Global Outing - Our Year Round the World

I had always dreamed of traveling extensively, but I never imagined actually traveling around the world.  It seems that many people put off their dreams in order to pursue a career and the American dream, but April and I decided to live our dreams.  I guess you can say that we have never been individuals to follow the status quo, so this was right up our alley. I can honestly say that this last year was beyond my wildest dreams.  The decision to trade my Blackberry in for a backpack was a scary one, but I don’t regret the decision for a moment.  The memories and experiences of exploring 40 countries and 6 continents is priceless and can never be taken away.  Trust me, we also took enough pictures to capture our memories forever!

Since arriving home, everyone asks me what my favorite place is, and that question is so hard to answer.  I loved the variety of cultures and landscapes we saw and I don’t regret going to any place we visited (even the one‘s we got food poisoning in).  Each country had it’s own unique flavor…but my top 4 list would have to include: China, Southeast Asia, Tanzania Safari, and Croatia. 

When I think back it still amazes me that in the past year we saw The Pyramids, Roman Ruins, Greek Ruins, African Safari, The Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, Angkor Wat, Great Barrier Reef, Machu Picchu, and Iguazu Falls…just to name a few.  Simply amazing!

In addition to exploring the world, I feel like we were introduced to a whole new world…the underwater world! Learning to scuba dive was definitely a highlight of the trip and we were both excited to log over 50 dives during the year. The ocean really is a whole new world and I look forward to diving for the rest of my life.

There is something unique about traveling.  The wonderful people you meet along the way, the amazing places you go, the fun and not so fun experiences you have, the cultures you immerse yourself in, and the amazing memories you create.  My grandma instilled the travel bug in me early in life and the last year has solidified me desire to keep travel as a part of my life.  After being away from home for SOOO long it is wonderful to be back.  Seeing family, friends, our pets, and being back to simple First-world pleasures is wonderful.  I’m sure we both have some new perspectives on life that we’ve gained during our amazing adventure and I look forward to resuming some normalcy of life back home.

When you were a kid, remember when summers seemed to last forever? Then the older you got, the shorter they got? Well, we spent the last year chasing the summer. It was an amazing adventure, filed with sunshine and laughter; and it, too, seemed to fly by. We did a lot this year (Quite possibly the understatement of the year). We literally made a full circle around the world in 13 months from the hustle and bustle of the West to teh serene East. We’ve expanded our comfort zones, tested our limits, and made lifelong friends with people from all around the world. It’s difficult to put such an experience into words.

There were a few universal truths I’ve learned out on the road:
1. Clean clothes are a luxury, especially those from an actual washing machine.
2. Cotton is great. (after many, many months of wearing synthetics)
3. Travel is hell on your feet.
4. People are the same where ever you go.
5. There are some truly amazing people in this world who make everything seem better and I will never forget them.
6. Hot showers rule!
7. Long-term travel isn’t like vacation at all.
8. Regardless of how much you love someone, being with them 24/7, you are going to have a spat or two. (Notice below, we did not keep a tally of arguments!)
9. Travel before the internet is a mystery to me.
10. Life really is beautiful and should be lived like there is no tomorrow. Afterall, you have no guarantees.

One last thing, if you ever need a recommendation for a great vacation spot, I might have one or two!

Final Tally:

Countries: 40
Flights: 35
Trains: 66
Ferries/boats: 53
Buses (>2hrs): 73

Total memory used for photos and videos: 76.75 GB

We’ve been asked a time or two to name only one favorite place. We loved so many places for so many different reasons. I’ll never be able to list only one. The beauty of this world lies in its diversity of cultures and geographies. We are fortunate to have embarked on such an extensive trip, but it has only given us a small taste of what is still left to explore! Traveling has seeped into our veins and will be luring us beyond our front porch for the rest of our days. We feel rejuvenated and are excited to get back to work and replenish our bank accounts! Thanks for sharing the best summer of our lives with us!!

The final few days were spent in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. After not having seen my family for over a year, it was quite a luxury to spend 10 full days at an all-inclusive resort. Our friends, Carol and her daughter AJ also managed to enjoy a few days in the sun. We hung out at the pool, got messages, went shopping, toured ruins, went diving, and ate, ate, and ate some more.

My niece Alley learned how to use my mask and snorkel in the pool and was a natural! It was amazing how she zipped around in the deep section all on her own!

Shannon and my brother-in-law Buster went deep sea fishing. They wrestled a huge Mahi Mahi fish into the boat and had a grand feast for lunch.

We went diving at nearby cenotes, which are freshwater caves. It was a different kind of dive for us. Later we did 2 ocean dives, so I could reach my goal of having 50 dives before returning home. Shannon had already exceeded her 50. My mom was eager to see what was involved in diving, so she joined us on our two final dives of the year.

To see more photos, please click here.

