Well, it’s with some sadness that we bid farewell to Honduras. Some of it I will miss, but the guns, beggars, and crazy drivers I won’t. I’ve kind of said this a lot in my reports to you, but I will say it again, ‘it’s not wrong, just different’. And I really think that to come all this way and not try to see and do as much as you can, is a waste. The kids and the adults here certainly did that.

We came, we saw, and we conquered quite a bit. All that training, and those months of hard work, sweat, and tears as well, paid off for the team in triplicate. Today, not everyone is going home with a medal, while some are going home with 2 or even 3 medals. But each members success belongs not just to them, but to the whole team, and each team member shares a little of that success, whether the medal was theirs personally or not. They all held the pad at some stage, all yelled encouragement, all supported, joked, laughed and cried with each other, and that is success at any level.

And what about you guys at home? Without your support during the build-up, the hundreds of hours of getting the kids to training, and the thousands of dollars raised, where would the team be? The emails they received have been fantastic, it’s like having the whole country here with us each time we went into the stadium, looking over our shoulders and clapping and cheering as much as we did. And I can honestly say that no team supported their competitors like the NZ team did. Always going where they could make the most noise, even when we were in all 3 rings and the breaking at the same time.

So, watching the coaching staff this morning finally getting a chance to read the emails you sent and hearing them say cool, or nod their heads, really brought it home to me how great it was to have that support.

So, thanks NZ.

Today sees the team leaving Honduras for LA, the big smoke, or perhaps the big smog would be better. To be honest, I am glad it’s over tournament wise. It’s been an awesome experience, but man, Neil you were right, what a huge job. I honestly don’t know how you did it, taking the photos yourself, writing the articles, and then finding internet access. I have, perhaps we have is a better phrase, been so lucky to have Doug Hanna here to take those amazing photo’s and get them back home so quickly, awesome Doug.

All that remains now is to get everyone on the road again, survive the bus music, dodge the bullets, the beggars, and the crazy drivers, and get on that plane on the really short runway! I wonder this morning if we will see the guys pushing their wheelchair in the middle of the road, or the little girl begging in the traffic…probably. I guess the tournament is the happy part, and memories like those are the sad part. Parents, I expect most of your children will have a whole new appreciation for NZ when they get back, at least for a little while!

Last night we went to the after party function, which was very loud. I managed a whole 5 minutes in the dance area, which makes me an old fart I guess. But the kids loved it! They shook their booty all over the place and didn’t want to come home, and good on them too. The men departed to the bar and chatted with the other team coaches and parents. I didn’t see where the ladies went; I think they stayed with the kids downstairs. New friends were made and lifetime connections forged. That’s another great thing about TKD, all the people in it are so dammed nice.

We hired 4 vans to get us to the airport this morning, provided by our trusty friend Henry the hotel porter, he was awesome to us. Spoke little English, but enough for us to be understood and have a basic conversation. The kids and the adults did a whip around and gave him all their left over Lempira ( dollars) and he appreciated that a lot. He is a very proud man, working hard in a hard environment to put his kids through school, something that not many kids in Tegucigalpa get. He was saying that he had finally gotten his son into the soccer team that use the 1 field the city has. Sometimes it is stuff like that that brings it all home.

Anyway, he got us 4 vans this morning and we piled in the gear for the mad dash to the airport, our last taste of the traffic and the drivers. Coming in to Tegucigalpa airport was a culture shock, but it was nothing like leaving it. Oh we were accustomed to the beggars, but it was the traffic outside the terminal, so congested, and inside was much worse. We got through customs after leaving all our luggage in a corner of the airport, assured that it would get on the plane, and not really assured that we would see it again.

Through the other side, we had to sit in a small section for an hour, before moving upstairs. Standing there was a monk, which raised a few eyebrows with the kids. He even had a rope belt, rosary beads, wooden cross, and sandals. It was here that we heard that cattle class was too full…and we all know what that means! Yep, Dan, Mark and Kelly got bumped up to first class. I still have this vision of Dan waving slowly through the curtains on the plane at us rabble.

I briefly said hello to Master Bos who was waiting for his plane and he said he would see us all soon at the Masters in August. I have to say he did an awesome job, along with Master Marano, given the conditions in Tegucigalpa and the way the locals do things their own unique way. Could be something for us to learn from, no ring marshals needed, no one was late, no confusion between the jury, ring marshal, and main desk. They controlled it all from their control tower in the centre.

By the way Master McPhail, you are famous, at least your fitness test in the BB handbook is. The Canadian Master we had a chat with last night was saying he "stole" it as a base for their tests, thought it was great work, and invited all NZ to his 600 strong Do Jang in Edmington in Canada. Apparently they have accommodation at the training facility he is building for visitors. Yep, roll out of bed and straight on to the Do Jang floor, heaven for some!

Finally we left Tegucigalpa for the US of A and bade a farewell to Honduras. Amazing place, some were happy to go, some like me loved it but wouldn’t put high on the list of places to re-visit.

Oh yes, forgot to mention we met a Kiwi who lives in Tegucigalpa and her partner at the tournament, she is teaching English there and was very surprised to suddenly find herself back in Kiwi land. She lent her voice to the team for a lot of the 2^nd day, which was great. Apparently there is another Kiwi there, but she hasn’t met them yet. She has to carry her passport everywhere she goes, if she is stopped at night without it, she was saying it costs her 3,000 (about $300 NZ) lempira to ‘pay’ her way out of jail time. Yep, amazing place.

Arriving at Houston we were greeted with 36 degrees, coming from Tegucigalpa’s 24, but fortunately the airport is a bit cooler. Although Carlos was certainly sweating as the airport police selected him out, asked him a few questions and ran the dog (a beagle) over all his gear at the baggage claim. You can’t really blame them though, he does look dodgy. You can thank me later Carlos for persuading you that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to buy that stuffed crocodile. I was right.

Walking in Houston terminal is a mission as well, it’s really huge, like I said before. But this time we had a much longer walk to catch the connecting flight to LA, and got to see more of it. Especially these carts that they put people that can’t walk the distance, they travel really fast and you have to watch out, especially as everyone walks on the right here, not the left.

After getting on the plane there was a pretty uneventful trip to LA, except that we did have the world’s friendliest pilot. He introduced himself, and then talked about all sorts of stuff, eg "yaall be careful now, those roads are dangerous out there, I hope yaall have a pleasant stay where ever you are staying, and if yaall have a connecting flight, yaall have a good one". I half expected Daisy Duke to be the co-pilot…worse luck she wasn’t!

Flying into LA, this city is really big (I think I will be saying that a lot). We flew for ages over endless city blocks, industrial areas, roads, highways, 3 separate airports, one military base, and what looked like a huge shopping centre. Our team was met by ‘Ruby’ and the bus driver was ‘Jackson’. Speaking of buses, it just wasn’t the same. No winding down the windows for air-conditioning, no crazy gear changes, smooth fast ride, no music!

Dinner tonight was at Denny’s, but to be honest, I found the food very fatty, like I had swallowed a brick…boiled in fat.

Ok, it’s 2:30 am by my body clock, so off to bed. Disneyland tomorrow, should be a great day for the team.