Hi all! 2014 is coming to and end and we are all looking forward to the new year. This past year was pretty amazing for us. We quit our jobs in May, moved all of our stuff from our apartment on the UWS to my parents' basement in Queens and shortly after left the country. Our first trip was to Canada to visit Vlad's family in Winnipeg, friends in Toronto and made a pit stop in Quebec. Two weeks after that trip we left USA and headed for Europe where we spent 3 months. Following that we spent a month in Australia and another one in New Zealand. At the end of November we flew to Thailand and have been exploring South East Asia since. Our trip is nearing an end and we are a bit sad but we got to see lots of the world and made some amazing memories. Here are some stats for 2014. Hope you enjoy them!
Countries Visited: 17
Cities visited where we spent the night: 39
Number of different beds we slept in: 43
Out of those 43 beds:
- 24 were rented via Airbnb (10 in private apartments / 14 in shared houses with hosts)
- 11 in hotels
- 7 at friends' and families'
- 1 at a hostel
Shout out to friends and family who hosted us: Vlad's parents in Winnipeg, Jimmy & Sheryll in Toronto, Damian in Warsaw, Vlad's cousin Lyndsey & family in Paris, Ilya & Dasha in Luxembourg, and Erica & JP in Den Haag.
Number of visas we had to get: Three - for Australia, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Shortest time spent in a country: About 1h in Slovakia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, respectively.
Longest time spent in a country: 31 days in New Zealand - the most beautiful country in the world.
Modes of transportation utilized: plane, helicopter, train, tram, subway, bus, sleeping bus, minibus, car, ferry, speed boat, long-tail boat, motorcycle, scooter, tuk-tuk, bicycle.
Longest commute between destinations: Den Haag, Netherlands to Melbourne, Australia. This required a tram, a train, and subway from Den Haag to Paris, followed by a plane with two layovers in New Delhi, India and in Sydney, Australia. A bus and tram ride from Melbourne's airport to our rental topped off the trip. Approximate travel time = 48 hours.
Most memorable commute between destinations: A "hotel bus" we took overnight from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. From the brochures it looked comfortable and sounded like a fun adventure but it turned to be torture in real life. The narrow, short, and uncomfortable beds did not provide proper respite from the uber bumpy roads of Cambodia. While we saved money traveling this way, we lost a day and a half trying to recover - our stomachs had a hard time adjusting from all the motion sickness.
Number of times we got lost: Zero. That's right, like a boss.
Vehicle rentals: Four cars (1 in Luxembourg, two in Australia, and one in New Zealand), three scooters (Corfu, Ao Nang & Koh Samui).
Currencies handled: 12 - Canadian Dollar, Norwegian Krone, Croatian Kuna, Polish Zloty, Euro, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Thai Baht, Cambodian Riel, US Dollar, Vietnamese Dong, and Singapore Dollar.
Favorite place we visited: Queenstown, New Zealand.
Favorite thing we did: For Edyta it was her first helicopter ride to and hike on a glacier in Franz Josef, New Zealand. For Vlad it was bungy jumping in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Favorite simple activity: tasting beers and coffees around the world.
Movie theaters visited: 2 - in Athens and Sydney where we saw 22 Jump Street and Gone Girl.
Haircuts received: Edyta - 0, Vlad - 9 with the most memorable one being on a sidewalk in Hanoi, Vietnam.
And here's to the people we've stayed with and met on the road! It was so awesome to see our family and friends while traveling and to meet some cool new people. Thank you for making our travel experience so awesome! Cheers to you all! (although not all are pictured below)
We are nearing the end of our adventure and have only a few more destinations left before coming home. We feel fortunate to have made it to so many corners of the world, and will cherish these memories forever. Memories and selfies :-)
