Reflecting on our trip: Our Favorites & Best Ofs

For our final "reflections" blog post, we wanted to list our favorite locations of the trip for a number of categories.  It was difficult to choose but here's the best of the best from our trip.

Favorite Food:
Kate: China
Chris: Japan

Favorite Site:
Kate: Taj Mahal in Agra, India
Chris: Ta Prom in Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Favorite Island:
Kate: Maui, Hawaii
Chris: Mykonos, Greece

Favorite People:
Kate: Japan
Chris: Japan

Best Shopping:
Kate: Barcelona, Spain; Istanbul, Turkey; Greece (couldn't choose just one!)
Chris: Istanbul, Turkey

Most Fun City:
Kate: Brussels, Belgium
Chris: Dublin, Ireland

Best Transportation:
Kate: Japan
Chris: Cambodia

Favorite Overall Stop on the Trip:
Kate: Istanbul, Turkey
Chris: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Reflecting on our Trip: Packing

Packing for this round-the-world trip was daunting to say the least.  What do you pack for 60 days that can fit into a single backpack?  What do you pack that works in every climate your visiting?  We think we did a pretty good job on packing and can now recommend what to pack for this type of trip.  Below is what we didn't need, what came in handy and what we couldn't live without.

What we couldn't live without:
1) Dry-wick clothing
2) 40% DEET inset repellent cream
3) Back-up camera (our first camera broke in Hawaii and wasn't repaired until we returned to the U.S.)
4) Benadryl
5) Imodium
6) Laptop
7) Passport holder that we wore under our clothes
8) Our luggage with the zip-off backpacks
9) UV-light toothbrush sanitizing cases
10) Travel toilet paper

What came in handy:
1) Silk sleeping bag
2) Travel-sized laundry detergent
3) zip-off pants
4) Blackberry (with international service)
5) Jewelry (for Kate to turn her travel clothes into an outfit for a nice dinner out)

What we didn't need/use:
1) clothing line
2) Ponchos (we opted for umbrellas instead)
3) Dry wick towel
4) Toilet seat covers
5) Shampoo & body wash (hotels and hostels provided these)

Reflecting on our Trip: Appreciation for our Country

That’s Amazing

It’s amazing what other people find amazing, and what they don’t.  Chris had this realization back in 1998 when visiting family in Italy and got excited in the car on the expressway when they passed a castle on a hill, taking out his camera to snap a quick picture.  His cousins couldn’t understand what he was doing or why.  To emphasize the point, within a few minutes they passed another castle, and yet another just a few minutes after that.  Amazing is only what you’re unaccustomed to.

Chris and Kate were on the other side of this experience in China and Cambodia.  Chris had brought a standard MasterLock combination lock on the trip and attached it to a loop on the shoulder-strap of his backpack.  Our tour guide in China asked what it was and was interested in its purpose.

The best experience with the MasterLock, however, happened in the Siem Reap airport in Cambodia.  While buying a last minute item from the duty-free store the salesperson at the register asked what the lock was and Chris took it off and showed him.  Chris put in the combination and opened the lock to an audible reaction of surprise.  Then Chris closed the lock, handed it to the salesman and walked him through the combination to unlock it.  Then, with the combination properly entered, the salesman opened the lock and reacted with the most sincere sensation of joy and surprise. 

 Combination locks, as it turns out, are amazing.

The Stars and Stripes Forever

WARNING: AMERICAN PRIDE COMING OUT....
So after all our travels and experiences one other realization continued to drive itself home, time and again:  We are truly lucky to live in and be citizens of the United States of America. For all the problems we have in our country (and we have many), we have gotten a whole lot very right. 

China has between 3,000 and 4,000 years of continuous history.  Greece developed democracy over 2,500 years ago.  Istanbul has been the center of multiple empires during the last 2,000 years.  All three of those countries combined don’t produce as much in one year as the people of the United States.

In less than 300 years the USA developed the world’s largest economy, history’s most advanced society and the highest standard of living the world has ever known.  We are the most prosperous people on the planet, and we did it in roughly one-tenth the time as the rest of human society.

When you are in a place like Cambodia or India, you start to get a sense of people who have no opportunity.  Where they are born is where they will die and, at best, they will have only as much as their parents, who were born into the same fate.  There is no social mobility, there is no opportunity, and there hasn’t been opportunity for generations (though in places like China and India this is finally beginning to change).