Hearing that the diving is incredible in Caye Caulker, Belize, we caught an hour ferry to the island.  It was a beautiful boat ride: vibrant aqua blue shades mixed with deep royal blue waters!  We spent four lovely nights with the water`s edge at our feet.  Two days we ventured out and did a total of 5 dives.  The first dive site was our favorite without question.  Before we even got into the water, we saw at least a dozen Nurse Sharks swimming directly below our boat.  I was so hurried to get in the water, I broke my mask!  Nearly the entire dive was spent with sharks very near!  We could practically stretch our arms out and touch them!  It was a wild feeling to be swimming with so many sharks!  I couldn`t shake the theme song of Jaws as they circled.

Inbetween our dives, we decided to go snorkel and were absolutely amazed to see two Spotted Eagle Rays!  They were beautiful and graceful.  Shan got some great photos, as always!

This little guy followed us for one entire dive!  He was very curious and would come right up to us.  He was the first of his kind that we ever saw!  His head was completely flat and was ribbed like a cheese grater.  Once back at the dive shop, we learned that he is a type of sucker fish.  He attaches himself to shark and other large sealife.  Apparently, if given an opportunity, he would also attach to divers and leave a huge hickey!

Look at this gigantic turtle!  He must have been one hundred years old!

Golf carts and bicycles are the chosen methods of transport on the island.  Only once did I see a refrigerated meat truck.  Otherwise, it was quiet, calm, and just the pace we liked - SLOW.

I think these dogs have the life!

As we were walking down the main road, we saw a little girl with a cute puppy.  Shan asked if she could pet her puppy and she said, ¨sure.¨   Then she told us that she had a baby duck in her bag if we wanted to hold it.  Shan and I immediately thought she was talking about a toy duck because her bag was so small.  Sure enough, she pulls out a live baby duck!

To see all photos, please click here.

Antigua was a darling cobble-stoned street city with the typical square block grid layout.   We didn´t have much time to fully explore it, but we liked what we saw.  Antigua was mainly a launching pad to say goodbye to all our group members.  The final night was a great farewell!

We took a night bus, supposedly an upgrade with air con and a toilet, to Tikal.  It was the worst overnight bus we´ve ever had.  We were stuck in the very back seat, which was completely vertical and did not lay back at all.  Then, we had three people in our seat to top it off!  Well, for some reason, the baggage was not stored under the bus.  It was in the isle, up above, below your feet and on your lap!  Then, the bus was so crowded, that people were actually seated in the isle floor.  CRAZY!  The air con was off and on all night.  Shan and I didn´t sleep a wink!  When we made it to Tikal, we crashed for the majority of the day.  It was so hot in our room, we had to upgrade to air con.  It´s incredibly hot here!

The next day, we went to the ruins of Tikal.  We awoke at 4:30am to catch a 5:00am bus to avoid the heat of the day.  It was an hour bus ride there and the day gets rather toasty at 8am. The ruins are situated in the middle of a jungle, so we also had a great time spotting animals and critters.  My favorite is the Howler Monkey and they were all over the place.

We climbed nearly every temple that permitted us, but this one was incredibly scary!  The stairs were nearly a ladder!  Going up wasn´t the problem!  It was coming back down and having to inch backwards on the small planks!

To see more photos, please click here.

We had 2 long travel days in a row leaving Granada to Honduras, then from Tegucigalpa to the Honduras island of Utila. The island was small, picturesque, and a perfect beach stop in our tour.

The lure of the underwater world was pulling at us strong after our 4 month haitus. Our last dive was in Australia and we were both really excited to get back under the sea. Honduras and the Central American Caribbean coast is home to the worlds second largest reef (behind the Great Barrier Reef). Our first day on the quaint island we booked 6 dives during our 2 day visit to Utila.

We both had so much fun diving again and the corals were incredible. I was a bit surprised that there were not nearly as many fish as we saw in SE Asia or Australia. I guess different ocean conditions yeild different marine life. We were really hoping to see whale sharks but there were no sightings. We did have a few first sightings though…we spoted a cute sea horse scooting along the sand and a really strange toad fish.

Our group had a fun night out in Utila full of drinking, drama, and gossip. I guess when you get 16 young adults together for 3 weeks, that is what happens!!

I wish we had a few more days to enjoy the island pace…but we were off early on our 3rd day at 5:45 to Copan Ruinas. After another long travel day we arrived in Copan and had a fun dinner out then watched as many in our group took the free salsa lessons at the bar.

The next morning we got up early to take a tour of the Copan ruins. The site is not one of the largest Mayan ruin sites but has some of the best preserved carvings and inscriptions.

We had not been to any temples/ruins since Machu Picchu so it was nice to get back to some history. We had a great time at Copan and then headed out in the afternoon for Guatemala!!

To see more Honduras photos, click here.

The island of Ometepe consists of two volcanoes as seen above. Shan and I decided to go horseback riding along the beach and to the waterhole. My horse was a bit of a spazz; he would slow to a snails pace, then bolt back up to Shan´s horse. I´m not crazy about horseback riding as it is, so it didn´t take long before I hopped off.

Once at the waterhole, we took a quick dip and I headed back to the hotel in a cab. Shan said that as she was riding back with the guide and my empty horse, all the locals looked concerned with the missing rider!

We spent more time bonding with the other tour members and that night there was a huge Cane Toad. It is pictured above with a mens´size 13 sandal!

