Homecoming

Kulusuk, Greenland
Originally uploaded by Lee Barnett

We made it! At the time of this post, we've already been home two full days. Already have enjoyed free water at two American restaurants. Already have seen Batman. And one of us has already made a Target run.

This was definitely a record breaking summer for both of us in many ways. Check out these stats:

Number of days spent traveling:
74 days (9 June to 21 August)

Number of countries visited:
33 countries (see previous blog post)

Number of continents visited:
3 continents (Europe, Africa, and North America)

Number of pictures taken:
4,056 photos (Jessica: 2169 photos. Lee: 1887 photos)

Number of steps taken (per person):
1,738,805 steps

Average number of steps per day (per person):
23,497 steps

Greatest number of steps in one day (per person):
47,039 steps (9 July: Tunis/Carthage/Sidi Bou Saïd)

Least number of steps in one day (per person):
3,670 steps (14 August: 25-hour-long train ride from Lisbon to Paris)

Farthest east:
Vilnius, Lithuania (Latitude: 54º41' N. Longitude: 25º18' E)

Farthest south:
Douz, Tunisia (Latutude: 33º25' N. Longitude: 9º1' E)

Farthest north and west (excluding Minnesota):
Kulusuk, Greenland (Latitude: 65º34' N. Longitude: 37º11' W)

Favorite part of the trip:
All of it.

Least favorite part of the trip:
None of it.

Can't wait till next summer!

Magic Number: 33

I can't believe it's almost over. It seemed like just yesterday we were in country #1. Today we're in #33. That's right, in just 71 days, we visited 33 different countries. And it's been fantastic! Mainly for my own amusement, I'd like to list all of them in chronological order for you:

1. USA
2. Norway
3. Sweden
4. Finland
5. Estonia
6. Latvia
7. Lithuania
8. Uzupis
   
9. Poland
10. Hungary
11. Slovakia
12. Austria
13. Slovenia
14. Croatia
15. Bosnia and Herzegovina
    
16. Montenegro
17. Italy
18. Tunisia
19. Malta
20. San Marino
21. Switzerland
22. Liechtenstein
23. Germany
24. France
25. Czech Republic
26. Spain
27. Gibraltar (UK)
28. Morocco
29. Portugal
30. Luxembourg
31. Belgium
32. Iceland
33. Greenland (Denmark)

There they are! Currently, we're back in Reykjavik. Tomorrow, we'll have one more adventure: a whirlwind tour of geysers, waterfalls, lava, etc.

Thursday, we'll be back in Minnesota. We've decided that Kate Barnett will be in charge of our transportation from the airport (I don't know if she knows this yet). So, contact her if you would rather pick us up.

Catching up on photos

Memorial to Murdered European Jews
Originally uploaded by Jess is a dinosaur

Well, we didn´t make it to our first choice bus to Portugal, which would have been last night at 20:45 from Algeciras, Spain. Our ferry didn´t deposit us in Algeciras until about 1:40. We stumbled to the nearest budget accomodation, eyeballing some travelers asleep on benches at the port as another option, but took full advantage of the noon check out time and secured transport on tonight´s overnight bus to Lisbon! Neither of us are too upset about the extra time we have now, because Algeciras doesn´t offer much we need to see, so we´re catching up on our internet use in a nice cafe. Pretty soon it will be time for lunch.

Our plan for the remaining ten (!) days of the trip is as follows: after all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday in Portugal, we´re going to catch a l-o-n-g haul train toward Brussels via Madrid and Paris. (Okay, we might stop in Paris for some crepes... I don´t feel bad skipping Paris because we´ve both been there a few times, though I´ve never been in the summer.)

We have had the opportunity to do so much more on this trip than we even planned for Plan A. (Also known as the overly ambitious plan.) Plan B provided a nice outline but we´ve expanded so much. We keep a running tally of countries we´ve seen; it´s likely we´ll break 30 by the end!

Here is a photo from Berlin, where we went with my brother Joe. It is a great city. This is the chilling Memorial to Murdered European Jews, noticeably not called Holocaust Memorial.

Look for more updates in the next ten days!

Rocking Kasbahs in Morocco

I know what you are thinking: Africa must be old hat by now. More like old HEAT. I swear, when we get home to our broken microwave (thanks, Kate) I will ignore it forever and use only the fridge. And the ice maker. Sweet, sweet American ice.

Our plan is to catch the bus from Fes to Tangier tomorrow, then the ferry from Tangier to Algeciras, Spain, then the overnight bus to Lisbon! This may not happen as transportation in both Spain and Morocco has been sketchy at best. A little tip for you: the 30 minute "fast" ferry actually takes maybe 5 hours, including lateness and waiting time. Never fear, we are self-entertaining.

This keyboard is really challenging شسيباتلنسيتبلسيب you know, and Lee is demanding couscous so we are braving the labyrinthine medina again to return to our amazing hotel, which is a riad built like a billion centuries ago.

Happy Wanderers

Happy Wanderers
Originally uploaded by Jess is a dinosaur

A lot of people have been emailing or commenting that they read the blog a lot, even though we don´t update it very often. Since we´ll be back in the US two weeks from tomorrow (what?!) I thought it would be a good time to amp up the posting.

My photo album is a bit behind because it takes a long time to upload photos. I solved this problem by dumping the lot on my brother´s laptop and slowly transferring them to flickr, meanwhile accumulating hundreds more on my camera. Well, my brother and his laptop left for Omaha via Frankfurt via Madrid this morning with several of my photos still saved to his hard drive. All photos will arrive in good time.

Here is one from Vaduz, Lichtenstein, where we spent a day. We are laughing really hard because we were trying to do the highly acclaimed "self-portrait" style, and had already taken about five. In the picture previous to this one I am holding the camera way too close to my face and my head dwarfs Lee´s head, making me into a giantess. I like this photo.

By the way, we are in Algeciras, Spain, a town Lonely Planet describes as "unattrative" (and that´s about as insulting as Lonely Planet ever gets). Tomorrow we're going to try to go to Gibraltor, see the wild monkeys, then catch a ferry to Tangiers in Morocco!

Two weeks and Three Days!

The title of this post shocks me, because I cannot fathom how the time went so fast. My flickr site has 983 photos on it, with more uploading as we speak. My feet have callouses of a weathered mountain man hermit. My skin has the hue of a Mediterranean. My mind has opened. All is well with me.

In less mystical terms, you should know that Lee, Joe and I made it to Madrid. Joe flies to Frankfurt on Wednesday, and on the same day Lee and I leave for... we haven't decided yet. Since meeting up with Joe in Freiburg we've done Strasbourg, France, where we got to say a final good-bye to our friend Celine, to Passau, Germany, where we stayed with a friend of Joe's and her hilarious family, to Prague, to Berlin, to Barcelona, to Valencia, and now to Madrid.

We look forward to the end of our adventure!