This is the miracle of the American experiment in democracy and capitalism.  In a remarkably short period of time we have created the most enviable system for prosperity and opportunity in the world.  Travelling the globe and seeing the stark comparison is a vivid reminder of these accomplishments and not a small source of pride.

Reflecting on our Trip: Adapting to the Culture

Let's Get Religious
It's no surprise that religion is different wherever you travel to but we still found other countries religions to be so interesting and thought-provoking. Japan has many popular religions, some that we'd never even heard of before and your religion seems to correspond to your age. Religions in Japan co-exist, even in the same household. One of our Japanese tour guides said he was Shinto, his wife was Buddhist and his kids are Christan. Although achieving religious freedom is arguably the reason our ancestors came to the "New World," different religions in the US are far from co-existing. However, we of course visited places in the Middle East (Istanbul and Dubai) where a single religion is so prominent there are prayer rooms in the airports and call-to-prayer heard through the streets.

When in Rome… or Tokyo…

When we were in Japan we got tired of seeing temples, when we were in India we got tired of seeing Mosques, when we were in Europe we got tired of seeing cathedrals, but the fascinating thing about wherever you are is how unique it is compared to everywhere else you go. 

Even in this age of globalization and high speed travel, each place is uniquely its own with a special sense of culture, social norms, cuisine, architecture and all the other arts that make humanity such a fascinating and confusing anomaly.  While you will absolutely see the impacts of global reach (for whatever reason KFC is huge everywhere, even for people who have no idea what Kentucky is), the world has remained remarkably local.

One of the great joys that we had on our trip was throwing ourselves into the places we visited and trying to live as they did, if only for a few days.  Learn how to say “hello” in Japanese; say “thank you” in Khmer; shake hands with a touring rural farmer in outside of Gandhi’s memorial in India; take a picture with an old Chinese couple.  These are simple but impactful experiences you can only get by allowing yourself to get immersed in a place.

And, of course, you must eat the local cuisine.  The pineapple in Cambodia is surprisingly unique, the sushi in Japan is truly second to none, the curry in India is not as hot as advertised (as long as you ask for it be made mild), the Peking Duck in Peking Beijing is crispy and delicious, but you have to be willing to dive in and try the local cuisines to learn anything about them.

Everybody Poops!
It’s true, and it’s unavoidable.  What’s amazing is the variety of contraptions the world has developed to accommodate this. 

In China, a baby’s or toddler’s diaper is literally a pair of pants with the butt cut out, and this is considered totally acceptable.  In India, the kids don't wear any pants, just shirts for the same reason. Also, the “squat toilet” (if you don’t know what a “squat toilet” is, just be happy and know that ignorance is bliss) on Chinese trains, is a hole in the floor that opens onto the tracks (not exaggerating). 

Bring your own toilet paper, especially in India.  The bathrooms aren't equipped with toilet paper, instead they use a hand-held sprayer (for lack of a better word).  However, the people of India know this is unusual for tourists and sell paper (napkin-like paper) to you in the bathroom. 

You will know we are successful when we finally have a Japanese toilet installed in our home.  If you haven’t seen one of these before, find a way to check them out.  They are amazing, and we’ll leave it at that.

It’s the Most Important Meal of the Day

For whatever reason, breakfast is terrible in every country outside of the U.S.  Bacon as we know it simply does not exist.  People advertise bacon on menus, but it’s always ham and it’s often boiled.  Sausage is always hotdogs, again boiled.  The Japanese serve miso soup and dumplings.  The pancakes in Thailand come with honey, not syrup (due to a lack of maple trees).

Country after country we raised our hopes for a piece of bacon with our eggs and time and again, we were disappointed.  We can’t explain why, exactly, the rest of the world has not discovered the glory that is pan fried American bacon, or spicy breakfast sausage, but for some reason, they have not.

That’s not to say that some countries haven’t developed their own version of a tasty breakfast, they certainly have. Chris liked the Greeks combination of yogurt and honey that is cool and delicious on a warm Greek morning.  And we both liked the Irish world famous breakfasts which are hardy and warm on a cool July morning. Still, all the charming adaptations the world has on breakfast fail miserably in comparison to the basics that you can grab at any Waffle House, IHOP or diner across the good ol’ US of A.

