Goodbye van! See you soon. UK 23 Jan - 30 Jan

Final odometer reading = 10296 miles, or 16570 km. 309 days in the van = 33 miles (54kms) a day. We used 3 gas cylinders (and the last one isn't empty), filled up the windscreen wiper fluid 5 times, and used two bottles of blue toilet cleaner. Important stuff.

So - the moment of truth when we handed over the keys and waved goodbye to the van - and to Europe!

We have been asked if we had mixed feelings about leaving the van with someone else, and the answer is - no. Getting the van around Europe and back to the UK, and hence to NZ was always part of The Grand Plan, and the fact that we have got it this far is a huge accomplishment. Piloting a massive van around the nooks and crannies of Europe has been a lot of fun, but not necessarily always easy. However, we made it back, nothing got lost or stolen, nothing of any major consequence broke, and apart from a couple of colds and some unfortunate food poisoning - we didn't get sick. Most importantly, we didn't crash!

A massive thank you to David and Justine, we would not have been able to do the trip without your house, patience and warm welcome. It was a real home away from home....away from motor home. Also thanks for your postcode, without which we would have been invisible to UK bureaucracy, and thanks to whatever roading engineer decided to put that massive parking bay in opposite your house.

Also, thanks Sarah for your London crash pad (a home away from home away from home?), and all of Jane's London crew (Sam, Marnie, Andrew, .....) for showing us a good time in the capital. And cuzzy Rob, for luring us into the heartland of the London riots for dinner.

Got the van all around Europe without a ding and on the last night - at David and J''s -  something hit her. Not a big dent, but hard enough to put a hole in the outer skin. It is covered by insurance and will be all fixed up before it goes on the boat, but grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Whoever you are who hit our van and drove off - I curse you to never be able to properly tune your TV ever again.

Cranham's motor homes have looked after us very well, and a huge thanks as well to Paul at Castle European who found us the motor home in the first place, helped us along the way and is now guiding her back to NZ.

Finally, a big thanks to all the random people along the way who have provided huge amounts of assistance, for free, just because we asked them too. Thanks randoms, you made the whole trip a lot easier.

Onwards - to New York and beyond! USA!!! USA!!! Everyone may now begin singing the theme song to 'Team America'.