Days 196 - 203 Austin - London - Finland

I took the rest of my days in Austin very easily. I played with my favorite  (and only) niece, went to see some cool cars. Visited a hardware store, fixed some fence and saw the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan.












I also took a little walk in the forest nearby. From the Finn's point of view it was more of a walk in the bush.






On Tuesday I took Lyft to the airport and noticed that Norwegian Airlines had organized me a new adventure. The flight was delayed for an hour. In the end it departed nearly 3 hours late which meant that I couldn't get to the next flight from London to Helsinki. That meant an extra 9 hours waiting at the airport. It seems destiny didn't want me to get home yet. Even the last flight was delayed for one hour. But finally at around 2 am I got home and straight to bed. Being awake more than 36 hours in a row takes it's toll.

My trip is now over. It's hard to understand that I left quite precisely 6 months ago and now I've circumnavigated the earth. It might take a while to get my mind set back to "normal" life.

I've been thinking quite a bit what I have experienced and seen during this trip.

The full statistics are in the end of this post. Those can tell you the figures but they cannot tell you the most important things. Even the photos can't tell you those. And no matter how much I'd talk about those you'd only get a glimpse of the reality.

I've been thinking also how to thank all the people that made this trip possible. I can say names and places but for sure I would forget to mention somebody that haa helped me before and during the trip. So I decided to skip the list of names. All I can say is: From the bottom of my heart,  thank you. I couldn't have done this without you.

I already decided I won't mention anyone by name, but there is one who has made this all possible. Kirsi - I know this has been extremely hard for you. There's no words to describe the gratitude I feel for you. Taking care of the children alone while I'm on the road is something most people couldn't handle.

This journey has been amazing. Something beyond imagination. I have seen a lot, I've experienced a lot and I've met huge amount of good people. I've had adventures and I've nearly died on the way. I've really achieved the thing I was searching for: memories to recall in the rocking chair. The feeling that I've made it.

Now it's time to settle down, go through all the photos. Make a coffee table book, draw the route on the map and go through all the gear. Annie should be in Finland in April 4th. Finding parts and getting her fixed is on the list too. Personally I'm in a terrible shape. Eating a lot of fast food in the states and basically sitting on the bike for 6 months hasn't been especially good for my physical health.

I will write the blog  in the future too but only occasionally. I have plans for the summer but everything is very uncertain still so I cannot reveal anything.

My friend Eddie said once:"Ride safe. And if you cannot ride safe, ride lucky."

Thank you my reader. I hope you have enjoyed the ride!

Statistics:
203 days
11 countries, 8 of them totally new for me
14 flights
3 different motorcycles
32838 km = 20408 mails
1087 liters of fuel in Annie and Rosie (didn't keep track of the fuel in New Zealand)
Lowest riding temperature around -5C and highest +42C
Lowest altitude -30m and highest 3600m
Approximately 3000 photos, mainly taken with phone
2 wrecked cell phones
At least 5 destroyed USB cables
Countless memories and new friends
68 blog posts













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