Hello from the US! After 18 months, we have made it back Stateside. It is crazy how fast time flies.

Since our last recap back in January, we’ve visited just 6 countries – Thailand, Myanmar, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji – giving us a chance to really enjoy our time in each area.

Gimme the Numbers

In our 18 months, we visited 25 countries across 6 continents!

Brice and I have now been to 41 and 40 countries, respectively, throughout all of our global adventures.

In our 18 months, we stayed in 108 different hotels, AirBnBs, hostels and lodges. They range from 5-star luxury resorts to rustic homestays. Yes, I have them all listed and rated. No, I didn’t want to blog about each and every one. But if you need recommendations anywhere in the world, I’m your girl 🙂

In our last 6 months, we drove nearly 4,000 miles – 2,300 across Australia, 840 through the North Island of New Zealand and 808 in the South Island.

We saw a crazy number of beaches.

I read another 16 books and walked an average of 5.2 miles a day.

We ate a lot of cheese and drank a good amount of wine – too much to count.

Top Experiences

We rented an apartment in Chiang Mai for 2 months with our good friend, Summer. We gymed hard, met awesome expats, ate so much khao soi and papaya salad, and toured nearly all the sights.

We took advantage of nearly any animal encounter. We fed beautiful rescued elephants sugar cane in Chiang Mai.

We held the cutest sugar gliders, and spotted wild dingoes, kangaroos and koalas in Australia.

We snorkeled with massive, gentle Manta Rays in Fiji and SCUBA dived with white-tipped reef sharks and turtles on the Great Barrier Reef.

We saw the world’s smallest penguins hop from shore to their beds on the beach and watched 90+ dolphins swim and play in the open ocean.

We hiked 14-miles across 3 volcanoes on the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand.

We accomplished one of the Seven Summits, hiking to the top of Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s tallest mountain.

We picked up kayaking as a new favorite activity and tried out jetskiing.

We finally got to try Zorbing, which was one of the most fun, hysterical things we’ve ever done.

We rode horses, rafted down a 21-foot waterfall, and somehow rafted ourselves in a 2-person raft down Class IV rapids.

I shocked even myself and jumped at the chance to get into a tiny plane that took off from the sand to see Fraser Island from the air. And we enjoyed a seaplane ride in Fiji, viewing the reef from above.

I pushed myself outside my comfort zone several times. I agreed to a liveaboard dive trip where I both did a night dive (something I never thought I’d do) and spent the night on a boat (and didn’t even get seasick!).

• 

• 

We watched the gorgeous Symphony of Lights, an impressive nightly light show, in Hong Kong.

• 

• 

We reconnected with several friends from around the world – a Kiwi friend who we met in Jordan, my cousin who was living in Wellington, a friend from Portland who now lives in Christchurch, and even a previous camp counselor who’s from Sydney.

We spent a week in Melbourne with our dear friend Becca, who we met in Chiang Mai. We met wonderful people everywhere we went and made great new friends.

What’s Next?

We started off our return to the US with an intensely busy but wonderful week in DC with my extended family to celebrate my brother’s residency graduation and niece’s 3rd birthday. From here, we head to Glacier National Park for some camping and Montana adventures with some good friends.

We’ll spend the summer in Portland and on a roadtrip to some US National Parks (so excited for Yellowstone!). After 43 countries, we figure we should see more of our own beautiful country too.

From there, we’ll see what comes!