Julie RTW 55 Comments

This is a recap of the first 12 months of our trip around the world. So, here we are, 32 countries visited, 365 days of travel, and thousands of memories made.

Here is a recap of our year, shown with our 100 favorite photos. In no particular order at all, here are some of our best moments, favorite spots, and unforgettable things we have done. Most captions link back to the post for anyone interested. Enjoy!

365 Days of Travel

Our year around the world began in Rome, Italy.  Here are Tyler and Kara, on day three of the trip, happy to be in Italy, eating pasta, and wondering just what this year holds in store for us.

Italy with Kids

 

We love taking these goofy family photos. We shoot a few serious ones but the crazy ones are our favorites.  Here we are in Tuscany, at the very beginning of our adventure, fresh, clean, a little naive, and ready for anything.

Earth Trekkers Italy

 

A hot air balloon ride over Bagan, Myanmar.

Myanmar Balloons

 

Trekking back from Everest Base Camp. Our guide, Indra, is leading the way.

Trekking Nepal

 

On safari at Kruger National Park in South Africa, we took a sunrise excursion to look for lions and hit the jackpot. Isn’t she a beauty?

Lion

 

Hiking the Puez-Odle Altopiano in the Dolomites, Italy.

Italy View

 

Pure fun…riding ostriches while on the Garden Route of South Africa.

Ostrich Riding

 

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful building in the world.

Grand Mosque

 

Hiking Kings Canyon in Australia.

Kings Canyon

 

Tyler with the holy men in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Tyler Rivenbark Nepal

 

Setting off lanterns on New Years Eve in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Lanterns

 

Beautiful Vernazza, one of our favorite views while hiking along the Cinque Terre in Italy.

Vernazza

 

Auckland, New Zealand, a beautiful city in one of the world’s most beautiful countries.

Auckland

 

Bayon…I never knew this existed before coming to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  The world is full of surprises.

Bayon

 

Tuk tuks and motorbikes on the streets of Varanasi, India.

India Street

 

Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. This was taken in September 2014. Everything from the face up was destroyed in the earthquakes that hit Nepal in April and May 2015.

Kathmandu

 

Fiji has the best sunsets.

Fiji Sunset

 

Great White Shark cage diving in South Africa, one of the coolest things we have done.

shark

 

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.

Shwedagon

 

Going on safari at Chobe National Park in Botswana was probably our favorite activity of the entire year. The amount  of wildlife we saw was amazing, as was sleeping out in tents at night, hearing lions and other animals off in the distance.

Botswana

 

Walking through the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam.

Hanoi

 

Going on a camel safari in the Indian desert just outside of Jaisalmer.

Camel Safari

 

Hiking in Wanaka, New Zealand.

Hiking New Zealand

 

Mt Everest seen from our flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to Paro, Bhutan.

Himalayas

 

Zebras and their reflections, on safari at Kruger National Park.

Zebras

 

The Star Ferry in Hong Kong.

Star Ferry

 

Looking up from the courtyard of the campanile in Siena, Italy.

In Siena

 

One of many spectacular wood carvings on the buildings in Bhutan.

Woodworking

 

The storybook castle of Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany.

Bavaria

 

Driving the Sani Pass from South Africa into Lesotho.

Sani Pass

 

In Vietnam, it is amazing what people carry on their motorbikes.  This is one of our favorites.

Ducks

 

Longtail boats of Krabi, Thailand.

Thai Boats

 

Sunset in the Sydney Harbor, Australia.

Sydney Australia

 

On safari in Kruger National Park again, this time capturing the ostriches who are posing perfectly for a photo.

Ostriches

 

Touring the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

Mekong Delta

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia was one of our favorite places we visited.

Earth Trekkers Cambodia

 

That’s quite a cigar!  Meeting the people in Bagan, Myanmar.

Old Lady

 

Sunset in Florence, Italy.

Photographing Florence

 

A Nepali girl we passed on our Everest Base Camp Trek, photo taken at Namche Bazaar.

Nepal Girl

 

Shanghai is one of the world’s largest and most crowded cities but it sure does clear out when it rains!

Street Signs

 

Cycling the Li River Valley in Yangshuo, China.

Yangshuo

 

A different perspective of the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal

 

Cycling the Marlborough wine region in New Zealand.

Marlborough

 

Trashi Chhoe Dzong in Thimpu, Bhutan.

Dzong

 

Rock climbing in Krabi, Thailand.  Kara was a natural and she may have found herself a new sport to pursue once we are back in Maryland.

Kara Rivenbark

 

Angkor Wat through the haze.

Angkor Wat

 

New Zealand is filled with awe inspiring views.

Roys Peak

 

Visiting a floating market on the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

Coconuts

 

Making it to Everest Base Camp…challenging, rewarding, an accomplishment to be proud of.

Everest with Kids

 

Posing in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Da Nang

 

Selva di Cadore, our home base in the Dolomites, Italy.  This is a place I want to return to.

Selva di Cadore

 

Krabi, Thailand was one of our favorite places…for the rock climbing, island hopping out to Koh Phi Phi, the beaches, and the place where we celebrated Christmas.

Phra Nang Beach

 

Playing soccer in Eswatini.

Swaziland Soccer

 

Walking the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Thamel

 

The quintessential Vietnamese scene… rice fields just outside of Hoi An.

Rice Fields

 

I am so glad Tyler urged us to do this and we all had the courage to go through with it, Bungy jumping in New Zealand.

Julie Rivenbark

 

It takes several hours to hike to this viewpoint, the Tigers Nest in Bhutan.  This monastery is built into the cliff walls high above the ground.

