STATS AND FAVORITES

We had numerous friends and family members asking about all of our favorites when we were visiting in the US after our first year of travel.  We haven’t had a great answer for most of them as it is hard to name a favorite when you have so many different experiences in contrasting places.  However, we thought it would be fun to reminisce about our year and try to come up with a list of some of our favorites.  We also included our first year travel stats for anyone interested in the specifics of our trip.  If you would like to read more about a particular experience, just click on the hyperlink, and you will be taken to the blog post covering that topic.  I hope you enjoy!

Countries: 15

Cities: 48

UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 23

Continents: 4 (Europe, South America, Africa, Asia)

Top Experiences:

1. Il Palio horse race and contrada culture in Siena
2. Hot air balloon ride at sunrise over the temples and pagodas of Bagan
3. Riding camels into the Sahara desert to spend the night camping under the stars
4. Four-day hike with 7 amazing friends on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
5. Two-day hike through Vietnamese jungle to spend the night in the 3^rd largest cave in the world
6. Pampering elephants for a day in Thailand

Friends/family who came to visit us from the US: 17 (2 people twice!)

Friends we randomly were able to see either living/traveling abroad: 8 (2 people twice!)

Total distance traveled:  46,307 miles 

Pictures taken: 13,213 (not including all the photos taken on friends’ cameras or deleted)

Flights: 22

Airbnb rentals: 12

Hotels/Resorts: 16

Nights slept in a tent: 5

Nights slept on a bus: 2

Nights slept on a boat: 2

Number of illnesses/injuries: 2, altitude sickness for both of us (dang it, Peru)

Best Airbnb rental: El Poblado neighborhood, Medellin, Colombia

Worst Airbnb experience: Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia (open living space with beautiful pool but lots of bugs, unexpected and extremely disruptive home improvements, random cleaning/maintenance people just walking right in unannounced)

Favorite hotel/resort: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Favorite meals:

1. Tong Tem Toh, Chiang Mai – outdoor diner specializing in Northern Thai cuisine
2. MK Maison, Marrakech – cutting-edge designer riad serving up a culinary adventure of modern Moroccan/French fusion cuisine in a multi-course tasting menu
3.  Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin, Bangkok – Michelin-starred chef using molecular gastronomy techniques to transform traditional Thai cuisine into an innovative eating experience
4. Rossellini’s, Ravello, Italy – Michelin star restaurant serving creative and traditional Neapolitan cuisine
5. Everything in Japan because we just can’t pick one

Least favorite restaurant traditional dish: Cantonese sea cucumber

Favorite street food:

1. Khao Kha Moo, stewed pork leg, from the cowboy hat lady in Chiang Mai, Thailand
2. Pad thai and garlic chicken from the young guy cooking at a food market stand near our apartment in Chiang Mai, Thailand
3. TIE between two different cultures’ sweet rice-based coconut treats
   Kralan: sticky rice, red beans, sugar, coconut milk, and shredded coconut roasted in specially-prepared bamboo sections on a random street in a rural area of Cambodia
   Bo Bia: thin rice paper wrap filled with sugar cane, shredded coconut, and sesame seeds on many street corners in Hanoi, Vietnam

Worst street food experience: random “meat” on a stick in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Most unique location for a dinner:

1. Ithaa – underwater restaurant surrounded by fish and sharks in the Maldives
2. in the 3^rd largest cave in the world; impressive meal cooked by chefs/porters who carried all the food/supplies 10k through the Vietnamese jungle and chest-high river crossings
3. Restaurant 181 – a revolving restaurant in Munich’s Olympic Tower

Favorite Countries:

1. Japan
2. Thailand
3. Italy

Countries with our Favorite Cuisine:
We loved it so much we had multiple food blogs for these countries

1. Japan (Link)
2. Thailand (Link 1) (Link 2)
3. Morocco (Link 1) (Link 2)

Favorite Cities:

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Siena, Italy
3. Chiang Mai or Bangkok, Thailand (we can’t pick one)

Countries with our Favorite Locals (seeing a trend yet?)

1. Japan
2. Thailand
3. Italy

Country with the best gym etiquette: Japan

Country with the worst gym etiquette: Morocco

Hardest gym rules to follow: Japan

Things we were surprised to find in every country

1. Oreos
2. Smirnoff Ice
3. KFC
4. More Italian restaurants than any other cuisine (sometimes even the local cuisine)
5. Dunkin Donuts (almost)