My last day of this trip! I can’t believe it. Seems like ages ago that I left my parents at the BWI Amtrak station. To think I felt apprehensive and frightened. That seems ridiculous now.

On Tuesday I bid farewell to Madeline and her family, my friends who live in the Gold Coast. I took a flight down to Sydney and then a train to Newcastle, a three-hour train ride north of the city. My luggage was delayed and the train was a chugger, so the journey seemed interminable.

Of course, halfway through the journey, a young woman sat down next to me and looked at my backpack, asking the usual icebreaker “are you going camping?” question, which then allowed her to launch into her LIFE STORY. I think I must have a sign on my back, heck on my forehead, encouraging people to unload unwanted information. I learned about her baby daughter, her husband from New Zealand, how she’d met her husband online and agreed to marry him before they’d met in person, how she had immigrated from the Philippines. The story went on and on as we crossed stunning waterfalls, lakes, lush mountains – all which I couldn’t really enjoy because I was smiling and nodding as this woman proceeded to disclose her husband’s salary, her car model, her dreams of the future, her desire to travel to America. My GOD, my head was pounding when I finally reached my destination.

Ben, one of the guys who I’d met on the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok, picked me up from the train station and we had a cup of coffee with a couple of his friends. He was just like I remembered him from a few weeks before: loud, animated, sarcastic, outgoing and funny. He’s an electrical engineering student at the University of Newcastle but he “hates uni” and just wants to start working full time.

He took me to his house in Maitland, a suburb of Newcastle, and as we were going in through the side door, I looked up to see his mother standing in the kitchen. She was gorgeous. She had dark layered hair, creamy white skin, dark green eyes and a really warm smile. Her name was Narelle. I met his dad, Greg, a practical, easygoing and full-of-laughs type of guy. I also met Ben’s two sisters, Zoe and Amber and their boyfriends, Aaron and Damian. Zoe was absolutely stunning. The house was beautiful, too. Really warm and friendly and the color scheme – maroon, rich orange, burnt sienna, pumpkin, cinnamon - enticing. It was tasteful and artistic. Narelle brought out an appetizer platter and offered me a glass of wine. Everyone talked loudly and laughed heartily. Narelle, Greg, Amber and Zoe were elfin people – dark hair and light skin. The whole aura of the house was indescribably pixie-ish. Ben looked strikingly All-American next to them with his dark blond hair, tanned skin and blue eyes – he didn’t really fit in!

We sat down to dinner, which was wonderful – a warm tossed chicken salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, Camembert cheese and cashews. Then lasagna, pumpkin, zucchini, mashed potatoes. Everything was made from scratch and presented flawlessly. Dessert was a brandy basket with ice cream and a sticky chocolate cake. I was stuffed.

The next day was a bit dreary, but Ben still took me on a tour of Newcastle – yet another stunning beach town. We ate breakfast at Narelle’s café, and I watched her in her element, buzzing around the cozy coffeeshop. Then we drove out to the famous Hunter Valley vineyards. A good deal of Australian wine comes from Hunter Valley. We toured some brilliantly landscaped gardens and acted like kids in the “Storybook Land,” a children’s playland which depicted almost every beloved nursery rhyme. I pretended to get a kiss from Georgie-Porgie and Ben sat down with Alice in Wonderland and had a tea party with the mad-hatter. Highly entertaining. And this was BEFORE the wine tasting!

My last night in Australia was just about perfect. I ate dinner with Ben’s family and shared great conversation with his parents, talking about religion and my travels in India. Narelle showed me family albums of their travels through outback Australia and I was sooo impressed! As Ben handed me glass after glass of Baileys, I pored through pictures of their family “camping adventures” – month-long camping trips through Alice Springs, Uluru, but also up to Darwin and Kakadu...swimming in fresh streams, kayaking, camping, jumping crocodiles. A much better family vacation than a week at some tacky tourist beach! Around midnight, we closed up the albums and Greg and Narelle went to bed, but Ben and I stayed up talking about the differences between American and Australian cultures.

This morning I woke up early to pack. A bus is taking me straight from this house in Newcastle to the Sydney airport. I’ll be flying back to Washington DC via LA. The whole trip is probably going to take about 27 hours door-to-door.

I can’t believe it’s over. I know I’ve said before that I love traveling because it allows me to learn more about the world and more about myself. It goes without saying that this trip met and exceeded those expectations. I can’t get over how much I’ve seen. What a beautiful world – but more importantly, what beautiful people! The people I met on this trip were phenomenal. Almost everyone, most of whom were virtual strangers, let me into their homes, welcomed me, made me feel comfortable, and tried to help me in anyway they could. If I ever have thoughts again that “good people” don’t exist, all I have to do is to think back to this trip and to the kindness of strangers. Generosity was ubiquitous – from Portugal, to Spain, to London, to India (even more cherished there!), to Thailand, to Australia. I had happy conversations with strangers on trains, planes, rickshaws, bicycles, boats, cars, cabs and buses. Having patience, empathy, compassion and respect for people isn’t difficult when you see these traits in others. Sometimes you just have to break out of your daily routine and go searching a bit before you find it. And sometimes you realize that it’s been in your life all along.

~Hope