While planning for our year, both in advance and on-the-go, TripAdvisor became our sixth family member. We poured over reviews and suggestions of restaurants, apartments, hikes, hotels, trains, and self-guided tours. As a school writing assignment, we even studied what makes a good review and published some of our own.

Because it was so useful to hear from those who have gone before, we want to share some of our recommendations for YOUR trips abroad. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just many of the great things that come to mind when we look back on our year.

Sorry there are no helpful comments here, but we wholeheartedly recommend all of these places and activities linked below (we DID have some disasters and some less-than-ideals, we just left them off the list). If you want the full story, feel free to email us and we will talk your ear off!

GENERAL TRAVEL

AirTreks Round-the-World Airfare

Renault Eurodrive Lease/Buyback Program

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor CityGuides App

HomeAway Rentals

Holiday Lettings Rentals

AirBnB Apartment Rentals

Rick Steves Audio Europe

ICELAND

Iceland Camping Card

Hotel Keilir, Keflavik

Northsailing Whale Watching, Husavik

FRANCE

Hotel Esmeralda, Paris

Le Manoir Quinquis, Bannalec

Cro Bique, rental in Beynac-et-Cazenac

Font-de-Gaume Cave Paintings, Les Eyzies

Beynac Castle, Beynac-et-Cazenac

Transmanche Ferries

ENGLAND

Broadhembury Campground, Kent

Dover Castle, Kent

Farriers Arms Pub, Kent

London Eye

Tower of London

Blenheim Palace, Oxford

Helm Lune Cottage Rental, Bowness

Holiday Inn Maidstone, Seven Oaks

Car train through the Chunnel

BELGIUM

Maison Antoine Frites, Brussels

European Union Visitors Centre

SWITZERLAND

Chalet Im Batzenboden, Wengen

Trummelbach Falls, Lauterbrunnen

CROATIA

Montona Gallery Pizza, Motovun

Perfectly Charming House, Viganj

Antony Boy Camping and Windsurfing, Viganj

Jadrolinja Ferries

ITALY

L’Arcobaleno Apartment, Rome

Il Sorpasso Ristorante, Rome

MOROCCO

Riad Safir, Meknes

Rough Tours Company, Sahara

TUNISIA

Novotel, Tunis

GREECE

Hotel Phaedra

TURKEY

Villa Blanca Rental, Davutlar

Ephesus Archaeological Site, Izmir

Perge Archaeological Site, Antalya

Flintstones Cave Hotel, Cappadocia

Red and Rose Valley Trails, Goreme

Sedef Restaurant, Goreme

Hitchhiker ATV Rental, Goreme

Sahkulu Place Apartment, Istanbul

TANZANIA

Nomad Tanzania Safaris

RWANDA

Solace Guesthouse, Kigali

Kigali Memorial Centre, Kigali

Meze Fresh Burritos, Kigali

MALAYSIA

Petrosains Science Museum, Kuala Lumpur

Novotel City Centre, Kuala Lumpur

THAILAND

Thailand Elephant Conservation Center

Sojos Cafe, Chiang Mai

Khaomao Khaofang Restaurant, Chiang Mai

Free Burma Rangers

Medici Restaurant, Bangkok

Navalai River Resort, Bangkok

Bumrungrad Hospital, Bangkok

VIETNAM

V’Spirit Cruise, Ha Long Bay

Hanoi Charming 2 Hotel, Hanoi

CHINA

New Day Foster Home Guesthouse, near Beijing

Huanghua Great Wall of China

Olympic Water Cube Water Park, Beijing

Xian HQ Apartments, Xian

Mt Huashan Hike, Xian

Terra Cotta Warriors, Xian

JAPAN

Japan Railpass

Sakara Kyoto Guesthouse, Kyoto

Sakara Gion Machiya Rental, Kyoto

Musashi Sushi, Kyoto

Hiroshima Memorial Park, Hiroshima

Andersen Kitchen, Hiroshima

Toyota Plant Tour, Toyota City

Pepper Lunch, Tokyo

KOREA

Cozy Residence Apartment, Seoul

… AND SOME ORGANIZATIONS WE HAVE GROWN TO LOVE

St. James Muswell Hill, London

Friends of the Lakes District, Kendal, UK

Lakes Christian Centre, Bowness, UK

St. Paul’s Cultural Center, Antalya, Turkey

World Relief Rwanda

Sonrise School, Musanze, Rwanda

Akiba School, Nairobi, Kenya

Light and Power Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

The Ocean Church, Tanzania

Kenya Connection, Kenya

Dave and Lucy Chaves, Nairobi, Kenya

Christ Church Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

International Justice Mission Thailand, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Grace International School, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Free Burma Rangers, Chiang Mai, Thailand

New Day Foster Home, China

HAPPY ADVENTURES TO YOU ALL!

