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.

New friends for a new year!  We are so thankful to get to know several sets of amazing people who have shared their meals, their homes, their time, and their STORIES with us over the past month or so during our travels.

Click on the “Faces” link to meet some terrific people who hold a new place in our hearts.

St. Paul Union Church white elephant gift exchange.  Check out E’s sweet new fuzzy hot water bottle!

There are some who believe the world will end on December 21, 2012.  That’s tomorrow.

It’s based on what appears to be the end of the ancient Mayan calendar. There are many, of course — like us — who don’t give much credence to Mayan prophets and their end-of-the-world predictions … but our journey has unexpectedly taken us to the only two places believed to be HAVENS from the upcoming disaster.

The first is pictured above, which is the Pic de Bugarach in southern France the way it looked a few weeks ago. We just happened to be staying just a few miles away.

The second haven is pictured below, which is the village of Sirence, Turkey. Again, we just happen to be staying just a few miles away.

It’s not entirely clear why these two spots are believed to be havens from the world’s end. We haven’t done too much research because some of our boys are a bit shaken by apocalyptic talk, however nonsensical.

Thousands and thousands of haven-seekers have been expected at both spots in the last few days. Today, there were more reporters with questions in Sirence than haven-seekers.

Including this crew from CBS News:

We fly to Morocco in a few minutes … but not after some school in the waiting area.

We’re working through our first pangs of HOMESICKNESS.

Thankful for this whole journey — to places, and through our hearts.

Happy Thanksgiving from southern France!

Through a Heavenly set of circumstances, we were introduced to Jason, Angie, Lillia, Caleb, Micah, Andrew, and Ariana just over 36 hours ago.

Since then, THEY HAVE EMBRACED US and WELCOMED US IN TO THEIR LIVES. Basketball practice. Pizza. Games of Monopoly. Driveway basketball games. Thanksgiving dinner (turkey with gravy!). Free calls to the US.

They have blessed us — and on this day of thanks … we are so grateful for them.

An Open Letter to Family, Friends, and Our Thieves:

We are doing fine. We are deeply grateful for your prayers, your emails, and how so many of you are sharing similar emotions of shock, anger, sadness — and hope.

I want to share some of our experience from the last day and a half. I think it will be helpful — not only to have a record of these events, but also to plant a marker of sorts … to see how these events shape us.

Our thieves were in and out in minutes. A wrenching pry to the driver’s side window frame shattered the window glass. One thief seems to have entered through that door, climbed in to the middle seat, and detached the mesh barrier that secured our rear luggage in place. Then — as bags and gear were surely handed to one or more partners, everything in the car was emptied.

The job was professional and instantaneous. It was too late when I noticed the hazard lights were flashing. Our thieves — and nearly everything in the car — were gone.

I arrived at the wounded car first, then came S, then E, then H, then W. Each of us felt a sickening rush of shock then sadness then emptiness. Faces fell. We felt a long way from safety, from peace, from help.

It turns out that we were likely hunted by our thieves. We were marked, watched. They invaded our circle and roughed up our belongings — treasured and otherwise. The sting of a violent and evil act carried out in our space was deep and piercing.

I’m grateful to say that we turned to each other in those early moments. Clumps of hugs. Shared tears. The beginning of mourning.

The boys wanted to know the whys and hows. Then — what about our money? Do we have to go home? S and I tried to piece together responses as best we could.

A few hours later, we received these words from my Dad via email:

The juxtaposition of your two recent emails, read just now — the joyful fans singing lustily (at the FC Barcelona game), the beaming faces of you and H … then the picture of the smashed car window and the news of your loss, your “violation” as it were — hit me squarely in the gut and left me sickened. I am so sorry … for something that hurts on so many levels. You will all recover and be stronger yet, I have no doubt, but I pray now for your strength to forgive this so that you might move on and for the wisdom to see this in the context of an otherwise extraordinary trip.

Dad is right. His prayer is indeed our prayer. Also this: WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET FEAR WIN. The bad guys don’t win this time. We’ve been honest with the boys — and our own hearts — about the painful realities of evil in the world. There is hardship, loss. But everything — EVEN THIS THEFT — can be redeemed in the end.

This scene was not taken from us in the burglary, of course. It’s a shot from earlier today at “recess” after World School math class and before Art of Language class.

We still mourn. Every now and then someone remembers another item that was stolen. But there is also laughter — “I wish they’d taken my math book.”

There is good — much good, an infinite Good — that remains with us. And we cling to it.

Today has been a scramble of phone calls with car, insurance, air travel, and bank representatives. It is going well — that is good! A new rental car is parked outside of our French apartment. E and H woke up today with teddy bear Toni, a gift from Spanish police officer Toni who helped us. W has been generous with his iPod, one of the few items that remains in our possession.

Last night while driving our shattered car at midnight to a Renault garage a few towns over, Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” came on the radio. Now, S and I have put great effort in to AVOIDING cliches so far like “keep your head up” and “have a positive attitude” … but sure enough my toe was tapping with that song. And we choose to CELEBRATE what we have.

Years ago, I was nearly despondent during an NPR trip to Iraq. A few senior colleagues were greatly displeased with my work. I was affected badly and began to ask profound questions about who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing.

I turned to writing in that emptiness — writing stories about my Iraq experiences to family and friends. Those missives — regardless of how they were received — were affirming. They helped with healing.

Our recent experience in Spain hasn’t left me despondent in the same way — but I turn again to writing in order to help the healing.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for lifting up our family in your prayers. And thank you for being what we celebrate — on this journey and in the years to come.

Onward.

While eating lunch at a Barcelona rest stop, our car window was shattered and everything inside was taken.

Laptops. Cameras. Clothes from weekend trip to Barcelona. Backpacks with whole trip mementos.

Passports and credit cards NOT taken. These items were in our possession.

Family feeling violated, wounded, sad, angry.

Filed police report in Spanish. Driving now back to France. Talking with car rental folks.

Would appreciate your prayers.

H and I went to an FC Barcelona soccer match together — tonight — for his 11th birthday. We were so close to the field, I could see the evening dew on the players’ cleats.

Barcelona currently has one of the greatest complete soccer teams in a generation. (Ever?) One of the greatest players in a generation  (possibly ever?) Lionel Messi, scored two goals and assisted in another. His second goal was a curving left foot strike that came off his foot RIGHT AT US … and in to the back of the net.

Greatness and excellence on the field. But there was another kind of greatness, too.

H and I buying two footlong hotdogs and sharing a water. Hugging each other after every Messi goal. Hearing his comments about the team, the players, the stadium, the TV cameras, the seats, the massive pile of peanuts under two guys. Holding hands most of the walk home.

Among the most excellent memories I’ve had with H. Ever?

Here’s what the fans sing before each game … then what they shout during Barcelona’s lineup announcement:

We’ve added a new option to the MAPS option above on the masthead.

There’s now a COMPLETE JOURNEY map. We’ll try to keep it updated.