Whenever we talk to people about our trip, the first question that always gets asked is, “So, what’s been your favorite place?” I’m sure we’ll get this question a ton once we get back (which is just fine with us…we love talking about our trip). It’s just that it’s such a hard question to answer. Literally every single place we visited offered up something unique and special which made it worth traveling to. That said, we tried to rank some of our favorite places in various categories (a fun little exercise to help pass the time on long travel days). But before our rankings, here are some of our favorite, most memorable experiences from our 320-day, round-the-world adventure (these were too hard to rank, so they’re in chronological order):
- Our first delicious French breakfast with our hosts Yves and Claudine in Dinan
- Paris with Anna’s parents…we must’ve walked the entire City of Lights
- Riding bikes through Burgundy…until Susan’s unfortunate tree accident
- Wine tasting in the Luberon Valley with Francois
- Dancing into the wee hours at Worldwide Festival in Sete
- Gustavo and Sarah’s Tour de Portugal…particularly wine and port tasting in the Duoro Valley, attending a Benfica futbol match and meeting Gustavo’s family
- Arriving via overnight train to San Sebastian just in time for sunrise
- Tapas tasting in Barcelona, Sevilla, Ronda and San Sebastian (and running into our friends Jen and Juan Pablo)
- Seeing La Boheme at the Arena in Verona
- Rowing a boat around beautiful Lake Bled, Slovenia…where we celebrated our two year wedding anniversary
- Island hopping between Korcula, Hvar and Vis in Croatia
- Discovering that Marija, our host in Hvar, is related to our friend Hillary (who later visited us in Thailand) and sharing some homemade wine
- Renting our own boat and driving it to the Pakleni islands off of Hvar followed by an amazing lunch at Dionis
- Watching a lightening storm from the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome
- Cooking class with our good friends Brian and Marisa in Florence followed by a scooter ride through Chianti
- Daily walks around Lucca’s ramparts with Johnny’s parents
- Hiking the trails in between Corniglia and Vernazza in Cinque Terre
- Riding through the canals of Venice on the vaporetto
- Randomly running into Johnny’s old friends Dennis and Robyn in Varenna and meeting up with them again in Sydney
- Watching the sunset over Lake Como at dinner with Johnny’s parents
- Hiking through a landscape like no other in Cappadocia
- A night on the town in Istanbul with our friend Fer
- Driving around the Cape Peninsula, especially Hout Bay, Boulder Beach and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve
- Making friends and taking in the views at our hostel’s treehouse in Hogsback
- Touring a traditional Xhosa village with Jerry in Coffee Bay
- Hiking in the incredible Drakensberg mountain range
- Our first of many elephant sightings as we crossed the bridge into Kruger National Park
- Early morning bush walk with Irving in Kruger National Park
- Getting scuba certified with Patrick in Koh Chang and seeing a sea turtle on our very first dive
- Playing Indiana Jones at the Temples of Angkor in Cambodia
- Street food tour with Tu in Hanoi
- Kayaking through Ha Long Bay at sunset
- Touring the Hmong villages and rice paddies around Sapa
- Celebrating Christmans, Anna’s 30th birthday, and New Years in Luang Prabang
- Going down the river in a longtail boat past water buffalo and fishermen to Muang Ngoi
- Being “elephant owners for a day” with our friends at Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai
- Setting off fireworks and lanterns on the beach on Koh Phangan with all our friends
- Diving in Koh Tao with Peter and Sheryl
- Touring Melbourne and Yarra Valley with Chad, Lisa and baby Julian
- Having drinks at Opera Bar in Sydney followed by dinner and drinks with Katie and Doug
- Driving the Milford Highway and cruising Milford Sound with Anna’s parents
- A home-cooked New Zealand feast at Jay’s cottage in Queenstown
- Picking blueberries at Windsong Orchard and working the Marlborough Farmers’ Market
- Observing ogoh-ogoh and Nyepi in Ubud
- Exploring the undiscovered beaches around Kuta, Lombok and getting caught in a rainstorm on our scooter
- Snorkeling with sea turtles in Gili Air
Without further ado, here are our rankings…or at least as they stand on April 9, 2012 during our 5-hour layover in Seoul, South Korea:
| Favorite Major City? |
| Johnny: 1. Istanbul, Turkey 2. Paris, France 3. Rome, Italy 4. Melbourne, Australia 5. Cape Town, South Africa |
Anna: 1. Rome, Italy 2. Paris, France 3. Istanbul, Turkey 4. Barcelona, Spain 5. Cape Town, South Africa |
| Favorite Mid-Sized City? |
