 |
| |
-Latest average dinner time: |
| |
|
11pm is about right in Buenos Aires, Argentina. |
|
| |
-Place with smallest rolls of toilet paper:
|
| |
|
Morocco |
|
| |
-Graffiti that somehow
made it into our everyday vocabulary: |
| |
|
"So is your face" (on a building
in Cape Town) - try it, it works as a comeback, or simply
a confusing thing to say to distract your conversation partner |
|
| |
-Place we felt most comfortable as a mixed-race
couple: Paris (France) |
| |
-Place where we got the most stares: Ljubljana
(Slovenia) |
|
| |
-Worst bug bite: |
| |
|
Susan's allergic to mosquitoes, but New Zealand sand flies
are even worse! |
|
| |
-Biggest grocery store: |
| |
|
Continente (Lisbon) - and it was ALL groceries - no random
extra items like in Walmart or Costco |
|
| |
-Weirdest thing
found (several days later) stuck to the bottom of Grace's
shoe: |
| |
|
Naan bread (Oxford, U.K.) |
|
| |
-City with the most American
tourists: |
| |
|
Rome (in September) |
|
| |
-City with the most aggressive
grannies: |
| |
|
Lisbon (they'll push you out of the
way to get their seat on the train) |
|
|
-Most flights to get from point A to point B: |
|
|
5 (Foz do Iguazu, Brazil -> Curitiba, Brazil -> Rio,
Brazil -> Madrid, Spain -> Barcelona, Spain -> Istanbul,
Turkey), total travel time: 31 hours |
|
|
-Most modes of transportation within one 24-hour
period: |
|
|
8, from Ayvali, Turkey to Istanbul, Turkey (rental car,
van, bus, taxi, overnight train, ferry, tram, feet) |
|
| |
-Journeys leaving Grace with the least left
in his stomach: |
| |
|
#1: Ferry ride back from Heron Island, Australia (an unparalleled
nightmare) |
| |
|
#2: Plane ride (16-seater) from Wilson Airport, Nairobi
to Entebbe, Uganda |
| |
|
#3: Ferry ride back from Colonia, Uruguay to Buenos Aires,
Argentina |
|
| |
-Number of flights cancelled to-date: |
| |
|
1 (out 53: London -> Marrakech) |
|
| |
-Most uncomfortable means of transportation:
|
| |
|
Dromedaries (like camels) in the Sahara Desert |
|
| |
-Item we toted around the
world, but didn't use, not even once: |
| |
|
Hi-tech (folds into a tiny square)
pack towel |
|
| |
-Most expensive glass of beer: |
| |
|
$9 (Florence), bought by our friend Spencer at about 10am |
|
| |
-Countries that have given Susan stomach trouble:
|
| |
|
Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey,
Portugal, France,
and Morocco |
|
| |
-Place where we got the sickest: |
| |
|
Morocco (when we returned to Marakesh after our Sahara Desert
journey, we couldn't leave the hotel for days) |
|
| |
-Most number of stairs from our accomodation
to the nearest restaurant: |
| |
|
516 (Dubrovnik, Croatia) |
|
| |
-Craziest around-the-world
trip we've heard about: |
| |
|
A couple just starting a 10-year tandem bike trip (funding
by the U.N.) |
|
| |
-Favorite new activities: |
| |
|
Surfing! (We both took a lesson in Sydney, and loved it!) |
| |
|
Lawn bowling in New Zealand - yea, baby! |
|
| |
First place we showed up with no guidebook,
no money & no idea where to stay: |
| |
|
Ljubljana, Slovenia |
|
| |
-Worst-smelling accomodation: |
| |
|
Heron Island, Australia (it was bird-nesting season and
windows needed to be open for heat and ventilation reasons,
but dang it stunk) |
|
| |
-Place with the most high-powered bathroom hand-dryers: |
| |
|
Japan |
|
| |
-Place where hand-washed
clothes dry the fastest: |
| |
|
Sahara Desert |
|
|
-Cheapest internet connection: |
|
|
Vietnam - 3,000 dong/hour - that's over 5 hours for $1 |
|
|
Brazil - a close second; we found a place that was 1
real/hour (that's about 40 cents US), though we had to weather
a small army of loud, game-playing boys |
|
|
-Most embarrasing moment: |
|