Reflecting on the Trip: Staying Healthy

The reality is that, even with all the immunizations in the world (and they will try to give them to you before you leave), with unique culture, world travel exposes you to unique diseases that are as local to countries and regions as their food.  So how does a traveler balance the desire to taste Indian curry in Delhi with the fear of getting the “Delhi-Belly”? 

We were lucky enough that neither of us experienced any debilitating illnesses during the trip outside of some occasional fatigue and stomach aches.  While we can’t be sure exactly why we were so lucky, there were a few basic precautions we took that we feel contributed to our success in the health department:

      Happy Birthday to me..
Wash your hands with soap and water.  It sounds so simple and even juvenile, but, Chris formerly worked in an after school-day care for kids while in undergrad, and learned that most people don’t wash their hands correctly.  To effectively wash your hands, you need to use soap on them for a full 15 seconds.  While this doesn’t sound like a long time, when you’re actually doing it, it feels like forever.  Amazingly, the trick is to sing the happy birthday song to yourself while you wash your hands.  This ensures you will spend the right amount of time and it serves as a little, personal childish joke.  Doing this one simple thing with standard soap kills almost 100% of all the germs that make people sick.  We probably sang happy birthday to ourselves hundreds of times.

          
     
     Floss like you've never flossed before
Has anyone ever been to the dentist and been told they are flossing the correct amount?  Probably not, but we likely got really close on this trip.  We flossed and brushed our teeth at every opportunity we could find.  In addition, we brought battery operated UV toothbrush cases to ensure that our toothbrushes were always germ free before use.  Dental hygiene is huge when you’re body is not adapted to the world around you. We also made sure to brush our teeth with bottled water to be extra safe.

      H2O
Bottled water.  Not just the fact that it’s bottled, just drink lots of it.  Hydration is huge, when you’re travelling and lots of stuff can take it away from you (air travel, heat, heavy baggage, etc.).  If you think you’re drinking enough, you’re not, drink more.

      Pack yourself a pharmacy
Listen to what you’re body is telling you.  You’ll likely bring a small pharmacy with you, so you might as well use it.  If you’re having trouble sleeping, pop a melatonin; if you stomach feels weak take one of your Imodiums; if you’re starting to feel itchy, grab a Benadryl.  Basically at the first sign of anything take action.  If you're feeling weak, take the day off and sleep. Again, while we can’t be sure that our proclivity for pre-emptive medication was effective at stopping whatever might have happened, we can assure you that the alternatives could have been disastrous. Remember that the meds you may need on the trip, may not be available in the countries you visit.  Kate was having some stomach pains in India and so we ventured to a "chemist" for some meds.  Not a great scenario to be in but we were able to get some safe pills (that we googled online) for Kate to take.


     Protect Your Skin
Wear your sunscreen and bug repellent everyday, all day. After weeks of touring in Japan, China, and Cambodia, we didn't protect our skin the first day in Thailand and we paid for it.  A quick dinner outside at our hotel left both of us with many many bug bites and forgetting the sunscreen our first day on a cloudy Thai beach left us (mostly Kate) with a bad burn for a week. This burn later started to bubble when mixed sweat from the India heat!  Re-applying is key.  After a monsoon rainstorm in Cambodia, we didn't re-apply our bug repellent and Kate immediately received multiple bug bites. And don't forget to wear a hat!  This protects you from bug bites as well as sun spots. 

     To Party or to Tour?
Cut back on the alcohol.  We weren't here to drink, we were here to tour.  Alcohol can slow you down and to be honest, most of the countries we went to did not have great alcoholic drinks.  Wine and beer didn't get anywhere close to good in Asia and liquor was always very expensive. We're not saying we didn't enjoy a drink over dinner but we definitely didn't make a night of it. It's also not safe to be drunk in a foreign country.  Pickpocketers exist all over the world and by staying clear-headed we were able to keep a close eye on our belongings.  (A side note to theft: remember that your passport is your most prized possession.  At the end of the day, everything else is replaceable but you need your passport to get home.)

At the end of the day, the answer is, of course, that there is nothing you can do to 100% protect yourself from getting sick, but these are really easy things to do that can only help your odds.

