We can’t believe that our first full year of traveling around the world has come to an end. Looking back, we are still amazed at what we were able to do, see, and eat. Different friends visited us in almost every country making the journey that much more special. We are so thankful for this opportunity and appreciate how understanding and flexible the companies that we work for have been. My company, GeneDx, has a zebra as a mascot, Zee O’rare, in honor of rare genetic diseases. The company has a friendly competition where everyone who goes on vacation takes pictures with Zee at their destination and writes a story. Although we technically weren’t on vacation, we wanted to bring Zee along for the ride as we embarked on our adventure. Here is our story summarizing our first year around the world through Zee’s eyes.
England
Zee’s journey started in London. We spent 10 days touring the city and figuring out the ins and outs of Airbnb living and working from home in a foreign country. Zee enjoyed riding the London Eye and visiting Big Ben.
Italy
Zee’s first full month stop was in Siena, Italy. He was extremely excited to see his cousins race in the famous Palio. We got front row seats to see the horses race around the main square, Piazza del Campo, and to see the medieval celebration parade. We cheered loud when our contrada (neighborhood) the Porcupines had their flag guys march by in the parade.
Out of all the places we visited this year, Siena was one of Zee’s favorites. From crashing contrada parties to visiting the contrada museums to watching Lupa (she-wolves) win its second consecutive Palio, visiting Siena during race month was something truly special and unlike anything else in the world.
While in Siena, Zee also enjoyed a weekend trip to visit Florence for a bit of culture. The unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo in the Galleria dell’Accademia gave a new appreciation for the difficulty and sheer genius that goes into carving these magnificent statues. Of course, the David is one of the most impressive works of art that Zee has ever seen.
We also met our first visitors in Italy on the Amalfi coast. We spent 10 days with Jen and Kari enjoying beautiful views by boat and by foot hiking the Path of the Gods. Zee loved the views of the coastal cities from the water.
Germany
Our second full month stop was in Munich, Germany. The highlight of our time in Munich was going to Oktoberfest with our friends Adam and Julie. However, Zee is under-age, so we couldn’t take him to the parties with us. Zee loves fairytales and castles, so our drive along the Romantic Road was the portion of Germany that he enjoyed the most. Neuschwanstein was magical but the smaller, elaborate Linderhof was also particularly beautiful with magnificent fountains, gardens, and even an underground grotto complete with music, a waterfall, and rainbow-colored lights.
Austria
We took a quick day trip to Salzburg in Austria while we were staying in Munich. Mozart’s hometown was quaint with an elaborate castle on the hill and a cute shopping street. Unfortunately, Zee was sick that day and wasn’t able to make the trip with us.
Belgium
We took a long weekend trip to Belgium with our friends Adam and Julie, who came to Oktoberfest with us in Munich. As Belgian beer is my favorite and Adam is Jimmy’s brewing buddy from our days in North Carolina, our focus was definitely on tasting all the local brews. Since Adam is in the brewery business, he was even able to get Zee a special pass to join us this time. One of Zee’s favorite beers was the Lou Pepe Framboise 2008, a raspberry sour ale, at Cantillon, a brewery that specializes in traditional lambics (sours).
After a few drinks, Zee went on to ponder the significance of the famous statue of Brussels, the Mannequin Pis.
We also took Zee on a day trip to the breathtaking city of Bruges, but Zee only had one thing on his mind. More Belgian quads and sours to taste…and here we found one of the largest samplers we’ve ever seen.
Morocco
Marrakech, Morocco was the city of extremes. Loud, crowded streets were off-set by elaborately-decorated riads for peaceful dinners and gorgeous sunsets above the craziness. The highlight of our time in Morocco was a long weekend trip over the Atlas mountains and through ancient cities and oasis. We took a camel ride into the Sahara desert and spent the night sleeping under the bright star-filled sky. Zee was impressed with the gracefulness of the camels as they carried us across the sand dunes and wondered if he could ever take on a role in the caravan.
Thailand
Thailand quickly became one of Zee’s favorite countries. He was immediately blown away by the cuisine, the elaborate Buddhist temples, and the kindness of the Thai people during our whirlwind week in Bangkok. We then got to relax on the beautiful beaches of Koh Lanta with our friends Jeff and Dhruv for Thanksgiving and kayak around the limestone islands. Finally, we spent a month hanging out in Chiang Mai with day trips into the jungle to pamper elephants and hike around Doi Inthanon National Park. Zee was having so much fun that he completely lost track of taking pictures. The only one we captured was during our trip to Doi Inthanon National Park when Zee was admiring the twin King and Queen pagodas.
Myanmar
Zee took a long weekend trip with us to visit Myanmar (Burma) while we were staying in Chiang Mai. We spent most of our time in Bagan exploring the ancient temples and pagodas by bike, e-bike, and hot air balloon.
Maldives
Christmas and all of our birthdays landed at the halfway mark of our trip (yes, Zee included, I really did start my tenure at GeneDx 3 years ago in December). We were starting to wear Zee out, so the time was right to slow down for a few days to enjoy the holidays and not feel the pressure to see all the sights. We spent five days in the Maldives relaxing by the ocean and in the infinity pool and being pampered with massages and amazing cuisine in exquisite settings, such the underwater restaurant with sharks and colorful fish swimming around us. Our overwater bungalow was so luxurious with an outdoor hot tub perfectly positioned to watch the sunrise on our private deck overlooking the lagoon that we could barely pull Zee away to do anything else.
