This was the best experience of my life. Yet I’ve had a hard time figuring out how to summarize it for our friends and family without boring you with too much detail, while still remembering all the things the four of us want to remember forever.
My solution?
1) Don’t repeat stories we’ve already blogged about (except for the craziest ones).
2) Add more detail than you’re probably interested in (sorry!). Feel free to search for the terms you’re most interested in (safari, bungee, speedo, pasta, etc.)
3) Break it down by country into the two most important categories we could imagine:
a) The Experiences we never imagined we would have
b) The People we met who we’ll never forget
France!
Experiences
Never thought Chris and I would buy speedos from a vending machine. And like it (see blog post).
Never thought we would bike down the incredible streets of the Versailles palace grounds, and have all of us agree that the tree lined venue was the most beautifully awe-inspiring road on the entire trip.
Never forget the look on Chris’s face when we surprised him with tickets to Parc Asterix in Paris (an amusement park that turned out to be VERY hard to get to from downtown Paris)
Never thought the kids would climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower without stopping once.
Never thought while walking the Champs Elysees with Ellie that she would ask me to write her a book about all the business lessons I’ve learned, and give it to her for her High School graduation. Proud dad.
Never thought I’d run into OU Basketball Coach Lon Kruger at the Musee D’Orsay. Or that he’d be one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met (see blog post).
Never thought I’d almost kill our entire family leaving Paris while trying to navigate the roundabout at the Arc D’ Triomphe. At our villa that night, I asked a Parisian how the roundabouts worked. He said, “Those already in the roundabout have the right of way.” I said, “Huh, that didn’t seem to be the case at the Arc D’ Triomphe.” He said, “Except at the Arc D’ Triomphe. Where anything goes.” C’est la vie.
Never forget how much fun Chris had playing in the park with his friend Ian from home. It’s wonderful how much Chris loves his friends.
Never forget how exhilarating it was to do our first Zipline adventure in southern France, including a 200 foot zip across a lake!
Never thought I’d actually view the works of art/buildings I’d only read about in books: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Notre Dame…just crazy.
Never thought visiting Normandy would have such an impact on me. Especially seeing the bombing stations, and the grave site of the Americans who died there. The cemetery is one of the most beautiful sites we’ve ever seen, especially the symmetry of the headstones. Unbelievable.
Never thought Paris, and France in general, would have the magical impact it did on all of us. But we will be back.
People in France
Never forget the fine English folks at our 1st B&B in the south of france, who over many (many) bottles of wine taught me every English swear term they knew. Cream crackered, mardy arse, stop whinging, cheeky rascal, spanking gorgeous, and many more not suitable for this blog. I am ready to tick some people off next time we go to London.
Never forget the 6 year old twins at the B&B who begged me to give them a “real American workout” the following morning. I put them through a brutal Acton Insanity workout, and they never complained once. But they were sore the next day (yes!)
Never forget the look on the French waiter’s face when Chris ordered Hot Chocolate on a 90 degree day. A triple take that would have made Jerry Lewis proud.
Never forget the French waitress who brought us spoons for our ice creams. Mine was small, so I kiddingly had her “take it back to the chef.” She raised her hand up in protest and left, then returned a minute later with a spoon the size of my forearm. First time a Parisian made us laugh (intentionally), but it was classic.
Never forget our young American tour guide at the Lourve, who specializes in kid’s tours. She made it such a special day for Chris and Ellie, and loved living in the most beautiful city in the world (her words). Instead of Wisconsin (her words).
Italy!
Experiences
Never forget what it felt like to gamble in Monaco (see blog post). I’ve already framed my Chase statement showing the withdrawal from the casino.
Never forget the look on Ellie’s face when I surprised her with an authentic Italian cooking jacket.
Never forget how blue the Mediterranean looked when we burst out of the underground train tunnel at Cinque Terre.
Never forget how difficult it was to hike between the towns of Cinque Terre; and how proud we were that we did it.