(Note: please excuse formatting on this blog. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't fix it. )

Reflecting on our Trip: Planning & Logistics

It’s now been several months since we completed our trip and looking back trying to think about the experience is a little daunting.  Over the course of just slightly more than 2 months Chris graduated from Columbia Business School, we got engaged, and we travelled around the world.  Does that make it the best vacation we will ever have?  Hopefully the best is yet to come, but it certainly makes it the most important.   

Our trip took us across two major continents, one subcontinent, the Middle East, and the islands of Hawaii, Greece and Ireland.  We both got to experience places and cultures that were new, different and exciting.  In all the places we went, we met interesting people and made unique friends. 

To summarize the trip, it’s probably best to break it up into a couple of definable categories and discuss them each individually.

It’s a Small World After All

As we were preparing to leave for the trip both of us started getting nervous about living out of backpacks for two months and relying on literally dozens of flights, trains, buses, ferries and every other kind of transportation methods you can think of to run on time from and to the places we were travelling.  Though we had spent months planning, and the trip made sense on paper, the anxiety of worrying about having missed some important detail began to take hold.  So, at the beginning, we agreed to take everything one step at a time and only worry about where we were and where we were going next. 

To be sure, we missed details: Our first flight to Hawaii had us sitting in separate rows, our flight from Japan to China arrived late at night when the first part of the tour required us to arrive that afternoon, our only flight transfer (in China) didn’t give us sufficient time to make the switch (though we ultimately made it), and there were multiple times we found ourselves wandering around international cities with our heavy bags wondering where the heck our hotel was actually located. 

Having now returned safely home, however, we can say with impunity that one of the most surprising features of our trip was the ease with which our travels progress and the lack of problems we encountered.  The system, as it turns out, works!  We never missed a flight, never encountered significant delays, and we (and our bags) arrived where they were supposed to, when they were supposed to.  The simplicity with which we gallivanted around the globe is truly a marvel of modern society (more on this in a moment).

Go West!

When first planning our trip we used a couple of different websites that helped immensely with visualizing the plan and with deciding the places we wanted to go.  One is www.oneworld.com and the other www.staralliance.com. They both offer effectively the same product which is an interactive map of the world with functional buttons for each city with an airport.  The only major difference is that “oneworld” is run by American Airlines and their global partners while “staralliance” is run by Delta and Continental along with their global partners.  Regardless, you should go to those pages and check out their functionality.  It’s fun to play with even if you aren’t planning a world trip.

In using this system we started to discuss where we wanted to go and in what order.  We developed a plan which turned out to be the single best decision we made in setting up our trip:  fly west, not east.

Having travelled to Europe several times previously, our natural inclination was to start our trip where we felt most comfortable.  When planning, however, we considered that it always seemed easier to come home from Europe than it was go to Europe.  The reason, in a word, is “time”. 

Jetlag is a factor wherever you travel, but there are two distinct kinds of jetlag, the jetlag from losing time and the jetlag from gaining time.  Jetlag from gained time is far easier to handle than jetlag from losing time.  Imagine if, every few days, you gained an hour of time (so waking up at 8am felt like waking up at 9am).  This is effectively what travelling west does.  The alternative is to travel east where every few days waking up at 8am feels like waking up at 7am and then 6am and then 5am and so on.  You can see the enormous advantage.  Almost every time we got on a plane, we gained an hour in the morning which made the trip that much easier.

For anyone who ever considers a round-the-world trip, if we could give you just one piece of advice, this is it:  Travel west.

Around the World in 80 60 Days

In 1873 Jules Verne published his classic novel, “Around the World in Eighty Days”.  In it, a wealthy British gentleman agrees to a wager (worth about $1 million in today’s money) that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days travelling through most of the same places that our trip took us (though in reverse as he wasn’t clever enough to go west). 

At the time of the book, the technological innovations of the 19th century had opened the possibility of rapid circumnavigation and the prospect fascinated Verne and his readership. In particular three technological breakthroughs occurred in 1869-70 that made a tourist-like around-the-world journey possible for the first time: the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in America (1869), the linking of the Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870), and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869).

It was the end of an age of exploration and the start of an age of fully global tourism that could be enjoyed in relative comfort and safety. It sparked the imagination that anyone could sit down, draw up a schedule, buy tickets and travel around the world, a feat previously reserved for only the most heroic and hardy of adventurers.

This idea of “global tourism”, developed less than 140 years ago.  At the time 80 days was, in Verne’s book, the absolute shortest amount of time that it could take a person to travel effectively the path we took without delays or time for relaxation. We made the trip in ¾ of the time and we spent a good deal of it relaxing on beaches across the globe.

