The End

It feels kind of surreal that our long-awaited year of travel is over! I'm sure it won't be the last of our travels -- if we've learned anything, it's probably that the more of the world you see, the more you realize how much more there is to see. For the time being, we'll be getting back to normal life and doing occasional smaller trips closer to home.

We loved the feeling of freedom we got from heading somewhere far away, without knowing exactly where we'd be going next. It's kind of jarring to be able to reach so many places so quickly, with short flights bridging drastically different cultures, histories, and standards of living. I felt that I'd suddenly surged ahead in time when we flew from Tanzania to Amsterdam, yet the surge only took a few hours. Or when we travelled from Tibet to Nepal. While Nepal is by no means a first world country, it has restaurants with different cuisines, an array of accommodation and hot water. It felt luxurious in comparison.

We learned a lot over the past year, and we have more learning to come as we try to revisit in our minds some of the places we've seen and properly absorb more of the history behind them (the 10,000 pictures Mike took will also help!). We've enjoyed sharing our experiences with you, and hopefully we've inspired you to explore somewhere new.

Thanks for reading.

The End

(for now)

:) 

Calgary and Drumheller, Alberta

We've never really spent any time in Calgary (flew there once and went straight to Banff), so we thought it would be cool to check it out and visit some friends of ours there at the same time. Many of the flights home routed through there anyway, so why not? 

Calgary had great weather while we were there! Casa Donkey was a great place to stay (very friendly welcoming note, lots of suggestions for activities, a friendly and chatty host). I hadn't read any reviews before booking it so perhaps it is an undiscovered gem. Thanks Brandon!!

We explored downtown Calgary, tried lots of restaurants (NOtaBLE, Farm, Una, OEB) and had a wonderful brunch at Casa Muhle (another undiscovered gem as I couldn't find it on TripAdvisor). We also took a side trip to Drumheller and checked out dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils, that is. Whoa, pretty crazy stuff! Only in Alberta.

Yummy breakfast at OEB.

It's pretty cool that there's a park (aka Devonian Gardens) on the top floor of the fancy shopping mall in downtown Calgary.

Checking out Stephen Avenue, shades and all.

Look at that cat lover. 

Having a picnic lunch, Subway style, next to the world's biggest dinosaur.

All right, Markus and Tyler, these next pics are for you!!! 

Badlands

Time to drive back to Calgary. Of course, we picked the road less travelled! Never know when that large green tea is going to hit you.

This Casa Donkey place even comes complete with a mixologist!

And a pretty good one too. 

Oh dear, did we put him to sleep?

Mike was fascinated with the cats all weekend.

Who's the cutie on Meghan's lap? 

Time to hit up the park. Look at Lily go!

Do you think I would get weird looks if I tried this? It looks like so much fun! 

It's our last meal before the airport.

Unagi pizza - different but good!

Look how we ran into at the airport? Good to see you Tre! 

Last flight for a while. And our 39th flight since the year of travel started. 

Welcome back fireworks in Vancouver?! I really love this city.

Part II with the wild Winklmeiers

Digesting paella faces

He either fell over from eating too much paella or because that camera equipment he carried everywhere was getting too heavy. Methinks it was the latter.

Quite a scene at Barcelona's beaches! I'm trying to avoid having an accident.

While I took yet another pee pee stop, this scene unfolded. Living on the edge? 

Cool idea for a gas station. If you run out, I guess you should stop on the road and fill up?

Time to eat again. We've done enough exercise for now, right? 

Market the next day

I really wanted to take one of those jamóns home. 

aka rabbits

Can I get the recipe?

We hiked up to the Monjuic Castle.

But took the gondola down. 

Got it.

Our spacious apartment! Mike seemed to enjoy sliding down the hallway in his socks. 

A very yummy dinner cooked by Violetta (with all of the stuff we bought at the market that morning). Wow! Theresa came and joined us. I poured vino.

We met up for one last dinner the next night at La Flauta. Awesome food! He still can't put that camera down though. :) 

Ok, he finally set it down momentarily.

Their signature dish - saucy potatoes with a raw egg cracked over top and mixed in. 

Why did the tables beside us keep leaving? We saw 3 couples come and go! I swear we weren't that loud...