Never forget how crazy it was for Chris to be pulled into “Charlie Chaplin’s” street show in Florence for 45 minutes… and have him pull it off without a care in the world in front of hundreds of people (see blog post).
Never forget how great our first Italian gelato tasted. Our our 100th.
Never forget how loud the bells of the Venice bell tower rang… especially since we were standing right next to them.
Never forget how proud of our family I was when we walked the 25 minute route home from the Florence train station in POURING rain (rather than wait in the hour long cab ride), without a word of complaint.
Never forget the look on Ellie’s face as she stumbled into Vogue’s Fashion Night on the streets of Florence.
Never forget how challenging and fun it was to navigate the Florence train station multiple times, all without a hitch (more or less)
Never forget the look on Chris’s face when I bought him a laser pointer from a street vendor in Florence. Best $10 I spent on the trip.
Never forget the excitement on Chris and Ellie’s face as they took their first segway in Rome. OK, I liked it too.
Never forget how much better it was sharing Italy with my sister and her family (see blog posts)
Never forget how good the pasta bolognese tasted that we made in our Italian cooking class. Unfortunately, we can’t quite duplicate it at home… yet. I blame the ingredients.
Never forget how it felt to see the actual statue of Michelangelo’s David in person. Had no idea it would have such an impact on me.
Never forget how mad we were that we only spent 5 days in Rome. We won’t make that mistake again.
People in Italy
Never forget our cooking class instructor, and the joy with which he performed his job. Even as he was hammering me repeatedly for rolling my dough with my fingers instead of my palm. Freaking perfectionist.
Never forget our wine country tour guide, who had no problem finishing the wine from the glasses we couldn’t.
Never forget the street vendor in Florence who told us that “real drinkers don’t drink white wine”, then sold us a bottle of his best white… for three euros (less than $5). Tasted great to us!
Never forget the owner of our favorite restaurant (which in three weeks, we went to three times; which should tell you how many great restaurants are in Florence). The second time we came in, he remembered everything we ordered the first time. The third time he didn’t even give us menus. We had so many special dining experiences in Italy, and we’ll never forget them.
Slovenia/Croatia!
Experiences
Never forget how I felt the first time I jumped off the rock to go canyoning in Slovenia (see blog post). Biggest OSM of the trip… to that point.
Never forget the kids in the Slovenian gym who I put through an Acton Insanity workout. Let’s just say Slovenia’s education department may need to hire me as a consultant.
Never forget walking into Slovenia’s finest indoor waterpark/sauna. While the kids hit the slide, I walked into the sauna (14 and up only) to check it out. It was very huge, very hot, and I was the ONLY one wearing a towel. Out of over 100 bare naked men and women people. I played the part of the Ugly American and kept my towel on. Things are different in Slovenia.
Never forget the beauty of the waterfalls and hiking trails at Lake Plitvice National Park in Croatia, and the boat ride on what has to be the most still waters in the world.
Never forget how incredibly beautiful the drive from Slovenia from Dubrovnik was. The most beautiful (and curvy) drive I’ve ever made. Ever.
Never forget lying on a rock in Dubrovnik, and watching my family swim in the beautiful adriatic sea. While I ate stone crabs.
Never forget hearing about the bombing of Dubrovnik less than 20 years earlier during their war, and trying to imagine the horrific ordeals these people had to go through such a short time ago, and how quickly they have recovered and moved on.
Never forget the look on Chris’s face when Zack and Anna brought him Goldfish crackers from the states. You would have thought they were filled with $100 euro bills.
Never forget the feeling we had when we were taxiing along the harbor on the way to our boat for the first time, and saw the crew of the mighty ANDEO ship on board saluting and waving at us as we pulled up to them. This was a top 5 moment for all of us.
Never forget how it felt pull out of the Dubrovnik harbor in the boat for the first time. We felt like Captain Cook, Marco Polo, and Larry Ellison all at the same time.
