One year, twenty four countries. It’s been a wild ride. We wanted to do a quick recap of the places we’ve been, so we borrowed an idea from our kiwi friends. Simple and quick – we are giving you a quick overview of the countries we’ve visited and some of our highlights from each one.
United States
Home sweet home. We spent most of our time in early 2019 in Minnesota. There was a little time in Wisconsin, Iowa, New Mexico and Colorado as well. We are ending our year here as well. It feels good to be back in our homeland exploring and starting the next leg of our trip.
Highlight: Skiing in Taos, NM and staying at the amazing Hotel Luna Mystica with our friends. Taos is a really cool town and we can’t wait to explore more of the southwest.
Mexico
Before we had planned our big adventure, we booked a trip to Mexico with two friends from the east coast. Spending a week on the Baja Peninsula was a perfect way to unwind and celebrate our big decision.
Highlight: Our hike on the Sugar Point Trail plus all the amazing cheap tacos in our little beach town.
New Zealand
In a little rental car, we explored the two main islands in New Zealand for six weeks. It was the perfect place to start our global trek. The only real challenge was driving on the opposite side of the road, but that was conquered immediately.
Highlight: Our weekend on the west coast in Punakaiki. It was secluded and definitely the most beautiful place we stayed on our trip.
Indonesia
Bali is just one island in Indonesia, but it was the place we called home for a month after NZ. It was a perfect introduction to the heat and humidity. It was great for our skin, but we weren’t prepared for the amount of sweating we would do. We got over it quickly as we explored the island and fell in love with the laid back pace and wonderful people.
Highlight: Because the food can’t really be considered as one specific highlight, the top spot goes to our time in Sidemen.
Singapore
This city was love at first sight. It’s like the clean and eco friendly version of NYC. The price tag kept our trip short, but we made sure to make a return trip on our way back out of SE Asia. We even started job searching while staying here.
Highlight: Visiting the Cloud Forest for a little air conditioning while in the middle of a June heatwave.
Vietnam
This was the first place that challenged us. It was a mix of the heat and the struggle to find food that we liked. We were lucky enough to explore the country with two of our best friends and so many memories were made.
Highlight: All of the memories with our friends were gems, but our highlight was probably the strange day we spent at BaNa Hills.
Cambodia
With just a week in Siem Riep, our main goal was to explore Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. We learned a lot about the Khmer Rouge and so many horrible things we had never heard about before traveling. Aside from the horrific events in the past, we learned so much about the people of Cambodia now and met some wonderful people.
Highlight: The Phare Circus was one of our favorite nights on the whole trip. We watched the most incredibly talented performers and will not forget it.
Laos
This is one of our favorite places from the whole year. We stayed in Luang Prabang and it was a wonderful town on the banks of the Mekong River. If we could have rearranged our trip, this is the place we would have stayed longer and we can’t wait to return.
Highlight: Our tour with Orange Robe Tours was definitely a highlight here. We learned so much about Buddhism and had a great experience.
Thailand
We took some time to slow down in Thailand. We slowly explored Chiang Mai and its temples and variety of restaurants. Then we went south to the island of Koh Pha Ngan. The island life was perfect for us to relax a little bit. The beaches of Thailand did not disappoint.
Highlight: Our time on the island with the motorbike and tons of different beaches to explore.
Malaysia
With one week to explore, we kept our visit to Malaysia to the biggest city – Kuala Lumpur. It’s such a mixture of different cultures and religions. We ate lots of different cuisines here and learned about a few new religions.
Highlight: Getting to tour the Wilayah Mosque was one of the coolest things we did while in Malaysia. We had an amazing tour guide and learned so much about the religion itself and the beautiful mosque.
Australia
With one month in Australia, we spent most of our time on the road. First, we did a road trip with Mom H for her birthday visiting wineries and some of the big cities on the east coast. The second half of our time was spent exploring in a camper van. It was incredible being able to test out life in a van.
Highlight: Camping in the Outback was one of the coolest things we did. Just miles of red dirt and nothing else.
Namibia
We both wish we could have spent so much more time slowly exploring this beautiful country. With two weeks in a roof tent, we were in heaven. We fell asleep under a sky full of stars every night and the sound of Warthogs snorting outside the tent.
Highlight: ALL THE ANIMALS. We saw almost every animal we dreamed of seeing and every moment was incredible.
