How Fast a Year Goes By

The morning of June 21st, 2010 went by in a blur. Tina, Angie, Sarah and Mike all pitching in to get us finally packed and out the door. I had pulled an all nighter painting and building walls for our tenants and we were just not quite ready. 

We climbed onto the airliner, collapsed and began our trip. Some of the milestones we've covered include:

•  13 Countries visited

•  5,000 + miles covered

•  3914 liters of diesel consumed

•  Four major road trips

•  Loads of new parts added to Tara

•  One Chicken Coop designed and built (it houses 13 chickens now)

•  Two visits by Granny Sharon

•  Zero visits from anyone else (we're coming back next year so start planning you weenies)

In addition to these milestones some of the places we have seen include:

•  London

•  Split

•  Venice

•  Dubrovnik

•  Corfu

•  Athens

•  The Acropolis and the Delphi Oracle

•  Mykonos, Ios, Kea, Poros, Paros, Corinth Canal, Simi, Rhodos, Paxos, Anti Paxos and many more Greek islands

•  The Turkish coastline

•  Cyprus

•  TelAviv

•  Jerusalem for Christmas

•  Masada

•  Swimming in the Dead Sea

•  Petra in Jordan

•  The Pyramids of Giza, Abu Simbel, Luxor, the Temple of Karnak, Oases in the Sahara, the Library of Alexandria

•  The Sicilian coast

•  Malta, Gozo, the war caves and blue lagoon

•  The volcano of Stromboli

•  Rome, the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, Spanish Steps and Pompeii

•  Tuscany, Florence and Cortona

•  Germany, Remscheid, (zoo, castles, zip line parks, deer stalking)

•  The Italian Riviera

•  Monte Carlo

•  Nice, San Tropez and Toulon on the French Riviera

Along the way we have met many new friends and reconnected with old ones and family. We have stayed in communities that are really supportive and helpful to one another. We have experienced the kindness of locals that have helped us on our way and are continually reminded how much more similar we are than different.

We still have six weeks to go so hopefully we can add some more activities and experiences.

When we list it in this way it sure seems like we have accomplished a lot, but when you are into the day to day of school, work, boat maintenance, keeping the army fed and the like, to doesn't seem like we have accomplished too much. We have all caught up on our sleep, spent countless great hours together. The kids have grown both mentally and physically. Ross is pushing 6 feet tall and Jessie is getting curvy. All fun to see.

Probably the only regret we have is too much screen time. We have too many computers, iPods, iPads and movies. It would have been better to have tried to unplug a bit, though in today's world that may not be possible anymore.

If I were to change one thing it would have been to do what my friend Marcel did and head to the southern hemisphere in December for three or four months. This way we could have made summer last the entire year. Now that summer has returned we realize how special it is and we regret that we cannot spend more time here during this great time of year.

So, in summary, no regrets, would we do it again? Absolutely.