Tigers Nest

 

Another favorite memory, feeding the African Elephants just outside of Knysna, South Africa.  We LOVED this, feeding them fruit, getting slimed, watching these elephants push each other’s trunks out of the way.  This was pure fun and after this, no elephant encounter in Asia even came close to just how awesome this was.

Feeding Elephants

 

This is paradise.  Modriki Island, Fiji.

Monuriki

 

While driving through the South Island of New Zealand, it is hard to go far without stopping to take yet another photograph.  We caught the morning mist perfectly when driving from Queenstown to Wanaka.

Mist

 

What’s better than meeting a Vietnamese man and his buffalo? Getting a chance to sit on it, too.

Kara in Da Nang

 

Tim’s view while hiking through the Dolomites, Italy.

Tim in Italy

 

Entrance to a Buddhist monastery while trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal.

Monastery Gate

 

It was always wonderful having our Moms join us.  Here we are at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls

 

It’s so colorful and perfect that it is hard to believe it’s real…Rothenburg, Germany.

Rothenburg

 

Victoria Terminus train station in Mumbai, India. I spy only two women.

India Train Station

 

Another hike through the Dolomites.  Other than Norway, the Dolomites in Italy is our favorite place in the world to go hiking.

Hiking Dolomites

 

The only good thing about Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam, was our sunset dinner on the beach.  We dined on fresh grilled fish and drank Saigon beer.

Sunset Dinner

 

Sliding down the Great Wall of China.

Great Wall China

 

Motorbikes and European architecture in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Vietnam

 

Nighttime city scene in Taipei, Taiwan.

Taipei

 

Queenstown, New Zealand, one of our favorite cities.  This is where we got our “crazy” on, bungy jumping, jet boat riding, and paragliding.

Queenstown NZ

 

Visiting some of the best ruins in Thailand, Sukhothai.

Sukhothai

 

Tim’s towering height was fairly common all over Asia. This photo was taken at a village in Laos.

Tim in Laos

 

We could not resist giving money to this family, just outside of Mandalay, Myanmar.

Kids

 

Mountain biking in New Zealand.

Mountain Biking

 

A surprise moment came in Zhangjiajie, China during the Lantern Festival.  Tim and I went out, curious about the festivities.  I stood on a stepladder in order to take photos of the crowd, not at all expecting to become the main attraction. With my position up on the stepladder, all eyes and cameras turned towards me and I got my five minutes of fame.

The Corwd

 

Sheep crossing in New Zealand with Mt Cook in the background.

Sheep

 

Sunrise on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.

Varanasi

 

Watching the sunset from Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

 

The Bridge of Sighs in Venice, Italy.

Venice

 

While on safari at Chobe National Park in Botswana, we got lucky with a lion pride sighting.  To the right were the lions and to the left were these elephants at play.  Getting so lucky with both of these sightings within 20 meters of each other with our safari jeep sandwiched in between was a safari dream come true.  As Kara succinctly stated, “How are we getting so lucky with this?!”

Elephants

 

Here are the lions, watching from the other side of our safari jeep.

Lion Cubs

 

My favorite view in Sydney, Australia.  Watching the sunset from Luna Park.

Sydney Photography

 

A three day cruise on Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

Ha Long Bay

 

Exploring the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia.  If only Indiana Jones looked this cool.

Tyler

 

How often do you get to see that…

Zambia

 

Almost as fun as feeding those elephants in South Africa, feeding kangaroos in Tasmania was fun for the whole family.

Feeding Kangaroos

 

Walking through the rice fields, one of our favorite activities in Bali.

Walking Bali

 

Bagan, Myanmar, one of the best sunset spots in the world.

Sunset

 

In our opinion, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is New Zealand’s best single day hike.

Tongariro

 

I love capturing our kids capturing the sights on their iPods.  Here we are viewing Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Florence with Kids

 

For several days we explored Zhangjiajie, China, the landscape was the inspiration for the scenery in the movie “Avatar.”

Zhangjiajie

 

On the way to Everest Base Camp in Nepal.  We love meeting the children along the way.

365 days of travel

 

Another view of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.  This was our first shiny, golden pagoda and it made quite an impression on us.

Gold

 

The two day cruise down the Mekong River from Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos was unexpectedly awesome.  We only spent one week in Laos but we should have stayed longer.

Mekong Laos

 

Heading back from Everest Base Camp.  The scenery is always changing and always magnificent.

Nepal with Kids

 

Watching the sun going down over Venice, a view that we would never get tired of.

Gondola

 

Like the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi made quite an impression on us.  There are five more amazing photos of this building sitting in my hard drive that could be included in this post.

Hallway

 

And, so here it ends with a final family photo from one of our favorite spots in the world, New Zealand.  It has been a spectacular year with just a little more time to go.  Here’s to making the most of it!

Earth Trekkers Family


Read More About Our Journey Around the World

AROUND THE WORLD: How to Plan a Trip Around the World
AROUND THE WORLD ITINERARY: Our Around the World Itinerary: 13 Months & 35 Countries
AROUND THE WORLD RECAP: One Year Around the World
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY: Travel Photography Gear Guide: What’s in Our Camera Bag
TRAVEL BLOGGING: My Life as a Travel Blogger…An Unexpected Adventure
WORST TRAVEL MOMENTS: Worst Moments While Traveling Around the World

 

Around the World Travel Photos

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Comments 55

  1. Avatar for Jen Bell
    Jen Bell

    Awesome and inspiring! Thank you for sharing some of your photos. What a life-changing achievement to spend a year travelling the world.

  2. Avatar for Cecilia
    Cecilia

    These photos are breathtaking and inspiring!! I cannot stoped thinking: What a unique and happy childhood are these kids living , so much adventure, knowledge and awareness at such a young age. Thanks for sharing!!

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