|
Touching a Cambodian monk's hand - women aren't supposed
to (Susan) |
|
|
Handing the ticket attendant 30,000 yen ($300) for a
movie in Tokyo (Grace) |
|
|
-Song we've heard most around the world: |
|
|
Girl from Ipanema by Antonia Carlos Jobim,
but performed by just about everybody (runner
up: In Da Club, by 50 Cent) |
|
|
-Country with the best town names: |
|
|
Australia (we didn't visit any of these, but to quote Bill
Bryson's Down Under, these “…all are
real places: Wee Waa, Poowong, Burrumbuttock, Suggan Buggan,
Boomahnoomoonah, Waaia, Mullumbimby, Ewlyamartup, Jiggalong
and the supremely satisfying Tittybong.”) |
|
|
-Biggest book read on the trip: |
|
|
The Long Walk to Freedom (768 pages) by Nelson
Mandela (Susan) |
|
|
-Spookiest book read on the trip: |
|
|
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (both of us) -
documents the true stories of several virus outbreaks (Ebola,
etc.) in Africa and in the U.S. - a scary read at any time,
but especially so if you happen to be in Africa |
|
|
-Cutest thing we didn't buy (but it was a struggle): |
|
|
Tiny puppy for sale on the beach in Salvador, Brazil - a
bargain at 40 reis ($16) |
|
|
-Best mass-production yogurt: |
|
|
Danone Bio natural flavor with soja additive (found in Portugal
& France so far) |
|
| |
-Strangest foods eaten: |
| |
|
warthog ribs (Cape Town) |
| |
|
grilled chicken cartilage (Tokyo) |
| |
|
tofu donut (Tokyo) |
| |
|
kangaroo (Cape Tribulation, Australia) |
| |
|
licking ant butt for a vitamin C booster (Daintree Rainforest,
Australia) |
| |
|
grilled chicken hearts (at a churrascaria in Rio, Brazil) |
| |
|
pig's ear, feet and tongue in feijoada, a traditional black
bean stew (Rio, Brazil) |
| |
|
cashew juice - it's a fruit, after all (Salvador, Brazil) |
| |
|
black pudding - a sausage made by cooking down the blood
of an animal withmeat
or fat until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled (Paris,
France) |
| |
|
goat's milk icecream with fresh berries (Rome, Italy) |
| |
|
tripe Firenze - tripe (cow stomach lining) stewed with
tomatoes and
cheese
(Florence, Italy) |
|
|
-Favorite new discovered food: |
|
|
aloe plant yogurt, with aloe chunks (Japan) |
|
|
lembu, a delicious pear-like fruit (Vietnam & Taiwan) |
|
|
"cubano" - hotdog in a bun w/ guacamole, chopped
tomatos, thousand
island
dressing, banana chips, and bacon (Vina del Mar, Chile) |
|
|
Danone Bio natural flavor yogurt w/ soja additive (found
in Portugal & France) |
| |
|
fresh figs, and we mean *really* fresh (Jelsa, Croatia) |
| |
|
fresh lemon ricotta as dessert (Montone, Italy) |
|
| |
-Cheapest ice cream cone: |
| |
|
Budapest - 50 forints (about 25 cents US) if you buy it
at the McDonalds |
| |
|
take-away window, but 100 forints if you buy it inside |
|
|
-Blandest food: |
|
|
pastries, no matter how many we tried (Croatia) |
| |
|
bread, even though everything else is so tasty (Italy) |
|
| |
-Thing we’d like to have more of: |
| |
|
Handi-wipes |
| |
|
Duct tape (we gave it away to some people trying to re-attach
their muffler) |
|
| |
-Smallest thing we're glad we brought: |
| |
|
headphone splitter so we can both listen to the iPod |
|
|
-Things we wish we hadn't brought: |
| |
|
Outdated guide books |
|
|
Flash attachment for camera (too big, and we just don't
use it - sent home) |
|
| |
-Thing we wish we hadn’t lost: |
| |
|
Shoes (they were accidentally carted off in the back of
a Land Cruiser at the end of our stay in Uganda) |
|
| |
-Running score in the longest Gin Rummy game
ever: |
| |
|
Susan 3185 to Grace 1965 [update:
we met a couple on the plane that had
been playing the same game for several years straight - we
concede.] |