Nicaragua uses the USA´s old school buses as their local transporation. It was funny to see them all over the place. We even had the priveledge to ride one for nearly 6 hours in the sweltering heat! No question on how I spent my time. Funny thing… I remember them being more spacious. My feet didn´t even touch in those days!

Once we arrived in Granada, we had a more refreshing and airy transport.

The following day, we took an all day excursion to visit a local pottery maker, crater lake, bat cave, prior political prison, and volcano craters. Of course, we threw in some shopping along the way.

The end of the excursion was the hike up to the volcano crater. The guides told us that the gases were a ´little toxic´ and that they were very strong that night. They offered us gas masks and with some confidence, we ventured up to the rim to steal a glimpse of the glowing red lava. We literally stood on the edge and looked into the crater. Within seconds, we were hacking up our lungs! We simply could not stop coughing from all the painful gases. We ran back to the van without seeing the highlight of the trip! Needless to say, the masks didn´t work.

For additional photos, please click here.

After many months of travel on our own we signed up for a GAP Adventures tour for 17 days in Central America. It is really nice to have someone else worry about all of the nitty gritty details of booking hotels, arranging transport…etc. We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica and met up with our 16 person group for a meeting and dinner in the evening. We only spent a day in the country´s capital and that seemed like plenty of time for us. If there was charm to the city, we did not really see it. (besides these silly decorated cows all over the city)

The next morning we jetted (well, okay we bused) off to the town of La Fortuna, a cute little town at the foot of the Arenal Volcano. The tour we are on is called the Volcano Trail and trust me we got to see a lot of volcanos! The evening that we arrived we signed up for an afternoon jungle and volcano walk.

We spotted a tucan, monkeys, strange beatles, and many other wild animals in the jungle…but the highlight of the night was after sunset! The Arenal volcano is an active volcano (the worlds longest running active volcano) and we were lucky enough to get a nice lava show. The lava is different than the lava I imagined. Instead of flowing out of the mountain in a liquid state, this lava turns solid below the surface and catapults out of the mountain in gigantic red molten boulders. Standing a safe 2 km from the volcano we got to watch the explosive bus-sized boulders burst our of the mountain and tumble and crumble down its side. I was not able to get any photos of the lava as we were too far away and it was too dark.

Next we headed off to a quaint little town, Monteverde. The highlight of my time there was the canopy zip-line tour I did with several other group members. April opted out and visited the Insectarium, where she got to see and hold a few really creepy looking bugs.

The zip line tour was intense with 14 zip lines, 1 rappel, and 1 tarzan swing. The longest zip line was 775 meters long and several hundered meters off the ground (pretty scary). The scariest part was the tarzan swing as the guides literally push you off a ledge and you swing through the jungle. Yikes!

Next up on the Volcano Trail…Nicaragua!

Costa Rica photos

We heeded the many warnings fellow travelers had given us about Lima.  We booked a nice hostel in one of the safest areas of Lima which overlooked the Pacific Ocean.  Lima is a sprawling city with 7 million people!  After our recent locals, the hustle and bustle was a jostling change of pace.  However, Lima ended up being a low-key destination for us.  Having spent the my birthday in transit, we treated ourselves to a lovely meal that evening.  We did a bit of shopping and touring around the city.  We ran into a friend we met in Copacabana, Bolivia proving, once again, how small the world really is!   It´s always exciting to see someone you know in a foreign country! 

To see more photos, please click here.

After bidding farwell to Cusco we jumped on a quick flight over to Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon Jungle.  Not knowing really what to expect from the world’s largest rainforest, I was a bit nervous.  After a 1.5 hour boat trip we arrived at our deluxe jungle lodge, Eco Amazonia. 

We checked into our bungalow, ate lunch, then headed out on an excursion to Monkey Island.  Luckily we were treated to up close visits with 3 species of monkeys.  The spider monkey was the largest and most aggressive of the monkeys and it even jumped on the backs of two of the tourists and got a free ride on our hike. 

 There was also this cute little monkey who followed us around for an hour and a half, until our guide finally gave him a banana to eat.  He did not even look like a monkey…but he was SUPER cute!

Our second day in the jungle was our most adventurous as we took a 12 km hike and boat trip through the jungle.  As it was the rainy season in the jungle and the paths were a muddy mess.  We had to wear knee high rubber boots and watch out from getting stuck in the mud. 

The jungle was thick and dense vegitation, huge trees, and all kinds of creepy crawlies!! 

Tarantulas…

Mean ants that could kill a baby or paralyze an adult….

And the paw prints of a Jaguar…

On our 3rd day, we took a nice boat ride up the river, tried our luck (or shall I say…lack there of) at fishing, went swimming at the lodge, and took some time to kick back and relax in the hammocks and enjoy sunset on the river.

One funny story at the lodge was April’s little stalker.  There was this crazed wild turkey that had it out for her and really hated her.  Everytime she walked around the lodge it would try and swoop down at her and attack her.  She ended up carrying around her hiking stick where ever she went to fend off attack!  Too funny!

On a happier note, the “pet” Macaws at the lodge were incredibly beautiful and elegant.

To see more Amazon Jungle photos, Click Here.