New Year, New Experiences

Way back in 2015, I wrote about this world-traveling family’s 20 Most Memorable Moments of 2014. But our journey had only just started — we continued hopping across the globe for a good portion of 2015. Here are the 35 things we experienced in 2015 that we regularly talk about.

1. Getting my wallet stolen in Vietnam

2015 started off on a low note after I’d gotten my wallet stolen — quite expertly I might add — right out of my pocket at the closing hours of New Years’ Eve. As you might expect, losing a wallet in a foreign country is a huge inconvenience, and I spent the next few days trying to get my credit cards replaced in a communist country across numerous time zones during an international holiday. Not exactly fun, but a memorable way to start 2015.

2. Bees Unlimited Tours

Beekeeping runs in our family (I was introduced to the hobby by my grandfather), so we were very keen to take a tour to see rafter-style beekeeping up close in rural Cambodia with Dani from Bees Unlimited.

It was great tour — fascinating and only mildly dangerous when the bees took a small exception to our presence. In addition to seeing bees on this tour, we got to visit Khmer families living in the Angkor Archaeological Complex, where they live with no electricity or modern conveniences. It was quite enlightening, and we enjoyed the whole experience so much, we ended up taking some of Dani's other tours around Siem Reap.

3. Angkor Archaeological Complex

Often erroneously referred to as Angkor Wat, the Angkor Archaeological Complex (of which Angkor Wat is just a small — though popular — portion) covers more than 150 square miles. We spent a total of three days (1, 2, 3) in the complex and saw many, many cool sights, like Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider Temple), Ta Sohm, Bayon, Banteay Srei, and the Landmine Museum. And the kids got to do a fair bit of temple running at our favorite temple, Thommanon.

4. Bangkok Water Taxi

From our first time trying to get from one place to another in Bangkok, hiring a taxi (even the pink ones) proved to be frustrating, especially for farangs (white folk). When we could get a taxi, the price, even after a lengthy negotiation, always seemed very high.

But then we discovered the Khlong Saen Saep Express Boat — better known (at least to us) as the water taxi that traversed the Saen Saep canal. Cheap (as in really cheap), fast, and fun to ride, these often packed boats usually got us pretty close to where we wanted to go — without the hassle of Bangkok traffic.

5. Chiang Mai Walking Markets

We spent 10 days in Chiang Mai, so we got to enjoy the city’s famous (and fabulous) walking markets three times (two Sundays and one Saturday). These markets sell all manner of handmade goods and food.

They’re quite festive too — as we walked around, it wasn't unusual to bump into other travelers we’d met on our previous adventures in Thailand. Everyone goes to the walking markets, it seems. As you should. On a very related note, Bangkok's Chatuchak Market is an almost equally memorable experience.

6. Biking to Breakfast in Chiang Mai

We were pleased that our Chiang Mai apartment came with free bicycles. That meant we could ride those bikes — to the nearby Art Cafe for breakfast — something we ended up doing most of the days we stayed in town. The owner was very nice and the food was good.

7. Echo Original Burger

Admittedly, a small moment, but after having what can only be called subpar burgers for months, this one — served up from one of the numerous nighttime food stalls adjacent to the Chiang Mai gate — the Echo Original Burger was definitely the best burger I ate in Asia.

8. The Golden Triangle Experience (India)

India was a country of contrasts. We were beset with all manner of travel annoyances from monkeys with lipstick to being hustled by guides to bad food to forced hospitality. But it’s also home to some really amazing sights. Visiting the impressive Taj Mahal and the amazing Jantar Mantar offset the strife quite well.

9. The Cats of Istanbul

So many cats!

10. Islam 101 with Mr. Turan

Mr. Turan was our tour guide through Capadoccia. Now all of Capadoccia was amazing (I mean, we slept in a cave), but the most memorable moment came when Mr. Turan (not only an excellent tour guide, but a really smart dude) gave us a brief history of the Muslim religion — explaining salat (the Muslim prayer) as well as the disagreement between Suni and Shiite Muslims — inside a small, local mosque.

11. Making great friends in Bucharest

Romania was, for a time, something of a central hub for world-traveling families. On our first night in Bucharest, we met up with Talon & his daughter from 1Dad1Kid.com and Rob & Tracy and their son from The Expat Experiment. We got to be great friends and spent a good amount of time with them while we were in Romania. We enjoyed hanging out with like-minded families so much, we didn’t seem to take any photos of these events.

