My Home is Special

The plan for the project is best described in the Intro Episode of the “My Home is Special” podcast.  However, sometimes the best plans have to change because… life happens. The original November 2023 travel plan is here. Below is what actually happened. You can click on any of the countries below to see the content (podcasts & photos) from that country.

If you’re curious, here’s the sabbatical “by the numbers“:

Time:  

  • 182 days off with 135 days away from home

Travels & transit getting to/ from each destination:

  • 16 Countries (15 capital cities) across 4 continents
  • 42 flights and 42 hotel checkins (coincidence)
  • 6 trains, 4 buses, 2 cruises, 7 private cars, 4 buses

Creative pursuits:

  • 21,630 photos taken (by both of us – Tasha was probably 1,000 or so)
  • 3,791 “favorite” photos published in 63 galleries (Asia: 22, South America: 22, Africa: 10, Europe: 9)
  • 810 IG story posts at @KBevPhoto (they’re still up, in the “highlights”)
  • 27ish podcast episodes published (more coming)

Loop 1: South America (40 days)

We started in Peru 🇵🇪 with some time in Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. After that, we visited Bolivia 🇧🇴 to see La Paz, Lake Titicaca, and the Uyuni Salt Flats.   Uyuni was even more magical that I could have imagined. There is no place like it on Earth. Over land, we spent a day touring and making our way to the Atacama Desert in Chile 🇨🇱 for a few days before resting in Santiago for a bit.  From there, we hit the Chilean side of Patagonia. It was the most exclusive place we stayed and the only place I got bad food poisoning.  We ended the trip with almost 2 weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷 and Montevideo, Uruguay 🇺🇾. The pizza in Argentina and the ubiquity of Mate in Uruguay were both underestimated.

Loop 2: Korea & SE Asia (43 days)

Because there’s a K-drama fan in the house, our first stop was South Korea 🇰🇷. Getting settled into the time zone was the plan for this first stop. However, the DMZ and Jeju Island were fun stops. Korea was just a lot colder than I expected.  From there, we hit Cambodia 🇰🇭 to see the capital and the temples up north. After a short hop, we spent a lot of time in Vietnam 🇻🇳 and made out way through 3 cities with an extended stop in Da Nang for Radkial Forze Jan. After the frenetic pace of Vietnam, Laos 🇱🇦 was amazing stops for us and worthy of a visit if your anywhere in the region.  From there, it was another quick hop to spend some time in Chang Mai. Then, we had “family” from Chicago join us for our last stop in Thailand 🇹🇭 (Bangkok).

Loop 3: Africa & Europe (48 days)

After some crazy visa drama, the only stop we made in West Africa was Ghana 🇬🇭. We had a chance to spend a week in Portugal 🇵🇹 with the boys after that. Once they went home, we continued on to Greece 🇬🇷. The highlight of the trip was certainly the time we spent in Egypt 🇪🇬. Words can’t do it justice, nor can my photos (but I tried). If you can get there, you should go for sure. England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 was a stop with two plans: (1) Go see all the stolen stuff in The British Museum and (2) see our “family”. We didn’t expect to hit a 16th country, but Cardiff, Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 was so close we made the stop.