The end! (we are back home for good!)

The journey is over!

We are back home after being gone for 55 weeks and 110,000 miles (which is 4 times around the world)!

What can we say in a few words?

The world, or at least what we have seen of it, is an extraordinary place with so much to offer!

There is NOT one place where we would not like to go back if we could.

People were genuinely friendly and helpful wherever we went.

On top of this, we were followed by a lucky star that made this year virtually trouble free (beside of spending a few hours in an Emergency room for Luca's Asthma crisis in Dubai and being pick pocketed in Peru for $40).

We learned so much that we need to go back to our notes and blog to remember it all! http://peronnardfamilyworld.blogspot.com

The kids were awesome, eating up and digesting the journey very well without any issues! They drove us crazy of course, but this is quite normal since we have spent during 1 year what families normally spend together in 7/8 years!

On the adult side, we are kind of ruined mentally (lol) and life will never be the same!

That said, we are ready to get back to a semi-normal life and to enjoy all the good things we have at home in Florida!

To the question what was your favorite place, we would say every place and especially the ones we have not yet discovered!

At the end of the day, we have one wish:

To inspire somebody among all of you to do same!

It is not for everybody, a year could be too much but if you can do it, DO IT!

BON VOYAGE and do not hesitate to contact us for information , inspiration, etc.

WE'D LIKE TO THANK ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AROUND THE WORLD WHO HOSTED US, INSPIRED US AND MADE OUR TRIP EVEN MORE SPECIAL!!

Best wishes to all of you

The Peronnard family




FUN DATA (5th and final)

390 days on the road (minus 3 weeks RR at home)
41 intercontinental flights
31,000 miles driven (47,000 km)
200 hours in a plane
70,000 miles flown
110,000 miles traveled....or so
150 hours on a train (8,000 miles)
5 minutes on a Camel
150 hours on a boat/ferry or cargo
35 countries
X,000 times close to strangling kids (maybe more)
4 traffic tickets (Mexico, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia) most likely more in the mail
1 customs citation (Chile)
1 typhoon
3 days wasted with plane delays or cancellation
40 rainy/snowy days (beside of Typhoon)
6 teeth lost for Luca and 3 more teeth on the move!
2 teeth lost for Eric (wisdom teeth pulled out)
15 pounds lost between Carol and I in the first 6 month...regained in Europe...too bad!
1 yoga session
0 McDonalds in Vietnam and Bulgaria (the only places)
0 Starbucks in Italy!
4,200 digital pictures
12 days on 2 wheels dodging traffic in Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Vietnam, Rome and France
7 dollars a gallon for gas in Northern territory Australia ( too bad we had an RV)
1,5 dollars a gallon in Indonesia (who cares, we had a scooter)
1 time face to face with a Great white shark
1 time scare of my life crossing a highway in Africa and looking for traffic on the wrong side! SCARY!
Climbed 10,000 steps in 1 day in Machu Pichu
Went down 14,000 feet elevation on a mountain bike on my Birthday
Driving at 130 mph on German Autobahn
Dozens of Museums, galleries, churches, temples and mosques visited, and even more for Carol
3-4 Cappuccinos per/day in Italy for Eric and I
Chocolate tested in every European country! Yummy!
Minus 8 in Irkutsk, Siberia
100 degrees +, in Argentina, Turkey, France and USA
0 sicknesses, nor injuries.....
0 flat tires
0 mechanical or electronic failure
0 luggage lost

Life is good!


Just a basic outline of what we did

Driving down the East Coast and seeing great friends!

We left NYC looking forward to see friends Matt, Joann and family!
We ad such a good time enjoying this wonderfull family!
Then we got back in "good Ship lollypop" (our RV) for a few hours drive to Bevo Helen and family! Spent the evening at Knoebel family park and enjoyed the rides and our friends!
(this was the un-official end of our trip since Bevo asked us to do so!lol)
Finally we drove to Charlotte NC we we spent an evening with our friend Justin!
We got treated like royalty everywhere and friends made us feel so good to be back in home countries!(thanks to all of you thruout the trip!)
At the end of the day, friends and family are #1 wherever you are and fortunateny we had some everywhere in the world!
We are now back in Florida but not home yet!
We will be spending the Week end at a RV park on the beach couple hours from home just to get ready for final landing! (St Augustine)
55 weeks ago , we started our trip with a week end on Florida beach on other coast (Destin)! we are almost back to square 1!


Leaving NYC

The Trattner's pet on Alec's back!

