Well, today marks the day we depart from the Philippines and I go back to Maui to get some work done before continuing on to California, and ultimately, Europe.

Reflections on the trip overall will be short, as I feel somewhat in-between. It was effective work-wise only in the last few days of travel, and the enjoyment of the trip was hampered quite a bit due to my intense feeling of loss without being with Julie.

I had also already been to the Philippines (and most of the locations we visited) a few times before, so it wasn’t like reading a “new page” in the book of the world.

All that said, it was nice to be able to visit a few old friends, and revisit some of my older favorite places.

I imagine this is probably my last trip to the Philippines for quite some time. I feel complete here, like I’ve seen what there is for me to see (obviously there are many things I haven’t seen, but without sharing them with Julie, more seems nearly pointless).

I am ready to continue on to California, and then Germany (and the rest of Europe).

I hate to admit it, but I’m very much looking forward to being in Western culture again. I can survive just fine in third-world scenarios, but I always look forward to returning to first and second worlds after a while.

Hope to continue postings on this blog even in the intermittent period in Hawaii…because this is basically a travel blog, it will probably be more travel features (featuring items and clothing) versus location-based posts.

Make sure to read in early June though, as things will start to spice up about then on “The Digital Backpacker”.

Will catch up on un-uploaded photos when I return, and try to insert them retroactively into posts that look fairly bare now.

I’m going to be changing my theme (for wordpress) quite soon (this is the way the site/blog looks and operates, content will remain the same) and make things more user-friendly so that commenting is easier.

The commenting process right now is quite difficult and I don’t expect you guys to comment until then.

Talk to you all soon…

Love,

Christian