Happy New Year!

So, this was it. Our one year of travelling was over and we made it back to Seattle safely. Well, it probably was about time - these are the places we've checked off our list:

Now, the #1 question we've been getting since then is *drumroll*...

"Which place did you like the most?"

Well, of course that's pretty hard to say.

If we really had to single out let's say three places, they might be spectacular Iguazú Falls in Argentina/Brazil, Jordan's Wadi Rum desert, and New Zealand's entire South Island.

But then again, there were many other great places and it's really hard to pick. 

Also frequently asked: did anything go wrong?

Well - in hindsight, many things probably could have gone wrong. But, for most of the time, we got extremely lucky. Besides a few minor colds and one twisted ankle, no health-related issues. No traveler's diarrhea. Didn't get robbed at gunpoint anywhere. No car crashes, even made it home safely in the middle of the night in an unmarked cab in Buenos Aires. Didn't miss any busses, trains or flights (except for one missed connection at Doha, Qatar). No trouble with immigration officers, even entering Israel at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport was a breeze. No need to bribe any government official, even the on-arrival visa fee at Laos was charged correctly and with receipt. Successfully avoided most tourist traps and scams.

Probably we got ripped off by small amounts numerous times, but nothing major. Frankly, there's really no need to be mad at the Tuktuk driver in Cambodia for overcharging us $20 instead of $10 per day (however, not happy about Jetstar Airways trying to charge us $170 for a few pounds of extra luggage).

What has happened since we returned from our trip? Well, first of all we had to find a new home. So, in the meantime we crashed with friends (thanks so much, Michelle & Mike!), started our home/job search, and began our quest of digging through tens of thousands of pictures from our trip.

Out of the places we've seen, we really loved New York and thought it would be kind of a cool idea to live there for a while.

Also, all our belongings were in two suitcases and a small storage unit outside of Seattle anyways - so, if we ever wanted to try out living in another city, now could be the time to move.

Sylvia's new office building (left),
next to the Bank of America Tower (right)

So, that's what we did - mid-December, right at the peak of the holiday shopping craziness, we headed out to NYC. Max, looking for a little bit of a change after years in the corporate world, started working for Stack Exchange, an 80 person startup in downtown Manhattan run by Joel Spolsky. Sylvia resumed her position at Russell Investments and, after a short ramp-up period in Seattle, will work out of their midtown Manhattan office next to Bryant Park. 

We also found a nice apartment on the Upper East Side. Let's see when our furniture will arrive...

Alright, this is our last blog post for now. Come visit us in New York - and we'll resume this blog for our next world trip! :-)

Thanks for reading, everyone - and HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

New Zealand: The South Island Part 2

Alright, we're almost done! 

 A few more pictures from New Zealand's South Island.

So, we continued our way through the Southern Alps.

Yes, they're really called "Alps" - that's how Captain Cook named them in 1770.









Quick stop in Queenstown, one of the larger cities of the South Island (population 16,600) and famous for adventure tourism. How about some bungee jumping at the world's first permanent bungee site, the Kawarau Bridge?

No, we didn't jump - the weather just wasn't right that day.. :-)





Nothing too spectecular to see in Queenstown otherwise, so we packed our bags..

... and headed for a cruise of Milford Sound, a breathtaking fjord and one of New Zealand's top tourist destinations.










Well, the weather was still pretty bad, but the views pretty amazing nevertheless:

Alright, time to move on: a short stay on Otago Peninsula outside the city of Dunedin.

Nice, but it was still pretty windy and rainy - time for a lazy day at the cozy McFarmers Backpacker Lodge.

McFarmers is actually a - yes, farm - and they have lots of - right again ...

sheep!

A quick stop at the beach ...




One of the amazing things about New Zealand is that you can make it from the beach to the mountains within just two or three hours. So here we go... heading for Aoraki (also known as Mount Cook).

Sir Edmund Hillary reached its summit in 1948 in preparation of his successful 1953 expedition of Mount Everest.

We considered climbing up there, too, but again ... it was just too sunny that day.

Ok, time for geeking off one more time: Lord of the Rings tour in nearby Twizel!

Remember the battle scenes in The Return of the King? 

Yepp, that was here!

Watching Lord of the Rings will never be the same...



Finally up - a visit to Christchurch, the South Island's largest city.

The city was severely damaged by four separate earthquakes in September 2010, February and June 2011, and Jaunary 2012.








A large part of the city center, the red zone, remains cordoned off and several buildings still need to be demolished.
















Re:START, sort of a temporary mall made out of shipping containers, and a first attempt in rebuilding the city center.













Well, that was it - bye bye, New Zealand - we will certainly come back!

Well, and that was also the end of our world trip - from Christchurch, via Sydney, we flew back to the Honolulu and from there to Seattle.

What an amazing year!

One more blog post to come: our one year of travelling in hindsight. And then we're done - at least for the next 10 years or so. :-)

More tales from New Zealand - the South Island

Alright, everyone thought we're done with our blog posts? Not quite. :-) Although by now we're actually already back from our trip, we still have tons of pictures from the New Zealand's beautiful South Island to share.

So, the ferry from Wellington (North Island) took us to the small town of Picton on the South Island. Population: 3,000.

After a night at the appropriately named Tombstone Backbackers... (great place by the way, we definitely rested in peace)






















... it was time to get on the road again.

 Quick stop at the beach in Nelson, the "Center of New Zealand"...

... we arrived at the amazing Abel Tasman National Park.

Named by the way after Abel Tasman, the first European explorer to sight New Zealand.










Accessible only via water taxi, this is really a stunningly beautiful place.


Back on the road.. along the coast towards the town of Westport.

Lot's of green - very typical for New Zealand.

And here we are at South Island's most famous glacier: Franz Josef!
(yes, really! It's named after emperor Franz Josef I of Austria)

 

And another stunning view: nearby Fox Glacier and its reflection in Lake Matheson.

We're almost done, only one more post of New Zealand still to come: Queenstown, Milford Sound, Mount Cook and the (rebuilt) city of Christchurch.