Travel is great because of its ups and downs. Overcoming its struggles and conquering its obstacles. Its highs are worth it because it takes a piece from you right before it becomes all worth it. So yes, travel is not all sunshine and rainbows, but we love talking about both our highs and our lows. Why? Because both are treasured memories that have been part of some amazing growth.

So, what have we been up to?

I discovered that heating was not typical in Egypt. How? When I asked our hostel in Alexandrina where the thermostat was. He so kindly informed me that heat was not available. Egypt gets much colder than you could have thought. I didn’t now how reliant I was on it in Canada.

Our first hospital visit was a result of a dog attack in Fethiye. There are a lot of stray dogs in Turkey, and they can get aggressive. We were walking back to our accommodations up a narrow pathway and I must have gotten too close. I received 2 shots and was to return for 3 more. When we were told we had finished we tried to pay and to our surprise, all services were free for tourists. We thought that this must have been a mistake and check twice before leaving.

Experiencing our first hot air balloon ride with a daredevil who had no fear. We had another staff member on his day off fly with us and he sat on the edge of the basket which was terrifying to watch. I never knew someone could be that comfortable as such extreme heights.

Cherry blossom chasing in Japan. We didn’t know how magical the blooms of Japan could be. Everyone was impressed with them, young and old, it didn’t matter. It felt like a fairy tale, and we got to see them for 4 weeks as we watched for peak blooms all over the country.

Missing our first flight. I insisted we take the first bus from our hotel in Greece to the airport. A taxi was over $100. It did not leave early enough. When we went to check in with Ryan Air, they told us the gate has been closed for a while. We watched the plane head to Italy without us. We had to take any flight we could find to Italy and catch a train to Pompeii. The most expensive mistake ever. I cried for so long as Johnathan kept his composure trying to solve our dilemma.

Our group on our Croatia cruise was amazing. They all made that experience so memorable. We were worried about having a young party boat or a group of retired folks. But our diverse group was so much fun, and we talk to so many of them still today. A supper supportive and encouraging group. The 5 day vs the 7 day option was great as I began to get sea sick on the evening of our last night.

Arriving in Istanbul to be greeted by a snowstorm on my birthday. Not only was the weather suppose to be suited for shorts. My suitcase broke before we caught our connecting flight, so we had no time to report the damage. We caught a local bus with the help of the staff, which ended up dropping us off 30 minutes away from our hotel. I was not please to walk with a broken suitcase.

Breaking my suitcase for a 2nd time walking through the town of Simi. Our situation attracted attention. The restaurant staff asked us during our visit if we were the ones with the broken blue suitcase. Everyone knew who we were. We owned it.

Ridding on the back of scooters with 2 friendly locals who rushed to help us make our ferry. Luggage and all. They told us we would never make it by walking, they dropped everything and shuttled us as quickly as they could. We were amazed by their generosity. We made it with less than 5 minutes before the ferry departed. Simi you will be remembered.

Forgetting my cross body during a photo stop on our ATV tour in Cappadocia. 10 minutes after we left, I noticed we have forgotten it next to the fence. I notified our guide who called back to café. They located it and he went back to grab it once we stopped for sunset. I was so happy as our money and credit cards were in the bag. We were so lucky to get it back.

Boarding down sand dunes in Huacachina ended with a lot of blood when Johnathan hit a bump at the end. He split open his upper lip and should have gone to get stitches. The tour guide tried to tape him up and we spent all night trying to stop the bleeding. He now has a nasty scar across his philtrum and for the first time is starting to look normal. 3 months later.

In Dundalk, Ireland while pet sitting, Johnathan’s iPhone stopped working. He regularly listened to it while in the shower. We have also used it for underwater recordings many times without issue. The phone said he could not charge it because it was wet. He dried it with rice and disassembled it to help along the process. We couldn’t get it to turn back on. We googled ways to fix it, and nothing was helping. We went to a repair shop, and they told us it could not be repaired. Water damage voids the apple warranty. We were so shocked as apple had advertised the phone to be water resistant up to a few feet. We had never taken the phone deeper than they claimed it could go. It was official, he had to replace his phone.