I had the most beautiful ice cream cone the other day. The rain was just stopping, and the Kyoto street colors were accentuated by the wet. Red lanterns, dark wood, carefully arranged potted plants, flocks of bright umbrellas.

As I savored both the green tea color AND flavor, I remembered other brilliant and meaningful colors from our year. Each of these colors is packed with memories and emotion — of growth, joy, loss, wonder, hope, friendship — that Benjamin Moore would covet to create.

Here are just a few of my ColorFull encounters (clicking on any thumbnail will launch a larger gallery):

So thankful to have these ColorFull memories added to my palette for my NEXT year.

The tooth hangs by a thread, flicking back and forth almost as easily and mindlessly as breathing in and out. If you ask him why he doesn’t just pull it out, the answer is quick and firm: “NO. I DON’T WANT TO.”

H is on the verge of losing his second tooth of the trip. All three boys are hitting growth spurts, including their mouths, and at times it seems their teeth are exploding right out of their bodies.

In Virginia, the Tooth Fairy usually brings $1 for a tooth, but right now we are in Malaysia where one Malaysian Ringgit is equal to about 30 cents. We have lost teeth in at least six different countries this year, some in a more favorable market than others. What is the Tooth Fairy to do about international exchange rates?

Here’s how it has shaken down.

W lost the first tooth of the trip at a restaurant while camping in Iceland. It bled a lot. He received 100 Icelandic Krona, about $0.79.

W lost another one in London. The British Pound is strong! He got £1, which then was about $1.41.

H successfully yanked one in the Lake District, UK, so he scored £1 too.

Then the next day during Art of Language class, W popped out a molar that wasn’t even loose. We were/are a little suspect that perhaps he was just wanting to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate while still in the UK — or he wanted to get out of his writing assignment. Another £1 for him.

Croatia?? Our memory is fuzzy about whether W lost a tooth in Croatia. It sounds familiar, but it seems like he wouldn’t have enough teeth left if this were true. I think he did and got 5 Croatian Kuna, about $.86. But then I borrowed it from him to make change at the grocery….

E worked and worked and worked on a loose tooth for most of December, through Morocco, Greece, and Turkey. At the Bultemas’ New Years Eve party, he had no less than 20 offers to “help” with its removal. It finally came out (on its own) on New Years Day. He received 2 Turkish Lira, which is $1.11.

Only one tooth came out in Africa — W lost an enormous molar in Kenya (see, he is really is exploding). It’s a shame he never bothered to put it under his pillow, so he missed out on 100 Kenyan Shillings, or $1.16.

The bottom line is that it just won’t always be fair — a life lesson worth learning. I tried to tell them they are lucky to have teeth to be losing in the first place, but that didn’t go over so well.

So H’s canine has been loose for quite some time. Rwanda, Kenya, now Malaysia. Will he go for the 3 Malaysian Ringitt ($.97), or will he hold out for 30 Thai Baht ($1.01) next week?

Stay tuned — just don’t offer to pull it out for him.

Our final family excursion near the Croatian village of Viganj took us past a cliffside chapel, down through a heavily vegetated ravine, along a rarely used road … to a small beach carved out under a towering wall of rock. The view was serene, the colors were perfect … and there was a near-infinite number of seaside stones on the beach, each of them rounded soft and smooth by the Adriatic sea.

I remember that scene now as I think about the next few months of our trip. We travel soon to Morocco, to Tunisia, to east Africa, to southeast Asia, then east Asia.

I have a sense that we’ve been PREPARED for something in these places. Perhaps, somehow – our first four months on the road have smoothed us and rounded us for something beautiful.

Mladin is the handyman and mechanic in Viganj, Croatia. He lives one block off the coastal road, halfway between the church and Cafe Carmelo.