Never forget how our first step onto each new island felt like it could be the adventure of our lifetime. Korcula, Ston, Hvar, Lopud. And how fun it was to share those adventures with Zack and Anna.
Never forget how GREAT the food on the boat was, and how hard the crew worked to keep the boat clean and perfect for us the entire time. That was probably the fastest and most consistent internet access we had the whole trip. Really!
Never forget how quizzically Niksa looked at me when I told him I was going running on the island. His exact quote, “People don’t run where I am from. If someone saw me running, he would say, “Niksa, why are you running? Is someone chasing you? Come sit down and have a drink!!!” He said this without a hint of a smile.
Never forget the first time the crew raised the sails, and how I felt lying on the deck while listening to “Sailing” on my headphones. Go ahead and mock… but I dare you to try it.
Never forget how at the end of the trip the crew surprised me with an official Andeo Crew shirt (Ok, I had been begging for one the entire time).
Never forget how sad we all were to get off the boat the final time.
People in Croatia
Never forget the Rick Steves lookalike who almost cut our trip short by stealing my wife (see blog post)
Never forget first mate Tommy, who never stopped working the whole time, and who laughed at all of my jokes, even the ones I know there is no way he could have gotten (English not his first language… plus they weren’t that funny).
Never forget Chef V. We don’t know where he learned how to cook, but when we find out, we will be heading that way.
Most of all, we will never forget Captain Niksa, who is SO rightfully proud of his boat, and the debt and effort he undertook to get him to where he is today. He told us the stories about the serb-croat war that helped us understand the conflict and the pain better than any tour could. Niksa is a true entrepreneur and wonderful person who we will never forget
South Africa!
Experiences
Never forget how exciting it was to walk into our apartment, and how cool Chris thought it was we were across from a SIX star hotel, The One and Only (see blog post).
Never thought I’d take a) a cooking class b) in South Africa c) on an open fire with stone tools and d) love it so much! Ellie’s meal was the best, of course.
Never thought the four of us would climb Table Mountain. It was REALLY hard; nearly every step was a lunge up a two foot rock, with very little flat areas. But no one complained once. Probably our most physical accomplishment on the trip.
Never thought the four of us would then jump OFF the mountain. The Abseil Africa crew was great.
Never forget how they told us there would be a big surprise half way down the climb; with the surprise being… no more cliff. We just dangled in gravity as we slowly lowered ourselves down. Definitely an OSM.
Never thought we would eat Kudu, wildebeest, impala or springbok. They don’t serve those at Chili’s.
Never thought I’d ride in a sidecar through the streets of Capetown while my daughter yahoo’ed with joy. The sights we saw that day were truly miraculous.
Never thought I’d see southern right whales so close… little did I know we’d be seeing whales another two times on the trip!
Never thought I’d bike through a pack of wild baboons (see blog post). Nor would I have ever thought I’d let my family do the same.
Never thought I’d pet a live cheetah; at least this one was in a reserve (see blog post).
Never forget seeing a man propose to his girlfriend while at dinner at Nobu with Marcy.
Never forget watching Marcy attempt to ski from ropes in some crazy African water park… and actually do it!
Never forget hearing Johannesburg schoolchildren hug us and sing for us when we came to see their school. It was so touching, I didn’t have the heart to put them through an Acton Insanity workout.
Never forget the nine hour drive through zululand in S. Africa. Saw some unforgettable things; war-torn fields, extreme poverty, and some of the most beautiful scenery ever. Our driver narrated almost throughout, and it was extremely cool.
Never forget waking up at 5 am to monkeys jumping up and down on our tin roof, trying to crack nuts. Little buggers! Marcy scared them off. Don’t ask me how.
Never forget how proud I was of Ellie to learn to officially scuba dive in the waters of Rocktail Beach Camp.