Loosing my Go Pro while river rafting in Peru. The last thing we did before the end of the tour was jump into the water. I seconded guessed it but thought it may be fun. Once in I saw that Go Pro had detached from the harness my heart sank. In a last-ditch effort, the guide checked the raft, it was gone. I think now that I would have been better off in the raft.

Downhill mountain biking in Peru was our first biking tour ever. This was such an amazing experience we never knew we would enjoy. Ridding down a winding road with snow capped mountains felt amazing. We will try to add more bike experiences where we can.

Sunrise at Mount Sini. This was both an extreme low and extreme high. This hike started at 2am in the dark. Part of the way up my shoes cut open the backs of my heals and I got blisters on my feet. The entire way up I was shaking for fear heights. I was worried about being too slow and missing sunrise for Johnathan that I cried. Which slowed me down even more. The pain combined with the shakes made getting to the top before the sun peaked over the horizon seem impossible. So, when we made it and saw how bright it was, we thought that we had missed it. We were shocked to see that the sun was just a few minutes away and that we made it to the top to see the main event. Johnathan stayed with me and encouraged me the entire way.

Being stopped in Spain when boarding the train because we didn’t pay for luggage. We had translated our way through purchasing the tickets. We were blindsided by the expensive cost for luggage that needed to be paid before boarding. Turns out it was in the fine print. We had never had a check in process like this before when boarding a train. Yes, they check everything.

Getting food poisoning in Jordan. This happened in Aman and had us bed ridden in our hotel. We were unable to get very far. 2 kind soles we met at Petra came to our rescue. They brought us food, medicine and helped us get through our first sickness abroad. Miguel and Janice helped us see the good in people.

complained that anyone was slow. The three girls, Eliza, Sam, and Faith were my cheerleaders. My appreciation for them can not be put into words. We walked into the night, but all made it with smiles. After the tour I found a video Johnathan took. You can hear the girls in the background trying to choose a song to sing to celebrate me reaching a checkpoint. I was so emotional I had to hold back tears. I have been part of bad groups who just got upset with anyone who walked too fast or too slow. Just mean and grouchy people. This group of Kevin, Jessica, Eliza, Sam, Faith, and Ryan really restored my faith in people. It opened my eyes to how great some people are. Cheers for making this tour one for the record books.

But did we need 2 phones? While in Dublin I lost Johnathan. While in our large hostel. I dropped off our luggage in the holding area and turned around and he was nowhere to be found. I peaked in a few nearby rooms and waited for 30 minutes hoping he would return. But no luck. I asked the staff to check the cameras and began to panic. He couldn’t take this long in the washroom, what had happened? 45 minutes later I found him sitting 2 rooms over in a lounge hidden by a vending machine sitting on a couch. He thought we had agreed to come here and didn’t know what happened to me. I was so worried and decided that should we get separated; a phone was a necessity. This couldn’t happen again.

But there are no apple stores in Ireland, only authorized retailers. After just over 1 month we were in Spain, and we headed to Apple in Barcelona to pick up Johnathan’s new phone. An expensive buy. But we were at least able to claim the taxes when leaving the EU.

Getting our first speeding ticket was very memorable. Johnathan was the lucky one that got pulled over while speeding on the way from Wadi Rum to Aman Jordan. We handed over all the requested documentation, including his international driver’s license. When we returned to drop off the car the rental agency made it very clear that they knew we were pulled over. We had to pay them for the ticket. They waived the admin fee of 30JD because of the extra gas we had in the car. If you look up online, speeding tickets in Jordan, foreigners get pulled over regularly. Even while locals are going twice as fast. So do not try to keep up with the flow of traffic. Just follow the posted signage.

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