| Johnny: 1. Venice, Italy 2. San Sebastian, Spain 3. Avignon, France 4. Sevilla, Spain 5. Queenstown, New Zealand |
Anna: 1. Venice, Italy 2. Avignon, France 3. San Sebastian, Spain 4. Dubrovnik, Croatia 5. Verona, Italy |
| Favorite Village/Small Town? |
| Johnny: 1. Luang Prabang, Laos 2. Göreme, Turkey 3. San Gimignano, Italy 4. Uzès, France 5. Ronda, Spain |
Anna: 1. Luang Prabang, Laos 2. San Gimignano, Italy 3. Uzès, France 4. Hvar, Croatia 5. Göreme, Turkey |
| Favorite Beach? |
| Johnny: 1. Mawun Beach, Lombok, Indonesia 2. Thong Nai Pan Yai, Koh Phangan, Thailand 3. Lombarda, Korcula, Croatia 4. Playa de la Concha, San Sebastian, Spain 5. Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia |
Anna: 1. Thong Nai Pan Yai, Koh Phangan, Thailand 2. Mawun Beach, Lombok, Indonesia 3. Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia 4. Sète, France 5. Playa de la Concha, San Sebastian, Spain |
| Favorite Accommodation? (These aren’t necessarily the nicest places we stayed, but are the places that had the most character, friendliest owners, best vibes, etc.) |
| Favorite Country for Food? |
| Johnny: 1. Italy 2. France 3. Thailand 4. Spain 5. Vietnam |
Anna: 1. Italy 2. Thailand 3. France 4. Spain 5. Turkey |
| Favorite Market? |
| Johnny: 1. Neighbourgoods Market, Cape Town, South Africa 2. Les Halles, Avignon, France 3. Night Market, Luang Prabang, Laos 4. Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey 5. Mercat de la Boqueria, Barcelona, Spain |
Anna: 1. Neighbourgoods Market, Cape Town, South Africa 2. Night Market, Luang Prabang, Laos 3. Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey 4. Les Halles, Avignon, France 5. Psar Chaa, Siem Reap, Cambodia |
| Favorite Restaurant? (Taking into consideration both food and atmosphere) |
| Favorite Wine Region? |
| Johnny: 1. Douro Valley, Portugal 2. Provence, France 3. Tuscany, Italy 4. Franschhoek, South Africa 5. Central Otago, New Zealand |
Anna: 1. Douro Valley, Portugal 2. Tuscany, Italy 3. Provence, France 4. Franschhoek, South Africa 5. Hvar, Croatia |
| Favorite Natural/Scenic Wonder? |
| Johnny: 1. Mawun Beach, Lombok, Indonesia 2. Milford Sound, New Zealand 3. Cappadocia, Turkey 4. Drakensberg, South Africa 5. Pakleni Islands, Croatia 6. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 7. Cape Peninsula, South Africa 8. Routeburn Track, New Zealand 9. Muang Ngoi, Laos 10. Vintgar Gorge, Slovenia |
Anna: 1. Cappadocia, Turkey 2. Milford Sound, New Zealand 3. Cape Peninsula, South Africa 4. Kruger National Park, South Africa 5. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 6. Drakensberg, South Africa 7. Lake Bled and Julian Alps, Slovenia 8. Jatiluwih Rice Terraces, Bali, Indonesia 9. Stari Grad Plain, Hvar, Croatia 10. Lake Tekapo, New Zealand |
| Favorite Monument/Museum/Man-Made Wonder? |
| Johnny: 1. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France 2. Temples of Angkor, Cambodia 3. Puente Nuevo, Ronda, Spain 4. Real Alcazar, Sevilla, Spain 5. Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey 6. Pena National Palace, Sintra, Portugal 7. Duomo di Siena, Siena, Italy 8. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia 9. Ephesus, Turkey 10. Versailles, France |
Anna: 1. Real Alcazar, Sevilla, Spain 2. Temples of Angkor, Cambodia 3. Pantheon, Rome, Italy 4. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France 5. Pena National Palace, Sintra, Portugal 6. Ephesus, Turkey 7. Puente Nuevo, Ronda, Spain 8. Versailles Gardens, France 9. Duomo di Siena, Siena, Italy 10. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia |
| Country with the Friendliest People? |
| Johnny: 1. Turkey 2. Croatia 3. Bali 4. New Zealand 5. Laos |
Anna: 1. Turkey 2. Thailand 3. Croatia 4. Bali 5. Laos |
| If we could snap our fingers and be back in any one place we visited, where would it be? (This could be a good way to gauge our “favorite” place, although the list will probably be different if you ask us next week) |
| Johnny: 1. Korcula, Croatia 2. Göreme, Cappadocia, Turkey 3. Kruger National Park, South Africa 4. Venice, Italy 5. Luang Prabang, Laos 6. Istanbul, Turkey 7. San Sebastian, Spain 8. Paris, France 9. Thong Nai Pan Yai, Koh Phangan, Thailand 10. Queenstown, New Zealand |
Anna: 1. Croatian Islands (Hvar and Korcula) 2. Thong Nai Pan Yai, Koh Phangan, Thailand 3. San Gimignano, Italy 4. Venice, Italy 5. Sète, France 6. Luang Prabang, Laos 7. Lake Bled, Slovenia 8. San Sebastian, Spain 9. Douro Valley, Portugal 10. Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia |
| Country we most want to visit next? |
| Johnny: 1. Colombia 2. Chile 3. Nepal 4. India 5. Norway |
Anna: 1. Chile 2. Peru 3. Norway 4. Japan 5. India |
Ciao for Now 