It's been one year since we left the US to explore Europe and beyond. We've skied glaciers and swam in a fjord; watched opera in a Roman amphitheater and rode camels in the Egyptian desert; truffle hunted in Croatia and renewed our wedding vows on the French riviera. We've also missed flights, had flights cancelled, lost luggage, showed up at the wrong airport, gotten lost, and made lots of really dumb mistakes. But through it all we've had the most amazing time, so many laughs, met some wonderful people, and wouldn't trade it for anything.
Here's the last year by the numbers (links to the blogs, in case you want to read more!).
645,899
Total vertical feet skied in Switzerland and France during February and March.
620,066
Population of Montenegro, the least populated country we've lived in.
7,724
Meters combined height for the two highest cable cars we traveled on (The two highest in Europe: 3,882 meters for the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise cable car in Zermatt, Switzerland and 3,842 meters for the Aiguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix, France).
1,441
Kilometers driven during our month exploring the entire island of Ireland, from Dublin to Belfast, down the west coast to the Ring of Kerry, and up to Dublin again.
1,342 Bottles of Vișinată, sour cherry liqueur, on the walls and ceiling of The Drunken Cherry in Bucharest, Romania.
1,200 Meters high, the location of the highest winery in Europe, on the island of Cyprus, where we enjoyed a tasting at Kyperounda winery
365
Days living out of a suitcase (actually 5 suitcases, now culled down to 3)
300
Performers in the Verona Arena for a production of Aida during the Italian summer Opera Festival.
219
Nights in Airbnbs.
168°F
Temperature of the fjord-side sauna we baked in while in Oslo, Norway (the fjord water we jumped into to cool off was a refreshing 65°F).
86
People gathered to sing, enjoy bagpipes, and do the Scottish Reel dance in the center of Portree when we celebrated Hogmanay (new year's eve) on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
59
Guinness beers consumed during our month in Ireland.
42 Museums visited, ranging from the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia and the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy and the Vasa museum in Stockholm.
34
Number of times we watched in amazement (and horror) as people ran across the highways in Cairo, Egypt, dodging cars like it was the most normal thing in the world to do (and there it is!).
25
Inches of snowfall at Les Contamines Monjoi during our last two days of skiing in the French Alps.
23
Airline flights successfully completed (3 missed connections, 1 cancelled flight).
19
Sunsets watched from the rocks beside the Mediterranean Sea in Nice, France.
16 Number of countries visited (Italy, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, Romania, Türkiye, Egypt, Cyprus, Sweden, Norway).
11 Scones consumed during our week in London, England.
7 Number of loads of laundry washed at laundromats in gas stations and grocery store parking lots during our month in Ireland.
6
Christmas markets strolled through in December (London (2), Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh).
5
Days quarantined with COVID in Cardiff, Wales (also where we had the worst sandwich of our lives but discovered Welsh cakes so it kinda made up for it).
4 Hours of twilight in Stockholm, Sweden where the sun barely sets and the sky stays light all night in summer.
2
How many times we saw an ostrich in Ljubljana, Slovenia... once at the international festival in town and once when he/she was at a cafe with his/her handler. (3, the number of times we expected to see an ostrich in Ljubljana, when we saw the sign, VSAK DAN SVEZE OSTRIGE at an outdoor bar and thought it meant "Meet Dan the Ostrich!" Turns out it means OYSTER BREEDS EVERY DAY, which is basically fresh oysters daily).
1
0 Days we've regretted setting off on our worldwide adventure.
One year done, another to go! We can't wait to continue exploring the world and in the next year our plans include places far away (Dubai, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and more), and European countries we've always wanted to spend more time in (Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, and a bunch of others). Onward to discover and enjoy more of the world!!!
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Enjoy a taste of our travels with drink recipes on Instagram - Worldwide.Cocktails.