Where in the World?
It’s a question we’ve been asked a lot lately–where in the world are you guys? There’s a short and a long answer. The short answer is that we’re in Cappadocia, Turkey. The long answer is that since we last posted on the blog we’ve spent time in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Morocco and now Turkey. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing location-specific posts as usual. But here are some of our favorite photos to give you a taste of what we’ve been up to. Drinking beer in Dublin (Ireland) Learning about the Troubles in Belfast (Northern Ireland) Falling in love with the Scottish Highlands (Scotland) Visiting Beatles landmarks in Liverpool (England) Riding...
Life Lessons From River Aria
It’s not easy to live an incredible, fulfilling life. I’d say it’s downright hard. Especially when you’re young, there are so many life-altering decisions to make–who to marry, what career to invest in, whether or not to have kids–that making any choice at all can seem completely overwhelming. If there’s one thing that can help, it’s the wisdom of people who have come before you. And once you start looking for it, you find that life advice is everywhere. It’s not always serious, as in the sign above from the Guinness Factory in Dublin (which is featured in one of the most famous Guinness commercials of all time). And it’s not always good. But if you keep an open ear (and an open mind), you may...
Mac’s Plants, Bugs and Critters
As you may have guessed, this is a Mackenzie article. Today’s blog post is all about nature. We’ve met some interesting creatures throughout our journey. I have been fortunate enough to grab some nice close-up snaps of these unique discoveries. If you like creepy crawlies of all kinds, feel free to plow on ahead. Bugs: Seeing so many colorful insects has really been fun for me this trip. It has also added hours to our hiking time as I stop to try and get the perfect pic. Plants: Taking such a significant amount of time to travel has certainly allowed us the time to stop and smell the roses. While I’m sure you’ve seen many of our landscape shots, here are some of the flora posing for their close ups. Assorted Critters:...
Austria, Germany and the Netherlands by Riverboat
What do you get when you put one young couple on a riverboat with 150 older Americans cruising for two weeks on the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers from Austria to the Netherlands? A really good time. Mac and I were lucky enough to be on the River Aria in July. Originally the idea had been Mac’s, but somewhere along the way I became the one in charge of booking the cruise. Grand Circle Cruise Line told us on the phone that we would be the youngest couple on board by far, but we didn’t mind. We had a sneaking suspicion that we’d still make friends really easily—and we did. Our first night on board, we met these two lovely couples; they became some of our favorite people on the ship. After being by ourselves...
Living the Simple Life in Switzerland
People like to ask us all the time what our favorite experience of the trip has been so far. It’s a really tough question. Every experience has been so different that it’s hard to compare them. And we each seem to gravitate towards our own favorite moments. That said, it’s hard to top hiking in the Swiss Alps. And I think I’m ready to go on record by saying that it’s been my favorite experience thus far. The scenery of Switzerland was beautiful. And over the course of 10 days of hiking, from Engelberg to Griesalp, we saw a lot of it. There were towering mountains, rushing rivers and so many wildflowers that I nearly wore out my camera trying to capture them all. ...