Killer Summer! (recap)

Well, summer is over! Here's a recap of what we did:

We started off with an amazing trip to the Holy Land. Jerusalem, The Dead Sea, Bethlehem. We stayed with some local kids and fell in love with this very special place.

We then went to Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast. The Gaudi architecture, the people we met, the beaches. Che chevere!

Then it was off to London where we were surprised to find the Diamond Jubilee! Biggest party ever. Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to celebrate the the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne.

From there we hit the road by bus.

 We visited Amsterdam,

Paris,

Geneva,

Montpellier,

Monaco,

Nice,

Rome,

and Naples.

After Europe we stopped by to visit our buddy Spence in Austin.

and then spent a day in San Francisco.

Then we went to the land of the rising sun, where we made many new friends and climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji. 

Next stop: Bangkok

Clark had to go back to SUU for a couple weeks so I spent that time in Taiwan.

We were reunited in LA and got to spend a day with Clark's sister and her family. 

On August 1st we went by business class to Melbourne, Australia.

Then off to Sydney to see the Opera House, Bondi Beach and Manly.

From there we went to Houston to see family and friends.

We flew to Peru, and saw the incredible Machu Picchu.

We joined two Peruvian friends, Lili and Vanessa, who guided us around Peru. 

We stayed with Lili's uncle in Abancay. 

Cusco, the navel of the world. 

and Lima, the capital. 

Before getting home we ended up with a short stay in Panama when the plane made an unplanned stop for repairs.

Statistics for the Killer Summer:
Continents: 5
Countries: 16
New Friends: 63

Miles flown: 74, 315

Value of air travel:  $29,545/each

Travel by bus: approx 3,000 miles

Cost of bus travel: $290

Money spent on lodging: $90/each

We got free air travel thanks to my dad's flight benefits, and we spent so little on lodging thanks to friends and couchsurfing.org. We are tremendously grateful for the opportunity we had to travel and we hope that through this blog you have been able to enjoy our travels as well.
 
 We made some great friends, some of whom we hope will be lifelong. The entire trip we relied greatly on the kindness and generosity of strangers and friends.  

The world is full of amazing people.