- All the people who came to the airport for a last goodbye in the early morning, and for the wonderful card from Silvana
- SwissSign AG for the contribution to our trip
- Lucia Meier/Mami und Stephanie fuer die administrative Hilfe waehrend unserer Abwesenheit und fuer den Talisman
- Stefan, Samantha, Spencer and Caroline Wilhelm (with Zuri) for after-midnight pickups in Boston, letting us live in the guest suite and letting us have the Audi during our stay in New England, amazing meals, incredibly cool day trips to famous artists and the likes, great games, and MANY laughs –> Right On!!!
- Sandra, Jonathan and André Guyer (and Jenna) for a fun day on beautiful Lake Sunapee and the best water ski instruction ever (“Hit Me”), for letting us win in Cranium
AND for welcoming us in Newton and letting us occupy your couches for a night, a pasta lunch, and for a cool movie-night in a furniture store
- Susan and Hanspeter Weber for the most delicious dinner made from own garden produce, excellent conversation, great suggestions, and enlightenment re: secret ingredient of whipped cream and where to end our trip
- Rebecca Osborne for the good contact
- Matt and Keeley Germon (and sweet little Charlie) for the sweetest corn on the cob ever, for Phil’s first pie experience, and for the neighborly rat story…
- Whitney and Ed Germon for relaxing days in Stowe (Green Goddess!!) followed by a wonderful weekend in Maine, for all the good stories, pilates/dance class, long walks to Nubble and back, video nights, and for the b’day AND x’mas present
- Karen, Geordie, Sam and Stuart Mason for all the fun in York, for letting us watch the Olympics and unlimited bottled water, for all the good jokes and riddles, the delicious lobster, and for teaching Scribbage/Backgammon
- Annie Copps for the introduction to the best magazine to be found in New England, for all the insight, having lunch with us, and the good contact
- Judson Hale for taking the time to give us the finest museum-tour ever, the meaningful book, and for a very special story with a connection to Switzerland
- Constantine (“Dicko”) Broutsas for the lunchtime meetings, good conversation, the artwork explanations, and for a very unexpected (and special) token
- Lorrie Byrom and Camp Betsey Cox for letting us enjoy the camper-free atmosphere and spend the night in the library
- Kate Nasse for letting us base out of her cozy apartment in SF while breezing through, and for letting us use the crazy wash machine
- Erika and Karen for the Yoga lesson on the Big Island, and for the tour of the beautiful work-in-progress gardens
- Sharene and Harrison Klein for -this is a very long list- basically our whole Hawaii trip; helping us organize and plan, putting us in touch with Kate and Jeanne, all the excellent suggestions, the Lei-welcome at Hilo, amazing dinners, full-day volcano trips, Jazz concerts, the lovely introduction to the Papaya, the less lovely introduction to the Coqui(s), political conversations (OBAMA 2008), house #1 and house #2 (I doubt we will ever stay in more well-decorated places), two days on Kaua`i, etc. etc. etc.
- Stephanie Meier for going the extra mile and enduring 23 hours of flying to spend 20 days on the road with us, all the good times!
- Lindsey and Gregg Kamm, and Pat and Phil, for a wonderful evening and a delicious Ahi tuna dinner
- All our friends who made the effort to call us in Hawaii while we had the luxury of a landline phone: Danke vel Mal!
- Donna and Rob DeKeyrel for making our first CS-experience a perfect one and for opening your house to complete strangers; for the best mojitos in the world (we know that for a fact), showing us around, Sierra Stuff (we wear it proud), Mai Tais, Bill Maher nights, sweet salmon, fruit breakfasts, and for Phil’s first Duvel in the US
- Marcus Grahl for hosting us in Beijing, giving us a first insight into Chinese customs and culture, taking us to the best local haunts again and again (Stichwort: Duck), teaching us some Mandarin, and for the intro to Chinese liquor…
- Raymond and Susan for all the good travel-related stories and further suggestions, the delicious fruit, and the good conversation
- Laura & Ross (Scotland), Stina & Niklas (Sweden) and Marta & Chris (New Zealand) for cruisin’ with us under “interesting” conditions, partaking in the “Circle of Death on the Yangtze”, good conversation and many laughs
- Wolfgang Jager for the 14-hour conversation while stranded in Wuhan, the many tips, and the good contact
- Carl Thelin for letting us crash (on short notice) at his place during our first few days in Shanghai, the intro to the Chairman at Cotton (not to mention… a first Duvel in China!), and the many good suggestions
- Sebastien Welterlin for hosting us in Hong Kong, introducing us to HK-Nightlife (dancing on bars included) and some wonderful new bands, letting us watch trashy TV-shows while sick, and for the nice guitar tunes… we’ll be sure to try a Pfluta when we get the chance!
