Top Ten and Next Ten

It has been three weeks since we returned from our ten-week journey. We came back to celebrate the wedding of our niece, Codie, and her husband, Alex. It was a wonderful occasion filled with love, joy, and time well spent with family.

We had so many incredible experiences on this trip. Here are our top ten (in chronological order):

• Dinner at The Grove in Auckland

• Chameleon Stargazing at Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand

• Hiking Aoraki/Mt. Cook

• Helicopter ride over the Twelve Apostles

• Receiving a 9:00 AM FaceTime call while in Katoomba, Australia, from Lela and Avery in Moab, Utah, sharing their engagement news (this is #1!)

• Meeting and becoming friends with everyone on our India tour, they made the experience even more special

• Visiting the iconic Taj Mahal

• Enjoying the beaches in Seychelles, especially Praslin

• Hiking on top of Table Mountain

• Wine tasting in the Cape Winelands

Narrowing it down to just ten was tough, so here’s the next ten:

• Exploring the Waitomo Caves on New Zealand’s North Island

• Strolling through the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

• Cruising Milford Sound on New Zealand’s South Island

• Walking around Melbourne

• Wine tasting in Hunter Valley, Australia

• Day tour in Bali

• Early morning bike ride in Jaipur

• A three-hour city tour of Addis Ababa

• Visiting the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town

• Taking a tour of Robben Island led by a former prisoner

One of my personal achievements on this trip was successfully driving on the left side of the road in New Zealand, Australia, and Seychelles. In every country we visited, except Ethiopia, traffic flowed on the left.

We also covered a lot of ground on foot. Over the ten weeks, we walked 969,336 steps, which equates to 444 miles, an average of 14,048 steps per day. Other than December 30 and 31, we walked more than 10,000 steps every single day. Coincidentally, on those two days, we were in the Hunter Valley region, west of Sydney – wine country.

Speaking of walking, I put my Hoka Clifton 9 sneakers to the test. I bought a new pair before the trip and broke them in for a week. By late-January, the sole of one sneaker had started coming loose. When we returned home, I went back to the store, and the staff was shocked by how much wear I had put on them. They replaced them with a brand-new pair.

Lastly, we remain huge fans of Global Entry. Upon landing in Newark, we breezed through immigration in less than a minute.

Because I’m a geek, below are maps of all the flights we took.

December 4, 2024