The world we live in today is truly a marvel of interconnectedness and speed.  There is no where on the planet that can’t be reached within two days, regardless of where you start.  Distance has become less daunting.  

Home Sweet Home

No matter how long you've been away or how much fun you had on your trip, it's always nice to come home.  We couldn't wait to sleep in our bed, eat our favorite foods, see our friends, talk to our families and celebrate our engagement.  We landed in NY in the early evening so by the time we got home all we wanted was a small snack, a shower and to go to bed.  The snack of choice: popcorn.

With all our luggage in our apartment lobby

And the next morning, we had the food we had been missing for two months: an American breakfast!  Pancakes and bacon. 

Our trip was planned between Chris' graduation and his first day of work.  He's been fortunate to have a job lined up for the past year. We left only days after his graduation and returned a week before his first day of work. So when we returned from our two month trip, Chris had to immediately begin prepping for his first day of work.  Prepping included: a drug test, ID photos, and hours of online tests.

The weekend before Chris' first day of work we invited a few friends to a bar for drinks to celebrate our return, our engagement and Kate's birthday.  This was the first of many small group celebrations.  We also had a few friends throw a small dinner party and surprised us with a birthday cake for Kate and some wedding planning magazines.  It was so wonderful to be around our friends again and celebrate our future together.

Since we've returned on our trip, there's been a lot of change in our lives. Chris is back to work, although fortunately not yet working the long hours we anticipated. We've started looking at wedding venues, however, wedding planning has taken a back-seat to Kate's job hunting. Kate is looking for a job in marketing/advertising and while the economy isn't great, we're optimistic. We've moved apartments to a more "neighborhoody" part of Manhattan. And we've celebrated life by attending a close friend's wedding in Texas, Chris' grandpa's 90th birthday in Chicago and many other friend's birthdays and life achievements in NY.

As we settled back into life, we started to really reflect on our trip of a lifetime. We'll share those reflections with you in the next few blog posts.

Dublin Summary & Review

Dublin wasn't originally on our list of cities to visit on this trip.  It was added to the itinerary as a long layover because it was cheaper to fly through Dublin then direct from Brussels to New York.  But we were happy to add this city onto our trip, especially as the last stop.   It was fun, relaxed, and an easy city to visit.  It was so easy to get around.  We took the public bus from the airport into the city which was cheap, clean, safe and simple.  We walked or took cabs everywhere.  It's amazing how easy it is to visit a foreign city where everyone speaks English!  And where everyone is very friendly and chatty!

Another reason it was such an easy city to visit was our hotel, Cassidy's.  Kate found this hotel on Trip Advisor and choose it for it's price and location.  We were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go, including the bars, without having to sleep in the same neighborhood as the bars.  A river separated us from the partying. Cassidy's was a nice hotel, especially for the price, with free Internet and a nice restaurant/bar.  Chris and Kate's room was even upgraded to a larger room - not sure how we accomplished that!

We had limited time in Dublin but didn't want to squeeze in too much touring.  There were only two things on our touring to-do list: the Guinness and Jameson factories.  There were many cathedrals, castles, and other interesting things to see but we really didn't have time for it. And after two months of traveling, even Chris needed a break from old buildings. We would highly recommend anyone over 18 go on the Guinness tour.  There was more to it then we thought and the tour took up an entire afternoon.  The tour covered how the beer is made, it's history, it's advertising, how to serve it and of course, then we got to drink it.  The Jameson tour was more simple and what you would expect.  It was a hour-long tour covering the history and ingredients of the whiskey followed by a taste.  If you're not into Jameson, we'd recommend skipping this tour.   Both tours were very close in town - a long walk or short cab ride from our hotel.

The weather in Dublin was really cold and rainy.  So cold that Chris had to buy a fleece. In speaking with some of the cab drivers there, this is typical Dublin JULY weather.  Needless to say if July is in the 40's then we can't imagine how cold it is in the winter.  Good thing to know before you go.  Kate's friend Amanda who lives in Scotland and came to meet us in Dublin has gotten used to this weather.  She was never without her umbrella.

