After 93 flights, 73 boat trips, 62 train trips, 38 buses, 11 rental cars, and 175 different hotels, we are finally home.  Thank you to all of you who prayed for our safety over the last 15 months, we definitely felt those prayers and saw them answered on a regular basis. 

 

After multiple discussions (during drives around Australia and New Zealand), we settled on our favorite 25 sights/experiences in the world.  I am positive that the order of this list would have changed had we taken a different route or seen certain sights at a different time.  Other things definitely affected this ranking such as where we had been prior to visiting one of the places below or even how tired we were at the time.  So, although I stand by this as a list of great things to do around the globe, you might visit several of these places and rank them in a completely different order.  We also cheated on a few smaller countries by simply listing the entire country.  I've added explanations of why we loved these places or ranked them as we did.   

 

Also, below is an email address for anyone who wants to contact us (family and friends ignore this new email address).  The address is jeffandrachelabroad@hotmail.com 

 

Jeff and Rachel

 

1. Patagonia/Explora Lodge (Chile) - Great hikes, glaciers, the best horseback riding we've ever experienced; this lodge has it all and in an incredible setting.  All of the Patagonia region is awe-inspiring. 

2. Taj Mahal/Amarvilas (India) - The Taj is, in my opinion, the most beautiful building in the world and you can see it from the window of your hotel room at the Amarvilas.  This and the Explora Lodge are the only hotels we stayed in that merit mention. 

3. Japan - I can't say enough about the kind, courteous people of Japan.  The culture is so vastly different from anything we experienced and we loved every minute of our 2 weeks here; if it were not so expensive, we might have stayed longer.

4. Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) - Untouched nature at its best; the animals are not afraid of people in the least; like visiting an open-air zoo with the most exotic animals of the world. 

5. Capetown and the Garden Route (South Africa) - No city in the world has such a naturally beautiful setting. Table Mountain borders the city on one side and the ocean is on the other.  The Garden Route has great hikes and quaint B&Bs; this is a great 2-week trip.   

6. Jerusalem's Religious Sites and the Jewish People (Israel) - To walk where Christ walked is an amazing thing.  Maybe as inspiring is the resolve of the Jewish people - what it took to start this country and the courage it takes to wake up every day knowing that 50 million of your sworn enemies are at your doorstep.

7. Ireland - Rolling hills and quaint towns with lots of pubs serving Guinness (I promise it tastes different here).  It didn't hurt our experience to see U2 in concert in Dublin, a fantastic city in its own right. 

8. Machu Picchu (Peru) - Set aside the historical significance of this site and wonder how in the world the Incas built a retreat this high up in the mountains.  Machu Picchu is an amazing place to sit and enjoy the lush, green view with mountains in the background. 

9. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda) - They don't call this forest "impenetrable" for nothing.  We felt like Indiana Jones as we hiked in the only place in the world where you can find gorillas in their natural habitat.  Uganda was the most third-world country we visited and we could not have survived it without my friend Scott and his family - seeing the mission work they are doing and visiting with them was a bigger highlight than seeing gorillas within 10 ft. 

10. New Zealand - Probably the most naturally beautifully country we visited.  Also ranks high for us because of all the activities available here (we went skydiving, skiing, rappeling, jet boating, and fly-fishing). 

11. India - We had mixed emotions while traveling here.  It's filthy and very difficult travel, but our 3 weeks here affected us more than any other place we went.  We saw poverty like we've never seen it and the only way to descibe the Indian people and their culture is to say it is unique.   

12. El Questro (Australia) - The most beautiful gorge hikes anywhere in the world that we found.  Only here did we feel like we found the Outback. 

13. Soussevlei (Namibia) - These sand dunes are some of the largest in the world and gave us some of our best pictures of the trip.  The reds and oranges of the dunes at sunrise are unforgettable. 

14. Serengeti (Tanzania) - Best safari of the three we did.  The plains seem endless and Ngorogoro Crater is amazing.  We saw all the Big Five here in close proximity.   A good guide is the key - Harry was our hero. 

15. The Fes Medina (Morocco) - Forget the markets of Cairo and Marakkesh, if you haven't been to the Medina in Fes, you haven't seen the most fantastic Arab market in the world; we would have easily been hopelessly lost in this maze in about 10 minutes without a guide. 

16. Slovenia - This is a beautiful, undiscovered country in Eastern Europe; great cafes along a river and Lake Bled close by. 

17. Ayers Rock (Australia) - Also called Uluru, this mammoth rock formation explodes out of nowhere in the center of the country.  A climb to the top was a highlight for us. 

18. Snorkeling in the Red Sea (Egypt) - We had bad weather while on the Great Barrier Reef, but I'm not sure  it would have beaten out our experience in the Red Sea even had the weather been perfect.   At Ras Muhammad National Park, we found amazing fish and the most fantastic, vibrantly colored coral anywhere. 

19. Abu Simbel (Egypt) - The Great Pyramids are impressive, but this unassuming temple in the southernmost city of Egypt blew us away.  The exterior statues are massive and the interior artwork is the most well preserved of the Egyptian antiquities. 

20. Bangkok (Thailand) - We may have loved this modern city more because we were coming from India, but there is so much to do and see here ...and such a fascinating culture.  A Thai cooking class was a highlight for us here, along with $8 Thai massages.   

21. Barcelona (Spain) - Maybe the best atmosphere of any city in the world.  And nowhere else can you see the architecture of Anton Gaudi, which is alone worth the trip. 

22. Angkor Wat (Cambodia) - Many of these temples are in ruin, but that gives you a feel of discovery as if you are the first archaeologist on the scene.  Throw in the sad, but fascinating history of Cambodia and this is a must stop on any Southeast Asian itinerary. 

23. Sydney (Australia) - The Sydney Opera House is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world; it makes the city.  But the rest of the city is nothing to overlook. 

24. Terracotta Warriors (China) - Walking out onto the observation deck to look out on the thousands of Terracotta Warriors is a highlight of China.  Maybe even more amazing is they don't even know how many more of these things are buried. 

25. Morro de Sau Paulo (Brazil) - This was easily the greatest discovery of our trip (Rachel found the island in a magazine article).  Its remote location south of Salvador, Brazil is attractive, but more so are the sandy streets (no cars), quaint cafes, and free mud bath on one of the many beautiful beaches. 

 

Honorable Mentions:  Halong Bay (Vietnam), Berlin (Germany), the Greek Isles, Petra (Jordan), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Hong Kong, Ko Lanta (Thailand), Okavanga Delta (Botswana), and Buenos Aires (Argentina)