It’s a fact of life that things go wrong. In thirteen months of travel, it is unavoidable to have a few minor disasters along the way, even with proper planning and taking precautions to keep yourself healthy. Fortunately for us, the things that went wrong weren’t too terrible, although at the time we may have […]
As I write this, I am on the airplane, taking our final flight from Los Angeles to New York City. This is a very hard post to write, one that I have thought about for months, one that I knew I would have to write, and one that I have not looked forward to. As […]
With just one week remaining of our 396 day journey around the world, how are feeling about finally returning to the USA? Honestly, we are ready to come home. We are actually looking forward to it, which I would have found hard to imagine just a few months ago.The four of us are exhausted…this traveling […]
Tokyo has so much to see and do. We were here for a week (the final international destination of our around the world trip in 2014 and 2015) and barely scratched the surface of this amazing place. We visited the main neighborhoods of Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, and Akihabara, as well as made it out of […]
While getting ready in the morning, I was greeted with Tyler’s typical question, “Mom, what are we doing today?” When I asked them if they wanted to feed deer in Nara, I got a half-hearted yes from both Tyler and Kara. When I asked if they wanted to see more temples, I got an emphatic […]
Our most anticipated day in Japan came on July 17…we had tickets to watch sumo wrestling in Japan, something we have been talking about for months now. I have to say, we have become lackadaisical travelers…rarely planning anything in advance anymore, showing up to new countries and cities having no idea what to see, do, […]
Since arriving in Japan, we have been sightseeing at warp speed. The clock is ticking…in just two short weeks our amazing adventure will be coming to a conclusion and we will be back in Columbia, Maryland. Feeling the need to squeeze every ounce that we can out of these last few weeks, we are out […]
Hiroshima is the site where the first of two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan during World War II. I had imagined Hiroshima to be a radioactive wasteland, a terrible, lingering reminder of the horror of WWII. As we learned on our day trip to Hiroshima, that is not the case at all. Hiroshima is […]
Konnichiwa! We are now in Japan, our final country before heading home to the United States. At the time that I am writing this we have only been in Japan for four days and it is quickly becoming one of our favorite countries. I know it sounds like I have a lot of favorites but Japan […]
Jeju, a small island off of the southern coast of South Korea, is a hotspot of tourism for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tourists. The island is dotted with UNESCO World Heritage Sites, hiking trails, shopping areas, small amusement parks, various museums, and beaches. We heard great things about Jeju so we devoted most of our […]
It was our last night in Seoul. I had just finished doing the laundry and preparing our things for our early flight to Jeju the next morning. It was 9 pm and Tim and I were hungry so we decided to go out and get a quick bite to eat. Leaving Tyler and Kara in […]
We had just 48 hours in Seoul, just enough time to see the capital of South Korea before flying south to the island of Jeju, South Korea’s playground. While planning our time in South Korea, I read that there was not much to see and do in Seoul. One day is sufficient and two days are […]
The main reason we visited Kuala Lumpur was to see the Petronas Towers. We have an affinity for visiting the world’s tallest buildings and our list would not be complete without climbing the Petronas Twin Towers. We flew here from Singapore, just a short, cheap flight away, and stayed in Kuala Lumpur for two days. […]
Singapore, a city that is also a country, is the closest that we would get to the equator on our trip around the world. We were just 137 kilometers (85 miles) from the equator and wow, could we tell! This is one hot city. We spent four days in Singapore, walking around in the sticky […]
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 […]
Did you know that Australia is home to more species of animal than any other country in the world that can kill you? Did you know that there are people in Australia crazy enough to pick them up and show them to you? Most people are familiar with Steve Irwin, aka the Crocodile Hunter, who […]
Before the start of our year long trip, we all had an activity that was a “must do.” For Kara, that “must do” activity was to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We were all in agreement that we could not visit Australia without paying a visit to this natural wonder of the world, […]
Many people who travel to Australia visit Uluru. How can you miss seeing Australia’s most popular natural attraction? But there is a lot more out here than just a large, red rock plunked down in the outback. It can be hard to justify flying all the way to the Red Centre, only to spend a […]