Never forget the first time I saw the tiniest boat I’ve ever seen, then realized that 9 of us would be getting on it to go look for whales. We had to bust through the surf to get there, which was VERY rough, and one of the ladies (not ours) begged to go back halfway through. The captain full throttled through, and she ended up ok… especially after we saw dozens of whales around us! The trip back through the surf was almost as scary. Definitely an OSM, but WELL worth it.
Never thought I would both walk, trot, and CANTER on a horse through some pretty rough trails, but we all did it. First time ever for all of us.
Never forget how when we arrived to our safari lodge, we were told do NOT leave the lodge without calling for a security escort first. Why? Wild animals patrolled the lodges at night, of course, with no fences. They wouldn’t tell us if there were any recent incidents, they wisely left that to our imagination. But it was no joke. And the kids were in a different lodge from us, about 100 yards away. But they never once said they wanted to sleep with us. Pretty brave!!!
Never, ever thought I would go on a safari and see all the crazy wonderful things we did. (see blog post) I don’t need to write much about it down, because we will all never forget it.
Never thought I would visit Mandela’s boyhood home, Robben Island prison, or his current home (he died a month after we left). More importantly, never realized what an impact hearing his story from so many different perspectives would have on all of us. What a great man.
People in South Africa
Never forget our young horse riding guide, who quit law school a semester short of graduation because she realized her passion was working with animals. She never looked back and has never been happier.
Never forget our cupcake making coach Candace, who was trying so hard to start up her new business, and had so much passion and energy about it. We were her very first clients, and hopefully the first of many more.
Never forget our incredible safari guides, Martin and Abel. Whether they were taking the kids fishing on their off day (next to hippos and crocs, I kid you not), jumping from their seats to avoid attacking jungle cobras, telling us about life in Africa pre and post apartheid, or just sharing stories about their crazy experiences, we loved every minute we spent them. And most importantly, we always felt safe… though we’re still not sure Martin’s gun was actually loaded.
Never forget Sarah, the safari lodge manager. She was just filling in, but she was always full of surprises. Best story: we were there for Halloween (not celebrated in S. Africa, obviously), but she got all the guests together and gave them candy/goodies to give to the kids when they came dressed up in their costumes to dinner. Half of the guests had no clue, of course, but the kids LOVED it. We’ll never forget her.
Last but not least, the person we’ll remember most from our entire trip is our Capetown guide Ebrahim. He was with us every day of the trip save one (for religious reasons), and never, ever let us down. He was always waiting for us at the end of every excursion, no matter how early or late we were. His fascinating stories about apartheid, Mandela, growing up in a township, how he was able to rise above it, his pride in his successful children, his candy burglar stories, and of course, driving DiCaprio (Ellie’s favoritie), and Mr. Samuel L. Jackson (my favorite!). We all had tears in our eyes as we left the airport, primarily because of him. Ebrahim, if you are reading this (and I know you are), we all hope to cross paths with you again some day.
Australia!
Experiences
Never thought we would climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge in pouring down rain.
Never forget how HARD the waves at Sydney’s Bondi Beach knocked us over.
Never thought we’d go all the way to Sydney to see a Game of Thrones panel (see blog post)… and the dwarf didn’t even show up!
Never forget how exhilarating it was to run through downtown Sydney, around the Opera House, and through the many beautiful neighborhoods. Gives San Francisco a serious run for its money.
Never thought I’d see a prison as beautiful as the Port Arthur prison. Incredible.
Never forget how HIGH Chris and I jumped when our Ghost Tour guide shrieked unexpectedly while she had us wait alone in a haunted house (and 40 other people watched us). I’ll get her back someday. Or I won’t.
Never forget how fun it was to 4-wheel with the kids, and watch the mud fall down on us in slow motion when I went a little too fast in a three foot deep puddle. We needed new clothes anyway.
Never forget the beauty of the whales in Wineglass Bay, or how sad it was to learn that this bay is named “Wineglass” because whales used to be hunted here.
