A year like none other..!

My 40th birthday in the Hunter Valley

It’s been exactly one year since Garry and I flew out of Sydney to start our grand European adventure. We'd packed up the house, celebrated my 40th, and headed off for a two-month sabbatical. I can’t believe that a year has passed. It’s been a truly remarkable time.

Our travel diary has been filled to overflowing. (Did I mention that Qantas renewed my Platinum FF status this week? Garry also reached Platinum status last weekend) In a single year, we’ve both visited every continent with the exception of Antarctica. The list of countries and cities we’ve seen is breathtaking. I think I've remembered them all:

USA: Washington DC (x3 for me), New York, Princeton, Boston
Canada: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Peru: Lima, Arequipa, Cusco, Puno, Puerto Maldonado (the Amazon)
Brazil: Rio, San Paulo, Curitiba, Paraty
Argentina: Buenos Aires
Spain: Madrid
Egypt: Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Mount Sinai
Jordon: Aqaba, Petra, Amman
France: Paris (x2)
Switzerland: Geneva
Germany: Munich (x4)
Austria: Kitzbuhel (x3)
Czech Republic: Prague
Norway: Oslo
Sweden: Stockholm
Italy: Milan
South Africa: Johannesburg (x2), Capetown
Denmark: Copenhagen
Holland: Amsterdam (x3)
Japan: Hiroshima, Osaka, Tokyo
Australia: Sydney
New Zealand: Christchurch, Auckland
Hong Kong: Garry stopped here while I was in South Africa

We’ve also started to explore the UK. To date, we’ve visited the Cotswolds, Windsor, Bath, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Brighton and Arundel. In London we’ve taken time to explore Richmond, Kew Gardens, Greenwich, Hyde Park, Columbia Road Flower Market, Borough Market, Camden Market, Soho and many of the Thames River walks in Central London.

We’ve seen West End theatre productions, watched drag shows and a pantomime, rode the London Eye, seen the new Airbus 380 close up, watched the Trooping of the Colours and visited the Hampton Court Flower Show.

We’ve seen some of the world’s most prized documents including the Magna Carta, a Guttenberg Bible, the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. We’ve also seen some of the world’s most famous artwork such as Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Rembrandt’s Night Watch, and Picasso’s Guernica.

Of course, while doing all of this, we found time to move our entire lives halfway across the planet and establish a new home in London (Garry you’re a star. Our house here truly is a home).

While the last 12 months have had their challenging moments, there’s no denying that it’s been a very unique and special time. I doubt we’ll ever see another year quite like it again.