Bevo HQ!

Justin in Charlotte in front of JGR!

Kids having fun!

Florida sceneries

Back in USA (New York city)

Here we are ! Back in USA!
Could not tell we were overly happy about it but the idea of spending couple days in the big Apple and see some friends was exciting!
We checked in our hotel overlooking Battery Park and the Hudson River and were greeted by the 4th of July Firework! (Spectacular)
Next day we woke up early and went for our first American Breakfast in a long time!
The BF buffet was already under siege and we realized again how much food was important in America ! (definitely more quantity than quality! LOL)
Then we spent the day strolling NYC under 100 degrees Sun and went to Soho ,Time Square and had dinner in Little Italy where we forgot our shopping bag at the restaurant!
Was too happy about that since I had to walk back at 10 pm to find out the restaurant was already closed....will go back this morning!
Today we will move to New Jersey to see friend Matt for afternoon!

Room with a view!

What would be NYC without fire truck?

Chiling in Time Square

Time square

Luca had one slice too many pizza in Little Italy!

Geyser and wilderness!

Iceland is awesome!
I knew that from 30 years ago when I came for the first time but the second time is even better!
It is like the Switzerland of Scandinavia with very nice people, very educated and clean!
Being here made us realize how the rest of the world is dirty and polluted!
Glad we came here last!
Definitely the place to run to when the end of the world is near…….
But don’t tell anyone! LOL
We went to Geysir where the name Geyser came from and enjoyed a lot of bubbling action without much restriction! ( we could stand 20 feet away of a “old faithful” type of Geyser without any guards!)
It does not look like they have many lawyers around here!
Then we went to Gullfoss which were the biggest waterfall I had seen when I visited Iceland my first time! The falls looked smaller after 30 years of travel but still very spectacular!
The overall scenery is unbelievable! Glaciers , lakes and tundra everywhere!
Only a 5 hours flight from NYC makes it (in our mind) a much better choice than Alaska, Alps or Patagonia....
If you like Mountain wilderness you owe it to yourself to visit Iceland!
In 24 h we will be in NYC!
Can not see a more drastic change than the one we are getting ready to experience……..
From nature at it’s best to a concrete jungle!


Couple sheeps caught in a cave!

Beautiful horses headed for........Icelandic restaurants!

Gullfoss



Little viking!

Geysir

Snowboard flintstone style......it worked and was a lot of fun!


Kayaking in Iceland! looks real fun!


Geyser action!

Rekjavik and Blue Lagoon

What a difference a day make!
We woke up quite early today due to no darkness/jetlag and went right away for an exploration of the Capitol city Rekjavik!
The weather was quite perfect, low 60s but does not get much better around here!
Rekjavik is very hip and trendy with a lot of boutiques coffee places and other restaurants that would have their place in any other capitol city!
Then we drove 1 hour out of town to discover the blue lagoon (Arguably the most famous spot in Iceland)
A big thermal salt water lake with temperature ranging from 96 to 100 full of silica is the back drop of this water attraction!
After paying a quite hefty fee (over $40 PP) we entered the locker room where everybody (in a pure scandinavian way) was undressed and not caring about it!
It did not surprise me but our 2 young boys were terrorised by the scenery! LOL
They found a private locker to change to realize a minute later than you could enter the pool only after a shower with NO swim suits!.....this was very funny!
We enjoyed the water and silica mud for hours and felt cleaner than whistles!
To finish the day well, Luca and I went for a hike in a Lava fied full of crevasses, tunnels and trenches!





Rekjavik grafitis

Blue Sky in downtown

They like big 4x4 in Iceland too!

On our way to Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon




Iceland country scenery

Welcome to Iceland (our 35th country and last new one)

After semi relaxing for few days and not travelling too much we got a wake up call today!
Wake up at 4 am then drove 7 hours to Paris airport, then 3 hours for check in, 4 hours flight and 1 hour drive to Rekjavik (Iceland capitol)
We had a slight change with the weather since we went from high 90 to mid 40 and a lot of rain!
This was a welcome cool down but maybe too much!
Finally we have found a REAL clean country! Not even a beer bottle on the road's shoulder!
It is so clean, so welcoming , did not even show our passport to enter country!
(on the dark side it is VERY expensive around here!)
By the way this is the land of the midnight sun, so we will not see darkness untill next week when we will get back to USA!
More Icelandic adventure to come......

Always surprising to have to step outside of an airplane without a jetway?

Nice Icelandic weather!