hawaii and that was the last position she held before retiring. Gay was really cute and said that she could officiate wedding ceremonies so I should consider getting married in Hawaii so she could do the ceremony. Then she said, "You better get married in the next 10 years because I may not be around after that." It made me sad to hear her say this : (

After Bangkok, I left for Hanoi and spent a few days there (I will write about Hanoi and the rest of Vietnam in a separate blog.) before leaving for Halong Bay. My Halong Bay trip consisted of me and 9 others: 6 Australians, 1 German, 1 Irish, and 1 English. We all have diverse backgrounds and we are all different age groups. We have really enjoyed experiening Vietnam together as well as getting to know each other. Here are a few more incredible people....

The Willoughbys --- This is a family of 4 from Australia. The parents are Dee and Andrew and they have 2 kids (Indiana 6 yrs old, Levi 5 yrs old). They are all traveling together through Vietnam for five weeks since the kids have a 6 week summer break. They also went to Bali in July for 3 weeks during their winter break. I admire these parents for continuing to live out their passion for traveling after they have had kids. They definitely don't let it slow them down. They are eager to bring their kids to new places so that they can learn more about different cultures and different people. I will write more about their kids in my next blog. They are hilarious and extremely bright! Dee and Andrew definitely love a great adventure....a few years ago, they bought a school bus and remodeled it into a home with state of the art appliances and furniture. This family lived on this bus for a little over a year because they figured they didn't need too much space since the kids were really little then. Now that the kids are bigger, they live in a 4 bedroom house.

Eileen from Ireland --- Eileen was a banker for Morgan Stanely in the London office before she was laid off in June. During this time she was fixated on the U.S. election and wanted to contribute to Obama's campaign. She quickly discovered that you have to a U.S. citizen to donate so she decided to volunteer instead. Eileen flew to Columbus, OH to work at Obama's campaign HQ in Ohio for 7 weeks. I asked her why she chose Columbus and she said because it is a critical swing state and she really wanted to make a difference. After the election she traveled to Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and now Vietnam. She is heading back to London next week. I was blown away by Eileen and her passion for U.S. politics. This is person that can't even vote in our election yet she still decided to spend her own money and time to work towards this election. Eileen also considers Obama a true Irish man because of his name...O'Bama. She plans to celebrate Inauguration Day with Democrats Abroad in London.

Barack Obama --- Obviously I haven't met him on this trip BUT he has been a critical person during my travels. Before I left for this trip I thought that everyone in the world loved the U.S. and loved Americans. WELL, this was certainly not the case. I was definitely in for a surprise when I arrived in Europe and I heard the negative opinions that the majority of people around the world had about the U.S. The main reason for the negative impressions of the U.S. is mainly due to Bush. Everyone I ran into could not stand him and they are just dumbfounded by Americans for electing him twice. I had to remind people that most Americans can't even stand Bush either so we are all in the same boat. It was also really interesting how people did not want to be recognized as an American. Example: The Canadians are great people. Every time I run into a Canadian, they always have the maple leaf emblem somewhere on their body. It may be on their hat, shirt, backpack, etc. It's usually small but it's there for everyone to see. I figured it was really nice to see that the Canadians had a lot of country pride due to this display. I learned eventually that it really doesn't have that much to do with country pride...it's their way of telling everyone that they are not from the U.S. They don't want to be mistaken for Americans. I ran into a few Americans in Italy that told me they go around telling people that they are from Canada because they don't want to deal with any negative backlash.

I have never been mistreated during my trip even though everyone knows I'm an American. HOWEVER, I have been treated like a celebrity ever since Obama was elected. When I was flying out of London to go to Hong Kong, I was reading the Audacity of Hope at Heathrow and EIGHT different people came up to me telling me that they love Obama just by looking at the cover of the book. I only read 4 pages in the airport because I was caught up in conversations with these people. The minute I told them I lived in Chicago, they would seriously let out a little scream for joy. Same thing for me in Thailand....Jesper (my diving instructor who I love) told me that people were crying when they watched the election results. Talin and I were in Croatia during the election and the next morning the hotel staff, the border control officers in Bosnia, and the retail store owners were all congratulating us. When I was in Spain, I was talking to these Spaniards on the train and they said, "Now we definitely want to travel to the U.S. because Obama is President." I met this businessman in the lobby of my hotel in Hanoi and he told me that they have noodle dishes in Japan that they named after Obama. In London, Jacqui and I saw signs for Obama cocktails. I seriously have these type of occurences on a daily basis since the election. A CNN reporter said it best...."It seems like all the negative thoughts about the U.S. have erased the minute Obama was elected." The one thing that I really missed out on during my trip would have to be the Obama victory party at Grant Park....I bet it was incredible! However, it has been VERY interesting to see the different countries react to this next chapter in America's history. I look forward to celebrating Inauguration Day in D.C.!!!