- Chris and Marta (soon-to-be) Wilkie for meeting up with us in Dali, and joining us for one of the best hikes ever.
- Dr. Hanno Hartmann for safely navigating us safely through the hills of Shan state on a motorbike adventure, for keeping us going when we would have turned back, and for the many good suggestions for Bangkok and India
- Phaung Daw Oo Monastery, The Venerable U Nayaka, Bo Swar, Swe Zin, and all the wonderful Teachers who welcomed us warmly, showed us around, gave us something to do, and made our time in Mandalay so incredibly memorable
- Lucy Coombs for hosting us in Chiang Mai, letting us rest before heading on, making the best breakfasts ever, and facilitating a fantastic and unexpected christmas dinner
- David Waldmeier and Martin Schwab for making the trip from Switzerland to spend three weeks in Laos with us, for many hours of “Jassen”, great days of trekking, unforgettable “forgotten days” of tubing, and many hours spent eating, drinking Beerlao, and laughing
- Yamit, Rotem, and Gilad for including us in their “Shabath by the Beach” ceremony and for the many good hours of conversation
- The Baker on Don Det (Laos) , for the first good bread (and excellent cinnamon rolls) in South East Asia
- Tik and Martin Pavion for being such wonderful hosts in Bangkok, letting us crash after such a long time out “in the wild” (ie offline, your guest computer made Phil feel like a human being again), many cups of decaf “English Breakfast” Tea, fun gatherings, and a great brunch to top things off!
- Sarah “Mom” Batschelet for coming all the way from Switzerland to spend three weeks touring Rajasthan with us, for being there when I was in the hospital, for the many hearty laughs and serious concerns (“burning monkeys”), for kicking up our living standard by one or two notches, for being such an easy travel partner, for sharing beers and whiskey with Phil, and and and…
- Thomas Braha for a wonderful (and far too short) time in Delhi and Agra, for all the good care while I was in the hospital and the nice cards, a good hotel suggestion, and an unforgettable version of saying grace
- Doctors and Staff at EastWest Medical Center in Delhi, for taking such good care of me while I was sick, allowing Phil to stay by my side, and trying to make those five days hooked up to the IV as comfortable as possible
- Uma and Kirit Desai for giving us a special insight into India (in Ahmedabad), organising walking tours, visits to palace and museums, DELICIOUS meals (Gujarati dishes), efficient shopping sprees, good conversation, sari and decent clothes loan, and a very special haveli-night.
- Kalpena and Sanjay for welcoming me into their home for one of the most delicious Indian lunches ever, and for the introduction to fresh-pressed Mango juice!
- Ajay and Anu Ahuja-Khurana for spontaneously welcoming us into their gorgeous home and introducing us to their wonderful family, for a fantastic last evening among the best people in India enjoying a family birthday party, delicious meals and an intro to unknown fruit, for all the good suggestions and help getting to the airport, and for the meaningful book
- Chris Beall for wonderful lectures on Everest and Annapurna, excellent restaurant suggestions, for introducing us to our wonderful porter Som, and for the best itinerary ever
- Norm Arnold for a fantastic Nikon-workshop (ie. teaching us more in a few hours than we had learned in all our life), the intro to photoshop, a great birthday dinner (some of the best chocolate cake in Nepal, we are sure),many laughs, and good times in general!
- Lauren McKinley for a wonderful breakfast, great conversation, and a potential topic for my future thesis!
- Sandra Guyer (same one as above) for helping me with my application and thus facilitating the start this year
Howdy from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania:
Sorry it took me such a long time to look up your site up, read your sweet note and respond. I’d been in Africa since March 5.
Thanks for your kind words and sentiments. I enjoyed our time together very much. I hope the rest of your journey together – through Asia and life – is even more pleasant. I hope we all get a chance to spend more time together in the not too distant future.
My work here is almost done. Tomorrow I’m on my way home via Zurich to see Mom for a couple of days. I look forward to that. I wish you all were there as well, but I am comforted by the knowledge that you all are exactly where you all wish to be and enjoying it.
Have a wonderful rest of the journey. Keep posting those wonderful pix. Take good care of yourselves and each other. Write when the spirit moves you.
Lots of love to you both,
Tom