Never forget the 5.5 hour drive through brutal terrain and weather in Tasmania. It was a low point at the time, until I remembered, “Hey, when am I going to drive through Tasmania again?” That helped. A little.
Never forget how it felt realizing I finally needed READING GLASSES. Don’t get old.
Never forget meeting a kid currently going to Penn while on a tour in Kangaroo Island, as well as a guy who works with an Acton parent on the same small tour. Very small world.
Never forget the beauty of Remarkable Rock and the natural seal habitat which we were a few feet away from.
Never forget putting the kids at Mungumby Lodge through an Acton Insanity Workout. I missed PE!
Never forget the walk with the two kids (same age as Chris and Ellie) through rainforest to a hidden waterfall. Absolutely beautiful… and they do it every week. With no shoes on.
Never forget the beauty of the Botanical Ark, or the heights their crazy dog reached when we would throw sticks into the natural pool for her to fetch.
Never forget watching sharks chase the trout on the end of our fishing lines in Cooktown. Happened three times: Carpenters 2: Sharks 1.
Never forget snorkelling on the great barrier reef. Definitely another OSM for us.
Never forget the sounds the Crocodiles made when they slammed their jaws shut on their meals tossed to them at the Croc farm. Sounded like a softball hitting a bat.
Never forget how it felt to kiss a toad when we learned how to “race toads” at an Aussie bar.
Never forget the incredible public pool in Cairns, right on the ocean. Most beautiful public pool I’ve ever seen.
Never forget Ellie bought a card game called “50 things to do before you die”. She and Chris had already done 25 of them!!! When I was 13, I had done, wait for it… 3 (and one of those was borderline). Great lives our kids have. Glad we are sharing it with them.
People in Australia
Never forget the family owners of the Mungumby Lodge, the Haslops. For most of the trip we were their only guests, and they treated us like family. From teaching us how to play a digeradoo (we stunk), to showing us the hidden treasures on their land, to frying up the 7 pound trout Ellie caught (and eating some of it too), they were great hosts.
Never forget our Botanical Ark hosts, Alan and Susan Carle. Have never met anyone so passionate about the Rainforests, nor so great at explaining its importance. Also never seen anyone move so fast in response to getting stung by wasps. They generously gave us their book to donate to Acton, and it will surely be treasured there for years.
Never forget the Hanich family from Sydney (see blog post). Not only did they welcome us into their home for a great night, they even trekked all the way into downtown to meet us the following night at the Opera House for dinner. It was awesome getting to know them better, and even better knowing we will always have friends in Sydney, because we will definitely return!
New Zealand!
Experiences
Never forget all the crazy experiences we had… helicoptering to a glacier, bungee jumping, riding a luge, doing 360s on a jet boat, white water rafting down a 21 foot drop, just nuts (see blog post). But that’s the culture in New Zealand… and we kept up with it!!!
Never forget the beauty of Wellington. I could live there.
Never forget bathing in the natural hot springs throughout the country
Never forget seeing the actual studios where all the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films were made, including the HUGE green screen they used for 80% of the action. Our guide knew Peter Jackson well so we got the insiders tour. Very cool.
People in New Zealand
Never forget our mountain biking guide, Lisa. She had been training for the Olympics but broke her back months before. Her attitude and love for her job was incredible, and now she is competing again. Very inspirational.
Never forget the director of an outdoor rendition of Star Trek. They were practicing stunts and we stopped to watch. She came over and talked to us for 30 minutes about the show, her background, and what we’re doing. Turns out she’s from Iowa, came to Wellington, fell in love with it and never left.
Never forget our hosts at Acacia Cliffs Lodge, our final stop. Rick and Linda Whitlock loved hearing our stories, and knew this was our last stop and made it extra special. From throwing a great dinner party with guests from NYC and Connecticut (we learned how to swing dance), to letting the kids feed their three goats, to just giving us our space on a teary final night.
Finally…
will never forget how great it felt to be home. Thank you all for following us on our journey. Looking forward to the next one already!!!
