World Travel Superlatives and Stats

To wrap the abroad portion of my trip up, here are the final travel stats and my favorites, least favorites, and everything in-between.

The Stats
40 Countries
6 Continents (missed Antarctica)
10 US States

67 Flights
33 Train Rides
28 Long Distance Buses
13 Ferry Rides
25 Overnight Travels
7 Nights Slept in Car

134 Beds Slept in
87 Hostels
52 Nights Camped

Top 5 Favorite Countries
It's hard to choose just one, but my number one choice is without a doubt number one. Number four through the honorable mentions are probably all tied for fourth place. You'll notice a common theme for me here. The mountains are my happy place, and where the beauty is :)

1. Nepal - The hiking in the Everest region was the most incredible scenery I have ever seen and the whole trekking culture there is awesome. Getting to Everest Base Camp was cool, but there were much better trek options in the area, like the Three Passes trek I did.

2. New Zealand - Surfing, endless hiking, adventure sports, wine country, friendly and chill people - what more do you need? The Kiwi's have life figured out.

3. Kyrgyzstan - Mountains surrounding you constantly, great hiking and mountaineering, yurts, and virtually no tourists in the country. Really good bread too :) Get here now while nobody knows about it!

4. Switzerland - The Alps are incredible and gorgeous. There are awesome trails and hut systems in place, including self-service cheese and meat stands!

5. Colombia - Everybody still seems to be scared to go here. Let me tell you, there's nothing to be afraid of, Pablo Escobar has been dead for almost 3 decades. With relatively low amounts of tourists, tons of different landscapes, great modern cities, and a vibrant culture, I could have spent a couple months here.

Honorable Mentions
Nicaragua (Great for backpackers, low on tourism), Norway (Bergen area hiking and fjords), Italy (Dolomites and Lake Como, amazing food), Indonesia (Affordable, beautiful, and amazing diving, Raja Ampat specifically), Peru (Great food and culture, lots to do), Israel (Super westernized, tons of history, great food and beaches), South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, UK

Least Favorite Places
Thailand (esp. Bangkok), Vietnam, Kathmandu, Bolivia - All of these are overrun with tourism, people trying to con money out of you, and gross amounts of pollution.

Most Overrated
1. Thailand - I did a lot of awesome things here and it has beautiful parts to it - but - it is overflowing with tourism and the pollution is at a repulsive level.
2. Iceland - It's cool but insanely expensive and the Norway scenery is similar but better in my opinion.
3. Galapagos Islands - Not at all what I expected, the scenery is very volcanic so not exactly pretty and there's only a few species of animals on the islands. Those species just happen to be very unique. The diving was pretty good but that's about it. Super expensive as well.

Most Surprising
Israel - You would never know there's a war conflict going on in the country, the food was amazing, the cities were extremely westernized, and the beaches were awesome. Not to mention several locations of mind-blowing historical significance.

Friendliest People
New Zealand, Ireland, Indonesia

Favorite Cities
London, Dubrovnik, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Tel-Aviv, Stockholm, Medellin, Pokhara (Nepal)

Best Food
Peru (Best meal of my life in Lima), Thailand, Italy, Israel, Bosnia

Favorite Experiences
Going to Church and Playing Beach Volleyball with the Native Papuans in Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Most Interesting Person
Mikel, a Spaniard I met in Kyrgyzstan had taken two years to get from Spain to Kyrgyzstan BY BICYCLE and had some of the funniest and craziest stories I have ever heard. Just take a look at the kinds of countries he had to go through to get there.

Craziest Travel Day
Crossing the border by land from Nicaragua to Costa Rica was an absolute adventure, and our first one. We took a ferry, a shared taxi, another shared taxi to the border, a long-distance bus to a bus station, a public bus, a taxi. Nobody spoke english and it took us the whole day to figure out that "frontera" meant border in spanish.

Longest Travel Day
There were some crazy long multi-bus travel days, especially in South America, but the winner was coming home from New Zealand. Four flights, Auckland-Sydney-LAX-Salt Lake-Chicago, took 45 hours. Then after a quick nap in Chicago, a 4.5 hour drive home to Michigan.

My Next High-Priority Stops
Namibia/Botswana
Patagonia (Chile/Argentina)
Slovenia
Iran
San Blas Islands (Sail from Panama to Colombia)
Bhutan/Myanmar/Sri Lanka

Biggest Take-Aways from the World and Travel
1. We are so incredibly lucky to have been born in a Westernized, well-off country. The opportunities we have for our lives are amazing and we should be thankful for that every day. For example, you could have been living and working on a bus at the age of 7 with your older brother 7 days a week instead of going to school as I witnessed a boy doing in Nepal.

2. Sexism is alive and well. We need to fight for complete equality here in the US so that hopefully other countries will catch on. The lack of opportunities for girls/women and just the way they are treated as an inferior human being in so many other countries in the world is appalling. The way men would look at me like I was a piece of meat rather than an equal human being pissed me off and I'm done taking the feminism subject lightly. Done with the jokes. This is a world problem that in some cases leads to girls and women being in sex trades and deaths.

3. You don't need much to be happy. We spent a week with Papuan natives in Raja Ampat, Indonesia who were working on building an eco-resort we were staying at. They lived in concrete-walled homes the size of a single bedroom, had one set of church clothes, one regular day outfit, no phones, no possessions, yet they were the happiest and most generous people I have met.

4. There is so much extreme poverty in the world. Again, be thankful for what you have.

5. Racism is a product of not understanding, or at least not being willing to understand, each others' cultures and fear of loss of power. We're all part of the human race, treat everyone with kindness. Always.

Get out there. See the world. Meet people unlike you. This is how you grow as a person and we grow as mankind. Enjoy the scenery from around world below :)

Hiking in the Everest Region