I visited Mladin’s shop one day when one of our house bikes popped a tire. I was told he was called “Max” for “Mad Max,” the apocalyptic movie where rusted, recycled, and tripped out vehicles rule the day.

He shrugged at the name, lit a cigarette, then went to work on our tire.

Mladin doesn’t speak English. But he does speak shop.

It was such a pleasure to see Mladin IMMERSED in his work, immersed in his shop (arranged just so), immersed in his CALLING … as S and I think during this trip about OUR calling … OUR place in the world … the places WE live between.

Gigi and Poppy’s visit to Croatia to see their daughter, their son-in-law, and their grandsons was a comic series of events: their luggage was lost on their inbound trip, Gigi broke her shoulder after braving Croatia’s bracing waters with her grandsons, Gigi relied on Croatian medical care, Hurricane Sandy cancelled two sets of three-stop flights home, they were marooned in Frankfurt, Germany on their return trip, they flew standby out of Chicago, and, though Gigi and Poppy made it to their home in Raleigh … their bags did not.

Still – Gigi and Poppy gave, gave, gave of themselves to spend time with us. With only three arms.

We’re so thankful for them, their grace, their generosity … even Poppy’s snoring.

Here is a brief photographic record of their visit:

During our time in Croatia, we had the privilege of encountering some very dear people.  We lived next to them or bought bread from them or asked them a bazillion questions.

Kharmen lives next door to the house we rented.  She and her young friend Ava noticed that E had trouble riding the adult bikes at our house, and they offered Ava’s own treasured bike for E to borrow for the week. She also shared her pomegranates, limes, stories we only vaguely understood, and smiles we had no trouble understanding. We both teared up at goodbye.

Ivan and his wife have been married 14 years.  They greeted us with a cheerful, “Hello, America!” whenever we came in their store by the town ferry dock. When we didn’t have enough cash with us one day to pay for our grocery items, they said, “Don’t worry — bring it tomorrow.”  The next day when I brought the money, Ivan found the receipt in a stack stashed on the top of the cash register, easily identified by the handwritten “America” across the top.

Bozo (“Bor-zho”) will graciously talk to anyone about anything, even the crazy Americans that come to the little fishing and windsurfing town of Viganj in the off-season. He told me, “People are just people, no matter what country they are from.  Fifteen percent of people are eccentric and you can ignore them, but everyone else — we are all just people.”

We said goodbye this week to Croatia on a hulking ferry bound for Italy. Our last glimpse of the country was the one pictured above – of Split, Croatia’s harbor, as seen from the ferry’s rear deck railing.

A group of Catholic pilgrims were near us at the rear of the boat, looking out over the distant harbor as well. They’d just returned from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. (It is a city where the virgin Mary is said to have appeared more than a few times since 1981.)

The pilgrims started singing as our boat began its journey across the Adriatic. Here’s one titled “Couronnée d’étoiles,” or “Crowned With Stars”:

One of the pilgrims held his youngest daughter in his arms. He told me these hymns were their goodbye to Croatia.

It was a powerful concert. Unexpected. Mystical. Mysterious. Beautiful. Worshipful. Joyful. Peaceful. Under a full moon, it was an experience truly crowned with stars. And it was a reminder of how VALUABLE the unexpected can be.

Not twenty-four hours before, our travel plans had been completely uprooted by bad weather and news that our ferry crossing from Dubrovnik, Croatia had been cancelled. That meant we wouldn’t be arriving in Italy as expected – and the next ferry to Italy, we were told, would leave from an entirely different city.

We handled the news SO WELL. We slept on the cancelled ferry. We woke up and drove up the coast. We spent an unplanned day together outside, strolling through Split’s old city and coast. We reflected on what we were learning about CHANGE.

And – just before bed – we listened to the simple harmonies of a handful of pilgrims … still basking in a glorious bit of fellowship and worship. I stood there among them, basking in their goodbye hymns, basking in the sudden crown of stars … a man gladly – and powerfully – changed by change.

Gigi + Poppy + Bisquick from Raleigh + syrup from Raleigh + Croatia = birthday breakfast for W, our NEWEST TEENAGER!

Gigi — flanked by Favorite Bear, Puffy, and Sven — has this video update of her shoulder, how she slept last night … and how she was a handful for her Croatian doctor.