Beginning of the End

I can’t believe we only have one week left of this epic adventure. We have so many memories, things to process and reflect on, but my engineering mind says we must start posting more stats and superlatives first. So, here are the second half of the trip stats and superlatives updates. You can find the first half stats and superlatives in a previous post.

Second Half of the Trip by the Numbers

– Days Traveled = 136  (Total for the Trip = 272)

– Countries Visited = 8: Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, England  (Total for the Trip = 17)

– Continents Visited = 2 (Total for the Trip = 5)

– Miles Traveled = 9,552 (Total for the Trip = 43,070! The circumference of the earth is 25,901 miles.)

– Different Beds Slept In = 38 (Total for the Trip = 72)

Second Half Superlatives for Rut To The Ledge Adventures

Favorite Form of Transportation –

Suzanne: Hot Air Balloon – Cappadocia, Turkey

Mitch: Hot Air Balloon – Cappadocia, Turkey

Luke: 2016 Ferrari California Turbo at the Ferrari Factory – Maranello, Italy

Most Unique Food We Ate –

Suzanne: Lyonnaisse Pike Quenelles – Lyon, France

Mitch: Pani Ca’Meussa (Beef Spleen Sandwich) – Palermo, Sicily

Luke: Pintxos – Barcelona, Spain

Most Disgusting Meal We Ate –

Suzanne: Pani Ca’Meussa (Beef Spleen Sandwich) – Palermo, Sicily

Mitch: Airport hotel buffet dinner in Marseille after cancelled flight – Marseille, France

Luke:  Roasted Tomatoes in English Breakfast – England

Place You Will Find Me If I Have to Disappear –

Suzanne:  Rovinj, Croatia

Mitch: Rovinj, Croatia (Honorable Mention: Goreme, Turkey)

Luke:  Maranello, Italy (Working at the Ferrari Factory)

Most Overrated Place –

Suzanne: Florence, Italy (too many tourists)

Mitch: Burgundy Region of France

Luke: Cinque Terre, Italy

Most Pleasantly Surprising Place –

Suzanne: Sicily, Italy

Mitch: Croatia (Honorable Mention: Palermo, Sicily)

Luke: Cappadocia, Italy

Place Most In Need of a Million Pressure Washers –

Suzanne: Nowhere, First world bliss!

Mitch:  Bari, Italy

Luke: Palermo, Sicily

Best Meal –

Suzanne: All the Bouchons in Lyon, France

Mitch: Mondo Konoba, Motovun, Croatia (TRUFFLES, TRUFFLES, TRUFFLES!)

Luke: All’Antico Vinaio, Florence, Italy (Amazing Sandwiches!) (Honorable Mention: all Gelato Shops in Italy)

Best Activity –

Suzanne: Hot Air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia, Turkey

Mitch: Hot Air Balloon ride in Cappadocia, Turkey

Luke: Riding four-wheelers through the valleys of Cappadocia, Turkey

Least Likely Place to Return to –

Suzanne: Sarajevo, Bosnia

Mitch: Beaune, France

Luke: Turkey, except for Cappadocia

Favorite New Food –

Suzanne: Sicilian Cannolis

Mitch: Sicilian Arancini

Luke: Gelato!

Travel Gadget I Could Not Live Without –

Suzanne: “Northface” crossbody bag we bought in Vietnam, Honorable Mention: Market bag from Nana

Mitch: Mini Picnic blanket. Have loved being able to picnic whenever we find a beautiful spot.

Luke:  Amazon Kindle

Best Airline –

Suzanne: Vueling

Mitch: Air Serbia

Luke: British Airways (Only because he got upgraded after our first flight was cancelled!)

Worst Day So Far –

Suzanne: 3:30am wakeup call to catch a flight in Turkey only to realize we were still an hour late because they were having daylight savings time. We raced to the airport half asleep.

Mitch: $120 in tolls in one day driving from France to Italy.

Luke: Cancelled flight in France and having to find a place to sleep for the night.

Best Day So Far –

Suzanne: Mitch’s Birthday – Walking in Richmond Park, Riding bikes to Wimbledon, Dinner and drinks on the Thames

Mitch: Seeing the sunrise from a hot air balloon over Central Turkey.  Even more special as I see what is going on in that country now.

Luke: Touring the Ferrari Factory and test track, and my Uncle Walker taking me on a ride in a new Ferrari around Italy