France
When Justin’s parents came to town, the bulk of our time was spent exploring a few places in France. Paris was our long stay, but we also visited Colmar and Strasbourg in the Alsace region. We also got to sneak in a little mountain time in Grenoble.
Highlight: Strasbourg was one of our favorite European cities. We stayed two nights in one of our favorite AirBnBs and enjoyed the city with our visitors.
Czech Republic
A week in Prague after a night in Cesky Krumlov was a great introduction to the Czech Republic. We were able to connect with other friends in Prague and even had a little time to relax and settle a little bit. It’s a great country with lots of history and beautiful buildings.
Highlight: Our night in Cesky Krumlov was incredible and the PERFECT intro to the eastern part of Europe. We ate great food and stayed in the shadows of the castle.
Poland
This country was a wonderful surprise for us. It was extremely affordable and beautiful. We visited two cities in the southern region and ate lots of Pierogies.
Highlight: The city of Wroclaw was an impulsive add to our itinerary due to the low cost lodging and it turned out to be such a perfect place for us to explore for a few days.
Slovakia
Our original plan was to spend a few nights in Bratislava, but the more we researched, the more we wanted to explore the mountain regions of Slovakia as well. We went from Poland straight into the High Tatras and had the best couple days hiking and hanging out in the fog. Once we got to Bratislava, we went to a hockey game for the local team and ate some amazing meals.
Highlight: Our long hike in the mountains fell on a morning where the fog lifted just in time for us to see the beautiful lake and surrounding peaks.
Hungary
We didn’t see much of this country outside of Budapest. We got to the city and there was so much to explore that we skipped any ideas of day trips to other places. With a centrally located apartment, we were able to explore the city on foot and that’s our favorite way.
Highlight: Spending a day exploring the Buda side of the river with the castle, the fisherman’s bastion and all the incredible historical buildings.
Croatia
Sadly, we had a pretty short stay in Croatia – just five days. We can’t wait to come back and explore more in the future, especially the coast. The days we were there were a little rainy, but we just took advantage of a little down time.
Highlight: We found the best restaurant in Zagreb – so good we went back more than once.
Slovenia
Another small country that left a big spot on our hearts. We divided our time between the capital, the mountains and the coast. It’s impossible to pick a favorite part of the country, because it has a little bit of everything.
Highlight: The Julian Alps were absolutely magical. We spent a few days in Bled exploring the lake and surrounding mountains.
Italy
Italy was a quick stopover in the middle of our Slovenian exploration. Trieste was a great seaside town to explore and enjoy. Pizza and pasta were eaten and loved.
Highlight: Miramare Castle was located just outside of the city center and we spent one of our days exploring this beautiful castle.
Austria
This was a two part visit. We stopped in Salzburg after our time in France and then we returned after Slovenia, but this time, we went to Vienna. There were lots of articles that said that Vienna was the best spot for Christmas markets so we thought it would be a great place to kick off our winter season.
Highlight: The Christmas market pictured above had the most amazing local artisans and live animals to hang out with. It became an instant favorite for us.
Germany
This was another two part visit. We flew into Frankfurt and met Mom & Dad G in late September. We returned to Germany and visited a few new cities and their Christmas markets. Berlin was amazing and we can’t wait to return with a little more time to explore (and maybe a little warmer weather).
Highlight: Cologne’s Christmas market was the best one we visited. Aside from that special holiday moment, Berlin was definitely our favorite.
Belgium
Brussels was our only destination in Belgium this time. We spent three days exploring the city. So many people had made comments that they didn’t really care for Brussels, but we thought it was awesome. We got some great recommendations from people we had met and they did not disappoint.
Highlight: We spent a day without a plan just wandering the streets and it was amazing.
The Netherlands
Amsterdam was an incredible place to end our international trip. Wandering through the canals and visiting a couple museums, we just fell in love with the beautiful city. It’s clean and there is so much to do. The Anne Frank House was a must do for us and it was extremely powerful (but feels weird to call something so dark a “highlight”).
Highlight: Our favorite vegan meal of the trip came from the Vegan Junkfood Bar. We loved it so much that we ordered it three times.
A Final Recap
It was a crazy year filled with so many adventures. There aren’t any countries that we regret visiting, but there were definite favorites. Namibia, Laos and Slovenia are at the top of the list for both of us. Mountains of any kind seem to rank high on our happiness scale.
We are super excited for the next leg in our trip and being able to explore more of the US. Hope you all had an amazing holiday and wishing you a happy new year.