12. Brasov

The main reason we went to Brasov was to visit the nearby Bran Castle (allegedly Bram Stoker’s inspiration for Castle Dracula), but we really enjoyed visiting this picturesque medieval town and its environs, facilitated by Manuela from Land of Dracula Tours. We even got to see the house where Prince Charles (of England) vacations in nearby Viscri.

13. Discovering Sandeman’s Free Walking Tours

You never forget your first Sandeman’s tour. Ours was in Madrid, hosted by Naomi. We knew nothing about Madrid, so were searching for a good, low-cost tour of the city. We stumbled across Sandeman’s free tours and subsequently took one in every city they were offered. We found these carefully curated tours (the guides work on tips, so they work hard to create great tours) offered a great overview of a city and served as a blueprint for mapping out the rest of our adventures. They also offer other paid tours (like a Belgian Beer Tour) that are quite worthwhile.

14. Nun Cookies

In Madrid, our first Sandeman’s guide (the aforementioned Naomi) teased us about secret cookies baked by nuns and the loosest of directions on where to find them. Never content to let such a challenge go unexplored we did some investigation and found a secluded door that led to a long hallway that led to a rotating door. After stumbling through some Spanish, we acquired a box of Montecadoes de Yema, our first Spanish Nun Cookies. And now that we knew what to look for, we started seeing them everywhere we went in Spain.

15. Granada during Semana Santa

It's hard to pick a favorite city in Spain. But Granada holds a special place in our heart (and not because they still serve tapas for free) because we arrived smack in the middle of Semana Santa. It was chaotic, hectic, and massively celebratory.

It took us hours (as in literal hours) to get our suitcases through the crowds filling the city streets on our way to the hotel, and the celebration went on well into the wee hours of the morning. And then it started all over the next day. The amazing thing was just how clean the streets were in the morning.

16. Cooking in Le Marche

In Italy, we stayed at a farmhouse called La Tavola Marche (a recommendation from our friend Charly from Bali/Brighton). We enjoyed it immensely. One night we took a cooking class with Chef Jason (who owns farmhouse with his wife Ashley). We made cavatelli and panna cotta — both from scratch — something I would never have tried before this. Chef Jason was an excellent instructor — the experience made me think differently about food and made me a better cook.

17. Torino

The Shroud, The Bicerin, The Largest Sandwich in the World, the National Museum of Cinema, and the home of the Fiat and Juventus F.C. Torino has it going on!

18. Driving through the Alps to Liechtenstein

Upon leaving Italy, we drove to Liechtenstein, the last monarchy in the heart of the Alps and the last vestige of the Holy Roman Empire. To get there, we had to traverse the Alps in a rainstorm, which was fairly intense. It rained so hard that visibility was zero and we couldn’t even hear ourselves talk over the rain hitting the roof of the car. Eventually we made it to Liechtenstein, which covers only 62 square miles, where we spent $50 at McDonald’s.

19. Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial

Our day at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial was not an easy one. Visiting this place, which was the first war camp the Nazis built, was emotionally draining. The imagery is overwhelming and intense. They’re very straightforward about what went on there — and what went on there wasn’t very nice. We definitely earned a post-Dachau a visit to Weihenstephaner, the World’s Oldest Brewery (according to some, anyway).

20. Sedlec Ossuary

The Sedlec Ossuary in the basement of this small church in Kutná Hora is filled with the bones of 40,000 people. Seeing these bones arranged as giant bells, a family crest, and a massive chandelier sticks in the mind. It’s bizarre, slightly morbid, and utterly fascinating.

21. Regensburg Dult

We were lucky enough to be in Regensburg during one of the city's famous Dults (there are two a year), which is a huge festival of eating, drinking, and dancing — plus a whole midway of carnival games. Much fun was had.

22. Catacombs of Paris

The organized bones of millions of Parisians rest in alcoves along a series of narrow tunnels that make up the Catacombs of Paris, hidden away under the City of Light. It’s quite something to see.

23. Brussels

Ah, Brussels. Chocolate. Beer. Fries. And an endlessly urinating statue. What's not to love?

24. Phantasialand

We stopped at Phantasialand on one of our many drives across Germany. We thought it was a lot like a visit to Disneyland but people could smoke and bring their dogs. Oh, and they served beer (it's Germany after all) — which was very welcome after a turn on the Black Mamba. We also keenly remember Talocan (which we didn't ride), Maus au Chocolat (which we rode three times) and Winja’s Fear & Force (which Samantha will never forget).