Vietnam
After relaxing in the Maldives, we picked up the pace for a lot of adventure and craziness in Vietnam. We stayed in Hanoi for a month, which was the most chaotic city we have been to with the number of scooters on the road being a sight to see. Zee was a bit intimidated by all the scooters and noise, but two of his favorite nature experiences were here in Vietnam as the landscapes are quite breathtaking. We hiked an entire day through the jungle with multiple river crossings to camp overnight in the 3rd largest cave in the world. We also took a 3 day cruise through Halong Bay where the limestone karsts form one of the most unique and beautiful landscapes in the world.
China
Our pace continued to pick up a bit after Vietnam as we headed to Hong Kong for 10 days. We had no idea how beautiful Hong Kong was with its impressive harbor views. We enjoyed a sunset cruise as well as a hike to the top of Victoria Peak to get unique views of the famous skyline. We also enjoyed our time on nearby Lantau Island where Zee got to visit a sleepy fishing village and the Big Buddha.
A trip to Hong Kong is not complete without an excursion to nearby Macau. We loved Macau for the unique combination of Portuguese and Chinese culture that you can not find anywhere else in the world. Macau is known as the “Vegas of Asia”, but we spent most of our time in the Portuguese-influenced old town because Zee is too young to gamble, much to his dismay. At the fort in the old town, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Indonesia
After a few months without visitors, Zee’s aunt and uncle Steph and Kyle came to visit along with our friends Sarah and Phil. We first met them in Bali, which is a great island to combine beach time with adventure. We visited tons of Buddhist temples, relaxed on the beach, ate lunch overlooking a volcano, snorkeled through impressive coral with Manta Rays, and hiked through the famous rice terraces.
After spending a little too much time with a group of old farts, Zee found an abandoned scooter and took off for his own adventure.
Cambodia
The whole group flew together to Cambodia for more adventures and to learn about a different culture. The highlight of Cambodia is Angkor Wat, the largest religious structure in the world. Angkor Wat was truly awe-inspiring and absolutely brilliant at sunrise, but we also enjoyed some of the lesser-known temples. Zee was impressed with the pink sandstone used at Bantraey Srey.
However, Zee’s favorite temples were the Tomb Raider temple (Ta Prohm) and the Indiana Jones temple (Bengmealea) where trees have overgrown the structure and the ruins have become a fun playground.
Japan
We slowed things down again in Japan by spending 6 weeks in Tokyo including two weekends with our friends Holly and Bobby who travelled all the way to the other side of the world to spend time with us. After raving about Japan seven years ago when we last visited, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience this country with us. We had a blast showing them our favorite parts of Tokyo and Japanese culture, and we also experienced new things with them that was so much more fun as a group – like a cooking class, a night listening to a Japanese Beatles cover band, and stand-up comedy by Jim Gaffigan in a tiny 60-person venue. After they left, we spent another month just soaking in the unique Japanese culture and doing the favorite activities of locals, such as baseball games and hanami. Hanami is the term used to describe the experience of hanging out with family and friends enjoying a picnic underneath the famous cherry blossom trees. Zee loved the Japanese picnics of onigiri, cherry blossom mochi, egg salad sandwiches, and green-tea flavored chips and couldn’t get enough of the cherry blossoms.
We also took a quick overnight trip to Kyoto to experience hanami in one of the most famous cities for the best cherry blossom viewing and to show Zee our favorite temple in Japan, Kinkakuji (The Golden Temple).
Peru
After almost 6 months in Asia, we switched gears and headed to South America. Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu has been on Zee’s bucket list for a long time. We were excited that so many of our friends also came to join us on this journey including Kari and Jen (our first visitors to Italy) as well as Meghann (my friend from high school) and Mark (my friend from graduate school) with his fiancé Kerstin and fellow Northwesterners Rachel and Wolter. Although altitude sickness and other unfortunate events seemed to happen to the Lovgren clan in Peru, we finished the hike and had an unbelievable experience thanks to the help and support from the best friends we could ask for. The Peruvian landscape is breathtaking, especially when you earn it by hiking for days at altitude. Machu Picchu is also that much more impressive as you grow an appreciation for the adaptation and genius of the people who were able to build these complex structures and cities high up in the mountains. Here is Zee contemplating this magnificent feat:
Colombia
Our final stop on our first year and full loop around the globe was Colombia. We stayed in Medellin for a month where we learned how this city re-invented itself to become the “most innovative city in the world” only 20 years after it was known as the “most dangerous city in the world”. Due to its violent past, Colombia is a bit of a hidden gem with only a few tourists venturing there, but the country is gorgeous and has so much to offer. Outside of Medellin, we enjoyed a long weekend in the colonial, beach town of Cartagena as well as a day trip into the countryside of Antioquia. We visited the rainbow-colored village of Guatape and climbed 700 steps to the top of the famous Rock of Guatape to get some stunning views of the turquoise lakes and lush, green hills surrounding the monolith.
We refuse to buy a selfie stick so rarely get pictures of the whole family together, but we had a tour guide for this trip who thought this was a great spot for a family portrait.
So, with the family shot, that concludes Zee’s story of his first year traveling around the world and experiencing the wonders of different cultures. We are truly fortunate for this opportunity to see the beauty of our world and its people.
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