The food in Dublin was just what you'd expect - warm and hearty.  The breakfast was the closest we had found to the American breakfast we missed so much. But Irish breakfast had something we'd never had before: black and white pudding.  We were also offered free black and white pudding in Temple Bar so this isn't just a breakfast food.  Black pudding is basically oatmeal mixed with pigs blood, while white pudding is basically oatmeal and pig meat and fat.  You should try it. It's not as gross as it sounds. Chris actually liked it but Kate didn't.

If you're ever finding yourself going to Europe, we'd recommend mixing it up and connecting through Dublin instead of London or Paris.  The town isn't that far from the airport so you can make a quick trip out of the layover.  We've also been told that Ireland is a beautiful place to visit and that Dublin is the "tourist trap".  We'll have to do an Ireland/Scotland trip sometime to see these green countrysides that we've heard so much about.

Dublin - Day 2 (last day of the trip!)

We woke up to our last day in Dublin, our last day on our trip, to have an Irish breakfast with Amanda in our hotel before heading to the Jameson factory for a tour. 11 a.m. may seem a little early for Jameson but we were in Ireland! 

Much like the Guinness tour, the Jameson tour focused on the quality of the ingredients of the whiskey.

And Jameson is famous for it's triple distillation...

After the tour, they had four guys and four ladies do a taste test. Chris and Amanda were both picked to do the taste test!

The taste test included the most popular American whiskey (Jack Daniels), the most popular Scotch whiskey (Johnnie Walker) and, of course, Jameson.  After the test, they asked the group which drink they liked the most.  Everyone in the group picked Jameson except for Chris and Amanda.  Chris chose Johnnie Walker and Amanda chose Jack Daniels.

Kate got a her free Jameson and mixed it with Seven-up!

After the Jameson, we went out for one final meal of the trip: fish and chips and Shepard's pie with Guinness.  Delicious.

After lunch, Chris and Kate headed off to the airport for our 5-hour flight home while Amanda jumped on a tourist bus to see more of Dublin before heading back to Scotland later that evening.  We were so glad that Amanda was able to come be tourists with us in Dublin! What a great way to end an amazing trip.

Dublin - Day 1

Dublin was not originally supposed to be a stop on our trip as we planned to return home from Brussels.  Our plans changed when we learned that flights to New York from Brussels were prohibitively expensive, but flights connecting through Dublin were considerably cheaper.  Plus we got to add another city to our trip!  Dublin promised to be just a fun, all-around, good time.  AND it was the only city on our trip (other than Hawaii of course) where English was spoken by everyone.

Before we left on this trip, we reached out to any other travel-passionate friends around the world to see if they wanted to join us on our trip.  Kate's sorority sister Amanda who lives in Scotland was able to join us in Dublin!  We were so glad to have met up with her on our last stop!  Plus, it was fun to celebrate our engagement with friends.  After arriving in Dublin and checking into our hotel, we met up with Amanda for lunch to discuss our Dublin plans and to catch up.  We learned during the 2 years that Amanda had lived in Scotland, her West Texas accent had developed into an adorable Scottish accent!  We had a great time catching up over some hot delicious Irish food (it was quite cold outside!) and beer, although Amanda being the true Texas girl that she is, had Coors Light draft - apparently a rareity in the U.K.

After lunch, we went to the tourist center to plan our time in Dublin. We had two main attractions to hit: the Guinness tour and the Jameson tour.  We booked both; the Guinness tour took place that afternoon.

The Guinness tour took us through the history of the beer, and highlighted the ingredients.  One of those ingredients that is very important is water. 

Chris in front of the waterfall

Kate and Amanda in front of the waterfall

The tour included a free taste of the Guinness beer.  Surprisingly, this was Kate's first Guinness!

Amanda and Kate

Chris and Kate

Guinness used to be stored in wooden barrels, but these have now been replaced primarily with metal kegs.

The tour also included a full-glass of Guinness. Either at the bar upstairs or you could take a lesson on how to pour the perfect Guinness.  Of course, we wanted to learn how to pour a Guinness!  It was a long line to get into this part of the tour but well worth the wait.

First you pour the beer at an angle into the glass.

Then you let the beer set so the foam can rise to the top.

Then you top off the beer by pushing the tap backwards.

Chris and his perfect pint!

Yum!  Beer mustache!

Kate's certificate

And Chris' certificate

Kate presenting her perfect pint

The building of the museum used to be the primary factory for Guinness, but the brewing today takes place in the same few blocks around the factory... you can smell it before you see it.

