Epilogue and Conclusion

So on the final day when I had to fly home I did so with a leg that had gotten worse and had started to blister, like a burn. I didn't want to miss my flight fussing about trying to get it sorted in Japan so I flew home, called in sick to work and go it seen to at home. The doc's conclusion was that I was likely bitten by something, most likely a spider. However I failed to feel anything bite me and I wore jeans all holiday so it seemed strange that it could have happened. I was also told that a long haul flight was perhaps not the best thing to have done. So I was signed off work and given various antibiotic treatments to try to get it back to normal, and monitoring to ensure DVT didn't happen. The blistering went away in a week followed by a lot of peeling, I was able to walk on it after 2 weeks but not for any prolonged amount of time and as I write this almost two months after the holiday I'm still not back to normal, working alternate days in the office and when at home working with the leg elevated. It's not the best souvenir of what is still my favourite country in the world but I'm fortunate it happened right at the end and not at the beginning, and I will get better but it's going to take time.

Overall, if we ignore the final days, the holiday was great, and the biggest holiday I've ever done on my own. Each leg was different and offered me experiences I will never forget. The eclipse was superb and I can see myself doing more of that, Kazakhstan was my "off the beaten track" leg, and Japan was just Japan, a country I can easily visit time and time again; it won't be almost 10 years until my next trip.

Thank you if you made it to the end of the report. I hope you enjoyed it.

Next year's trip planning is well underway and it'll be back to the US for a big road trip.