Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We are more than half way through our travelling and have finished the European segment of our itinerary. It's been such a great experience. In some ways we would love to head straight to Australia to settle down. It's hard to live out of a bag and not have your own bed to come home to for such a long period of time. However, we're really looking forward to the next phase of our trip, which includes Thailand and New Zealand.

We thought it would be fun to provide a summary of our experiences since we left Chicago at the beginning of March, 2007.

• # of countries visited: 27
• # of cities visited: 167
• # of hours on planes, trains, automobiles and ferries between cities: 710
• Favourite countries to visit: Switzerland (love the Alps, on-time transportation, clean, but a bit expensive), Germany (nice countryside, on-time transportation, clean), Italy (has something for everyone, gelato), Ireland (laid-back culture)
• Favourite place: Zermatt, Switzerland - surrounded by the Matterhorn and the rest of the Alps, great hiking, cute small town, it feels like Heaven on earth.
• Favourite large city: Paris (beautiful city with a lot to see)
• Favourite days or experiences: Hiking through Cinque Terre, Italy with a swim and sunset dinner to finish off the day; skiing in the Swiss Alps; meeting up with family and friends; seeing the important steps in our niece Vendela's first year (sitting, crawling, walking); Christmas Eve dinner in Switzerland
• Worst place: Naples, Italy - it was the dirtiest city without much to see
• Frustrations: Transportation in Italy was not punctual, people getting upset with us in a language that we don't understand, finding places for both of us to eat as sometimes this seems to take us a while
• What we miss: Our own bed, couch and TV to relax in; home-cooked meals; certain foods from home
• What we don't miss: Working

Here are some videos that we haven't shared before but thought you might enjoy:

• Melissa Learns to Ski - Melissa trying to ski but didn't know what to do with the poles
• Kylie Learns to Ski - Rafe taught Kylie how to turn while skiing - Kylie got pretty excited
• French Line Dancing - Mum and Melissa trying to line dance with the French on New Year's Eve
• Salamanca Man - A funny pedestrian crosswalk signal that we saw in Spain
• Blue Lagoon in Capri - Check out the colour of the water
• Bern Bear - Cute bear puts his hands together for food (although I'm not fond of the bear having to live in this bear pit)
• Swans in Luzern - Lots of swans on this lake
• Cow bells in Gimmelwald - It was nice to hear these cow bells as we hiked through Switzerland
• Paraglider at the Shilthorn - We saw this paraglider take off from the top of the mountain while we were hiking
• Eiffel Tower - Cool light show

Thanks to our families and friends for letting us stay with them or meeting us along the way. It makes it easier to be away from home for such a long period of time.