The adventure is not quite over, but we landed at LAX on October 22nd and finally completed our circle around the globe. We left from this same airport on January 13th of this year to start a journey that took us through 29 countries, and all seven continents. Phil and Meredith were nice enough to make the trip to LA and welcome us back to the west coast. Fish tacos and craft beer rounded out our evening as we got caught with up the San Diegans. Now that we are …

After the traditional ferry crossing to Morocco and a two hour time change, we landed in Tangier. We stayed here just for a day before jumping on the train to Fez. We walked our feet off around the old medina and kasbah. We walked towards the new town and dipped our toes in the Mediterranean and took in views of Spanish coast from the other side. The time change, skipping breakfast, and the trouble locating the rental car return had thrown our eating schedule off, so at four o’clock or …

For the last five days, we got to catch up with a friend who volunteered for the Peace Corps and was placed in Albania. The high speed ferry from Corfu only takes thirty minutes and Lesley met us on the other side for lunch. The town where we landed, Sarande, is quite touristy, including a promenade along the water. After lunch and a 40 minute bus ride (20 kilometers) to Ksamil, we settled into her apartment and walked around town shopping for dinner. We were excited that we could cook …

Our trip from Zagreb to Corfu involved a slight detour to a third country, Hungary. After a seven-hour train ride to Budapest, we had a few hours to figure out how to get to the airport. Fortunately a train goes there from the station downtown, unfortunately it leaves from the other train station. So, we had to get some cash, figure out the trolley system to get across town, and get on another train. We got to the airport right before they closed the check-in counter, and got through security …

The town of Hvar was a great place to relax for a few days. The tourist season was waning for the island, which made it a good time to come and enjoy the place with fewer crowds. Our apartment was conveniently located just off the main square, giving us easy access to the beach, coffee shops, the old fort, and the shops on the narrow streets of the old town.
After a bit of confusion finding our apartment, we got settled in and set out to explore the town. At …

Our trip to Dubrovnik was a little longer than expected because the plane left Istanbul took off almost two hours late so we missed our connecting flight in Zagreb. Zagreb’s International airport is quite small, but still has room for two European outdoor cafes. We played a travel game and had some Croatian beer and wine.
We got into Dubrovnik at night so we had new fantastic views waiting for us in the morning. To get an idea of the old walled city, we spent the morning making a complete …

The great thing about low season is that it’s quiet and prices plummet. The bad thing, no one is around and it’s low season for a reason. On the Andaman Coast, this means storms which also means no diving. Had we elected to go to ultra-touristy islands like Phuket or Ko Samui we would have had the chance, but in Khao Lak there aren’t even boats in the water.

We spent the rest of our time in Thailand just relaxing and taking the short walk to town at least twice …

Almost 30 years after Heather’s dad visited the Philippines, we ended up staying with the same lovely Puray family in Davao City. We welcomed the change of pace, having real local guidance and an entire house complete with all of it’s amenities.
One of the most interesting things to us was the various different forms of transport. On our first full day out, we rode in four different kinds of vehicles. First, a motorcycle with an attached frame big enough to squeeze in 10 people, plus the driver and usually …

Heat, sun, sand, and fish all welcomed us to Queensland. Apparently we haven’t spent enough time at the beach, so here we go again. We’ll head north again in three weeks.
The first stop was Cairns. There certainly was a bigger celebration in Sydney, but we experienced ANZAC Day up north instead. It is the Aussie version of Memorial Day, and celebrated in much the same way. We got a head start on the occasion by eating a whole bag of ANZAC biscuits (a delicious oatmeal and coconut cookie) a few …

We were excited to finally get off the plane after a 10.5 hour flight, but just ended up in the airport with no idea what to do next. This is the first place on our trip that we didn’t really plan on visiting, it was just a layover on the flight to New Zealand that we extended from two hours to six days, so we didn’t really bother to figure out what there was to do here. A quick check at the airport ticket counter revealed that flights to other …