Mortgage or Mongolia

Cat burglar

Lake Tekapo in all its sunset glory 🏔️

Just over a month since we finished cycling and flew home, and it's been incredible to reflect on what we achieved this past year. And raising money for Lifebox has been one of the undisputable highlights. So thank you again to those who donated and helped us reach (and beat!) our target. And a reminder that the fundraising page stays open till March, and we would love to go back to them with even more!

For those interested in their current projects, we really recommend you visit their website (www.lifebox.org). Having safely distributed more than 18,000 pulse oximeters across more than 100 countries...they are now tackling the risk that patients in lower resource countries face from inadequate or unreliable lighting during surgery. Just as they designed a robust, affordable and easily distributable pulse oximeter...now they are working on a solution for lighting - the Lifebox Light, a durable, affordable high-quality surgical headlamp for use in health facilities with lighting constraints.

We will be following their progress closely and hope to work with them in future on more exciting projects!!

Link for donation can be found here:https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/londontobeijing2018

Getting home and relishing the country rides. Nothing like a bit of Yorkshire countryside to quell the wanderlust (for now...)

12 months of roughing it...and my (Ness) wonderful mother treated me to a little business class shaped surprise to fly me back to the UK (don't worry...she works for BA, she's not that generous!)

Having mostly slept in tents/cheap hostels/dingy holes...the lie flat bed and three course meal was luxury on a level I hadn't experienced in a long time.

And dont worry, I was definitely thinking of Simon sleeping in Hong Kong airport and waiting to board his flight home with Aeroflot via Moscow as I sipped my second glass of champagne 🍾 😂 (sorry Si...)

And in the blink of an eye it was over...

11,500km later and we are home. It took us a year to cycle to Hong Kong, and a little under 12 hours to fly home. But we are done. Words could never do justice to the experiences we have lived over this last year, and as we sit back and reflect on what we've done it's difficult to believe some of it even happened!

But it did. Over this last year we saw a more honest account of the world we live in than we could ever have hoped to see. The kindness, openness and generosity of people we have met on this journey has demonstrated the good that exists amongst humans. And although we have seen scant examples to counter this, these have been blots on an otherwise beautiful canvass.

So here's an enormous thank you to the incredible humans who have made 2018 such an amazing year. From those we first met in Europe at the beginning of our trip, who took us in and gave us a home as the snow pounded down outside, or offered us some small token of kindness on our journey. To those who have followed us, encouraged us and laughed at our terrible jokes (sorry!). And those we met later in the trip, who listened to our stories and shared what they had with us, even though what they had was so little. We will do a separate post regarding our wonderful charity, but thank you again to all who donated! The page will stay open till March, so any pennies left lying around after Christmas can be put to an awesome cause (link through bio/FB page or blog).

So for now we rest. Happy in the knowledge our itchy feet will get the better of us before long. Happy 2019!
@ London, United Kingdom

The airline said our bike boxes couldn't be longer than 190cm, and we had no tape measure...so we had to improvise. Here's to doing anything possible to avoid packing!! @ Hong Kong

This journey started with a ferry...so it seemed fitting to end it with one too.

The ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island is an iconic trip, and to get to do it with our beloved bicycles that got us this far made the whole thing just that little bit more special. @ Star Ferry Pier, Central

We learnt quickly on this trip that doing anything with the bicycles that didn't involve cycling them invariably ends up becoming a tiresome chore.

None more tiresome than beginning the miserable task of packing up our lives and getting ready to fly home. This box would end up holding our entire life's possessions, excluding bikes (well - those we used over the course of this year anyway!) Here it is getting a tour of Hong Kong before it's thrown around by some disgruntled baggage handlers on it's way home to London.

Si thought taking it for a walk around was a great idea...until he didn't. @ Hong Kong

You know it's almost home time when you feel you can indulge in some of your favourite treats without becoming too home sick...but you still can't tear yourself away from Chinese table habits, so you end up eating your bacon rashers with chopsticks...

Merry Christmas one and all!

Here's to eating every mince pie we can get our hands on! Cheers.