10 Things Each

Today we started the journey home. We had a lot of time at the airport so to fill the hours we have each recorded 10 things we will take away from this trip… 

Donna 

1. The people that we have talked to and heard small snippets of their lives. The firecracker twins and lady who was meeting her online boyfriend in London. Thomas at the Old West Ranch who was a gifted horse trainer. Adi our tour guide in Mostar, Ari our kayak instructor in Dubrovnik, Laura the young 18 year old who joined Alyssa and I on our ride in Kephalonia. These are some of the people that we met whose stories have stayed with me.
2. The beauty of the places we have had the privilege to visit. Plitvice Lakes coming out on top here. But each country has a uniqueness about it, the architecture changes from country to country, as does the food and the fashion. This trip has reminded me how much I love photography and I have loved trying to capture the beauty and the essence of a place in images. 
3. The joy of the unknown that travelling provides. The fact that you can turn a corner in a place and have your breath taken away by what you are experiencing and seeing. 
4. Time together as a family. This has been priceless! 
5. The joy of having only cooked dinner about 5 times in 9 weeks. So good!!! Which brings me to the food, especially Greek food. And the gelato (the top one being raspberry flavoured from Dubrovnik). 
6. Learning that my body is more than capable of the exhaustion that comes with travel. In fact I have generally felt so good while I have been away. This has me excited about where to go next!
7. Having the hours of researching places, accommodation options and activities actually come to fruition. I have been thrilled with the results of this time spent. The accomodations we have stayed in have been so varied and unique. One of the highlights for all of us has been checking out each place once we arrive. 
8. The fun the outdoor experiences we went on as a family provided the caving, kayaking, jet boating, paddle boating, hiking, horse riding, cliff jumping, swimming, snorkelling, biking. I love my family’s willingness to give new things a go.
9. The history… so much history! So fascinating. I think the history of Bosnia was the most interesting and sad. The fact that the country is still so segregated and peace is something that seems so fragile. Even when the land holds the graves of thousands killed. And the buildings are covered with bullet holes.
10. New Zealand is an amazing place to live and I’m very grateful for all the people that I have in my life that makes going home feel good (all be it a little bit sad knowing that this adventure is coming to an end). It’s ok though because we are already planning our next adventure. 😉🤫

Max

1. New people
We have met some awesome people 
The twins in london, Alyssas replacement, Thomas from the ranch, the caving guide and Mostar tour guide.

2. How different every countries is. 
I knew that they would be different but not crazy different. Germany and Austria was about the same but when you crossed into Hungary and Croatia it is a whole different world.

3. Traveling is exhausting even if you sit on a plane for a day Sitting is more exhausting than Disneyland. Need I say more.

4. Accents are funny
German exit is Aus fart. I think that you can hear me laughing. Also me and Dad try to pick the end and start of a word in Greek but it us just to hard.

5. No airport seats are comfy
That's all for this one.

6. Walking around aimlessly is fun. At the start of this trip I was like Alyssa I didn't want to walk without a destination now I like to explore the country we are in.

7. You need a pool if the temperature is over 20 degrees.
See below for details.

8. Chambers sweat more than I realized.
I knew the Chambers sweat was a generic thing but sometimes when we are walking to our hotel it looks like me and Dad, but mainly dad looks like we have been for a swimm before arriving at the pool.

9. You crave meat and salad after alot of fast food. Buy fruits.
I never thought I'd say this but I now really like meat and vegetables for dinner after eating fast food and precooked food for about 2 months

10.  Airports are insanely boring.
Nothing to do 
Nowhere to sit
Waiting to sit down on a plane for ages and just overall boring.

11 when I set goals I try my hardest to achieve them

On this holiday I jumped off a 10 metre cliff into water, swam in a frog pond, swam across the bay 3 times with Dad, gone caving, dove off a pilar in Croatia. 

Thanks to me being insanely stubborn when I say I'm going to do something I do it. 

This holiday is awesome!! 

Rich

1. Traveling is stressful and fun all at once. Little hiccups add to the adventure and most times lead to things or places you never would have discovered otherwise.

2. Driving. Initially I was a bit concerned about the differences with driving on the other side of the car and the road but it has been really fun. Apart from in Greece. Don't drive there. Those people are crazy on the roads.