The building that houses the Guinness museum was the original Guinness factory.  Alexander Guinness had so much confidence in his new beer back in the 1600's that he signed a 10,000 year lease on the building, and the original lease is displayed today in the floor of the ground level of the building.  So, after 400 years of use, first as a factory and now as a museum, the Guinness corporation has only used up 4% of the total term of the lease.

After the tour, we took a quick nap and then headed out to Temple Bar.  This is the "party" area of the city and was just across the bridge from our hotel. We enjoyed several beers, liquors, dinner and even saw an Irish band. This was our only night in Dublin and although we didn't stay out very late, we definitely partied it up a bit!

When in Ireland... drink Guinness!

Statue inside Temple Bar

That night we settled in for our LAST night on our trip.  Tomorrow, after spending more time in Dublin, we would board our flight home to New York City. 

(Note: Thanks to Amanda for sharing some of these photos with us!)

Belgium Summary & Review

Belgium was a quick but highly anticipated stop on our trip.  (Well, at least it was highly anticipated by Kate!) The whole purpose of going to Belgium was to taste Kate's favorite beers in their birthplace.  Of course Belgium is famous for more than their beer.  They have amazing chocolate, waffles and mussels! 
The streets are windey and easy to get lost in but the towns are small so you're not lost long.  The towns are farily easy to get around. We walked mostly from our hotel.  We also used the metro and train system in going to-from the airport. 

There are three official languages in Belgium: French, Dutch and German.  Many people there speak English as well. But you can see all three cultures have a strong influence on the country.  There's even a popular French bakery, Paul's, in Belgium.  Many signs, menus, etc. come in all four languages.

Our hotel was the Ibis Brussels Centre Ste Catherine.  It was a great location, clean, with free internet.  We'd recommend staying there if you're ever in Brussels.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Belgium.  It's not a typical vacation destination, but there were definitely a lot of tourists there. There's not much to this country and is easy to visit in a few days. However, the next time you make it out to Europe, we recommend you stop over in Belgium.   It was relaxing, quaint and highly enjoyable.

Bruges, Belgium

The next city we visited on our trip was not originally part of the plan (much like Nara, Japan many weeks before).  As we traveled the world and met other travelers, we heard more than once of this charming Belgian city just a short train ride outside of Brussels called Bruges. (also spelled Brugge depending on who you ask)

The first time Bruges came up was in Bangkok, where on Chris' bike tour, he met some Danish citizens who recommended the excursion.  Then, again, in Istanbul by the shoreline, a group of girls asked to have their picture taken.  In the short conversation that followed, we discovered that they were Belgian and when we mentioned our stop in Brussels, they immediately recommended Bruges.

So on our second and last day in Belgium we took the train out to Bruges.  Like Brussels, Bruges was another lovely, quaint European town.  It's fame comes primarily from the fact that the town was spared the destruction of both world wars and most of its medieval architecture remains completely intact. 

We spent the morning walking around on our own and then took part in a walking tour of the town.  We were glad that we did the tour because there was much more to this town then what we thought!

Kate in the Markt (or Market Square)

The Belfry, a medieval bell tower, in The Markt

Saint Saviour's Cathedral

City Hall

Welcome Church of our Lady

Before leaving Bruges we enjoyed some mussels and went shopping for chocolate.  We couldn't leave Belgium without getting any chocolate!  

After getting back to Brussels that night from Bruges, we hit the Delirium bars!  As mentioned in the blog post before this, there are several Delirium-named bars (though apparently unaffiliated with the beer company) in Brussels.  The first night we found the Delirium Monastary.  This second night, we found the Delirium Cafe.  They had more than 2,500 bottled beers!  The beer list was a huge book with full of descriptions of their beers. 

This was a lot of fun.  Chris especially enjoyed the selection since he's not a big fan of the sweet Belgium-style beers that Kate loves.  Chris tried a variety of beers and learned that there are multiple classifications of Belgian beer.  He particularly liked the "Trippel" style that typically indicates the highest quality beer with a full-bodied flavor and a hoppy aftertaste.

Beers come in all sizes!  This was the same size has a champagne bottle.

Kate stuck to some of her old favorites.

 Kate outside of the Delirium Cafe. 

Thanks for having us Belgium!  You were all we wished/hoped/wanted you to be!!