I am back in Toronto. My 2006 Expedition entitled Aneil 2K6 is over. Today is Christmas day and there is less than 1 week remaining in this year. I have had an amazing year filled with so many wonderful experiences. I have grown so much closer to my family and met a tonne of new people from all sorts of countries along the way.

 

- I flew on 33 different airplanes in 2006

- I visited 9 different countries in 2006

- I summited a mountain (Mera Peak) at a height of approximately 6,400 metres, jumped out of a plane from 12,000 feet, white water rafted in Grade 5 rapids, sailed for 3 days on an America's Cup yacht, snorkelled in the Great Barrier Reef, climbed Ayers Rock, hiked around on a glacier, snowboarded on Canada Day, sheared a sheep, rode a horse along the beach, kayaked in a Rain Forest and slept overnight in a desert

- I went to Wimbledon, saw an All Blacks rugby match in New Zealand, attended an English Premiership Football match in London, went to an ICC Cricket Tournament match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, watched an AFL Footy match in Melbourne and the State of Origin Rugby match in Sydney

- I took part and attended my brother's tri-continental wedding in India, Australia and Canada

- I saw at least 10 wonderfully beautiful sunrises and sunsets from various vantage points around the world (including the far east coast of New Zealand where I was one of the first people in the world to see the sunrise)

- I encountered camels, crocodiles, alligators, monkeys, huge fish, dingos, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas, horses, dogs and cats

- I rode on several different modes of transport including planes (large and small), trains, buses, cars, motorcycles, scooters, horses, camels, canoes, yachts and 4X4 vehicles

- I ate sev puri, haggis, strawberries and cream, deep fried prawns, "fush and chups", neeps and tatties, masala dosa, kangaroo steaks, corn fritters, pav bhaji, momos, shwarma, Naturals ice cream, Pooran Polee/Kata Amtee, Yak steaks, fresh sashimi, fresh jilabi and several other amazing types of cuisine

- I read 4 books (Down Under by Bill Bryson, Londonstani by Gautam Malkani, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich and am on the verge of completing 2 more - Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

- I volunteered with an excellent organization and got to help about 20 under-privledged students with computer skills, grammer skills and preparing for job interviews

 

I think I will always look back at this year and never regret one second of it. Okay, well maybe a couple seconds here and there but we don't have to get into that ;o) Overall, this has been just an amazing experience and it's come at the perfect time. 2007 will be a new challenge and I know that I'm up for all it has to offer.

 

Thanks for coming with me on this journey.

I hope you enjoyed the ride.

I know I certainly did.

 

Happy Holidays everyone!