25. Hygge in Denmark

Hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) us a Danish concept that doesn’t translate directly to English. But it can be summed up as a feeling of comfort, contentment, and relaxation. With Mikkeller, Tommi's Burger Joint, Carlsberg Brewery, and the arcade cabinet set up inside our Airbnb, we were definitely feeling a little Hygge in Copenhagen — even while fighting through the drunken crowds attending Coenhagen Distortion.

26. Sandeman's Tour of Berlin vs UEFA World Cup Crowd

Our Berlin Sandeman’s tour (led by Stephen) was more chaotic than most as we had to weave in and out of the crowds that had arrived in Berlin to watch the 2015 UEFA Champions League final between Juventus and Barcelona. I lost a €10 bet to Jackie about the outcome of that game, and I still regret not buying one of the Juventus/Barcelona scarves that were being sold on the streets of Berlin leading up to the match. But the tour was, as always, aces.

27. Anne Frank House

Our Amsterdam Sandeman’s guide, Michael, joked that people the world over talk about how long they waited in the legendarily long queue to visit the Anne Frank House. We haven’t ever talked about it with anyone, but the line to get in was probably the longest we’d experienced on the trip — even longer than the Eiffel Tower. But it was worth it. Like Dachau, it was powerful and emotional experience. We also saw half-naked women in windows in the red light district, so that was memorable as well.

28. Managing our days in the Schengen Zone

The clock started when we entered the Schengen Zone on March 29. We had 90 days to spend in the 26 different countries bound by the Schengen Agreement, a treaty of sorts that allows for open borders throughout Europe.

We left The Schengen Zone on June 15 (when we entered England; confusingly, the U.K. isn’t part of Schengen). Then we re-entered Schengen on July 13, leaving again on July 16 (the span of our time in Iceland, which is, confusingly, part of Schengen).

We actually visited the city of Schengen (where the treaty was signed in 1995) on May 20, right in the middle of our time in The Schengen Zone. We quit counting days after we left Belgium because we knew we had enough days for the rest of the trip. But we ended up using 83.

29. Hanging out with friends in Brighton

After crossing the English Channel, we drove to Brighton where we stayed with our friends Charly & Martin, whom we’d met and spent a lot of time with in Ubud, Bali. We really enjoyed meeting back up with them and taking it easy for a few days.

30. Wimbledon

While we were thrilled about attending the French Open we appreciated the action at Wimbledon much more. It felt like a more intimate affair — we watched many matches from the front row. Plus Wimbledon sells Strawberries & Cream and Pimm’s Cups.

31. Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park was the home and workplace of the Alan Turing and his team of codebreakers who worked on — and succeeded at — cracking the Axis Powers’ Enigma Code in World War II. It’s now a museum — and a particularly fascinating one — that we visited after navigating the tangled roundabouts around Milton Keynes.

32. Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian has been one of my favorite Roman Emperors (everyone has a few, I’m sure), and I’d always wanted to visit the 73-mile wall, dubbed Hadrian’s Wall, he had built across Scotland to keep the Picts out of Brittania. It’s not all there any more, but there are well-preserved sections of it along its former route, and the area around Gilsland allowed us to walk right next to these remnants.

33. Visiting Friends in Dunoon

Friends of ours, Cory and Fae, invited to stay with them in Dunoon, a small village in the Scottish Highlands. This trip required a ride on a ferry, which required us to buy a ticket. And when we bought tickets, we heard our first honest-to-goodness Scottish accent. It’s every bit as understandable as the stories say. In any case, our few days in Dunoon, some of the last of our trip, were relaxing and delightful.

34. Iceland

We spent four days in Iceland and found there was quite a bit to see and do in the little country. Sure, the Blue Lagoon is great but we enjoyed walking on the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates at Þingvellir, eating puffin and Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, and experiencing 23 1/2 hours of light.

35. Re-entering the United States

We actually re-entered the United States while we were still in Canada, which was weird. it was also weird landing at the Palm Springs airport, returning back to our country after 333 days of world travel.

Most notable, our Patagonia Black Hole bag, which had made it the entire trip through 36 countries with no problem, came off the conveyor belt looking as if it has been run over by a truck (probably because it had). An omen, if there ever was one.

And Then it Was Over.

Some time has passed since we returned to “regular life,” and we still talk to each other about our journey all the time. occasionally we’re asked by other travel curious people to summarize the trip. Some people want the long version, which we’re more than happy to oblige. Others prefer a shorter version. To them we say just five words: it was the perfect year.

Oh, and Jackie still hates Jetstar.