3. Family adventure. It hasn't always been free and easy despite what the photos show! We have all had our good and not so good days, but the mishaps and grizzles has meant everyone has to contribute to the problem solving which has grown us as a team and brought us all closer together.

4. Language, culture and differences between the cities and towns. It always blows me away that you can get on a plane, train or car and travel for a few hours and end up in such different places.

5. Donna as a travel agent. She planned nearly all of this trip and it has been incredible. Some amazing accommodation options, really cool activities and no major hassles as a result. Most of the not so good moments were transport related and just meant we had to adapt such as no seats on the train, train strikes meaning we had to change to a different service in Germany and some rental car dramas in Greece.

6. The kids. It has been amazing to watch them both adapt to the trials and tribulations of longish term traveling. They both had a moment early on when they felt homesick but once that was discussed and quickly overcome they have both been fine and are now embracing the travel lifestyle. Alyssa is quite the map reader and location rememberer, and Max has got stuck in to everything he possibly can. They have both grown so much in confidence as the trip has progressed and we are both really proud of them.

7. Airports are interesting places, lots of sitting around but the plane nerd in me still likes to watch the planes take off and land like I did when I was a kid!

8. Outdoor activities. We've done some really cool things on this trip from underground caving to river cruises, jet boat rides to driving flat out on the Autobahn with the kids encouraging me to get to 180km/h while Donna tells me off. Lots of fun adventures to remember for a long time.

9. Clouds. I became a cloud nerd early in this trip with the spectacular sunsets and amazing storms we've seen. You will see lots of my photos have cool clouds in them, that's no accident!

10. Lifelong memories. The intention of this trip was to create lifelong memories for the whole family and I think we have definitely achieved that. Hopefully we can all look back in years to come and feel grateful that we had the opportunity to spend the time as a family, and that we took all the opportunities to try new things and experience what the world has to offer.

11. Bonus thought: I really hope Alyssa and Max use this trip as a start point for their future traveling selves. At the start of the trip I wasn't sure they would be that keen but now I'm not sure they can be stopped! We will also be taking opportunities to travel after this experience, we saw a lot on this trip but there are definitely many more places we would like to visit, and many more we have visited but would love to see more of - Austria and Switzerland, I'm talking about you! 

1. Always bring snacks when we go out for the day otherwise people get hangry!

We found that quite often when we planned to buy lunch during the day and didn't bring snacks, we didn't have any food and couldn't find some anywhere near us and we all got hungry and a bit cranky. So top tip, always bring snacks.

2. It's good to spend time with family but to avoid a lot of arguments it is good to give each other some space. 

We have all had so much fun together and to keep it fun and happy it is good to not be around each other every minute of every day.

3. It is good to learn about peoples stories. 

We found that in places like Bosnia where there has just been a war it Is fascinating to ask people about their stories and hear their side of what happened. 

4. Greece and Germany have to best food. Out of all the places we ate out at on our trip the places with the best food were definitely Greece and Germany.

5. The pillows in Europe are wierd. In Europe most of the hotels had square pillows. These were usually not very comfortable and it was quite hard to work out exactly how you were supposed to sleep on them. 

6. Gelatos are the best snack. Even when it is cold you can never go wrong with a gelato over here because they are so delicious. I recommend the fruit flavours because they taste exactly like the fruit and they are so delicious and creamy. 

7. History in Europe is a lot more interesting than the Treaty of Waitangi. The history in Europe is so old and interesting it really goes to show how young New Zealand is.

8. It is more interesting to go to places where you already know a bit about because when you know about something actually seeing it means so much more and becomes so exciting. For example, the Parthenon, thanks Percy Jackson.

9. Going to different accomodations is another adventure in itself. All the places we've stayed at have been different and it is exciting to go to the next one and have a look around and explore the place we are staying. And each place seems to have a different challenge with either turning on the shower or having to hold the showerhead because there is nowhere to attach it too. 

10. New Zealand is a great place to live. I definitely want to go traveling again when I'm older with my friends, but New Zealand will always be home. This trip has made me more confident traveling and opened up my eyes to heaps of new opportunities. 

Alyssa