Finland, again!

We really couldn’t pass up a second chance to visit Finland in winter (no other country we know of embraces this chilly season like the Finns do)! And this time we explored for a whole month, from Helsinki all the way to 200km above the Arctic Circle.– Two days, five dogs, seventy kilometres. We’ve gone dog sledding before, but not like this.

— In which we discovered that the Finns are our people.

— Still and (for the first time!) moving postcards from this snowy country.

Prague by force

We gave you, dear readers, three choices of where to send us for three weeks. It was a close one, but Prague came out on top. We weren’t entirely thrilled by the choice (we were and are still very eager to get to Estonia), but in the end we were so glad you sent us there. Prague shot up the list to be one of our favourite European cities.

— A collection of our very best photos from this Czech capital.

— One thing we loved about Prague, and didn’t expect, is how downright quirky it is.

From quirky to quirkier – hello Albania!

If you know anything about us by now, it should be that we are naturally attracted to those places few have traveled before. And even though Albania has been dubbed the last European “hidden gem” by many top publications, it was a place we had read so little about. So, we went to see for ourselves.

What we found were overwhelmingly friendly people but little tourism infrastructure. We went in with a lot of patience, muddled our way through much of the country, and emerged with a lot of fun stories and memories.

— This post includes a brief history lesson, and our first impressions on Albania.

— Apparently, it’s all about “who you know” there.

— This is the Riviera you’ve never heard of.

To the Mountains

One thing that disappointed us about Albania was the lack of access to the mountains during the winter months. Some of the roads, we were told, are barely accessible in summer, so forget trying to do it under heaps of snow. After a few weeks in the Albanian Riviera, we were craving us some mountains, and so decided to head north into Montenegro for a couple of weeks. And DAMN…was that ever a fantastic decision.

Mad Love for Spain

Drawn in by a travel blogging conference nearby, we decided to plant ourselves in Girona – a much-raved about city that we had somehow never visited before. And while Pete only spent a few days in the city before jetting off into the Pyrenees, I had Girona for my own. I surprised myself by not whining about my loneliness but instead finding pure enjoyment in being a solo about town.

— All about how Girona temporarily replaced Pete.

— Pete didn’t seem to mind either, if this post about his time in the Pyrenees says anything.

North to the Faroes

There is not one place on this earth that we’ve visited with more spectacular scenery. Every day, down every road, around every corner, we were picking our jaws up off of the car floor. We even fantasized about buying a little house, baking bread daily, writing novels, and staying forever. Who knows? Maybe that will still happen.

— How Kalsoy Faroe Islands knows what true adventure is all about.

— I was chastised for my “walking skills” by our guide, but rightly so. Hiking in the Faroe Islands is no joke.

Smiles and many miles around Namibia

Truth be told, I kinda dragged Pete to Africa. After all the rapid travel we had been up to, coupled with some intense work projects, he was tired and not entirely receptive to tackling a new continent. I, on the other hand, was very excited and thrilled to finally be experiencing Africa. My enthusiasm wore him down and Namibia eventually was dubbed one of our best stops of the year.

It also helped that we tried our best to treat Namibia as a holiday (if that is even possible for us anymore). We enjoyed some blissful days offline and spoiled ourselves a bit along the way. We really need to do more of that.

— We had just a taste of the Skeleton Coast, as eerie as it was.

— Pete’s favourite stop was an abandoned diamond mining town. Why are we so drawn to destruction?

— Even though we tried to treat our visit to Namibia as a holiday, that didn’t mean our cameras stopped working.

Beasts and Beaches of Tanzania

THIS is what we came to Africa for.

— “I wanted lions circling and sniffing our tents, I wanted to actually shudder with the fear of having them too close.” We didn’t quite get that, but we still feasted our eyes and ears on so many amazing animals.

— We went from the wild plains to the sparkling beaches of Zanzibar for some much needed introversion and downtime.

Housesitting in New Zealand

We had talked about wanting to visit New Zealand for so long that when a two month housesit was offered to us, we snatched it up quite quickly. It didn’t turn out to be quite as exceptional as we expected, despite our best efforts. We love mountains and winter. We love taking care of animals and jumping out of planes (at least Pete does apparently). But in all honesty, our time there does not stand out like we had hoped it would.– So why didn’t it “sit right” with us? We reveal how we just couldn’t make a connection.

— One definite highlight, however, was our 17-day campervan trip around almost the entire south island.

Shocked in Portugal

It’s not often that Pete and I can declare feeling any sort of “culture shock” after all of our travels (unless it is in the reverse, which happens more frequently). But when we left the isolation of New Zealand and into Portugal’s second largest city, we certainly felt at least a bit of it. Not in an adverse way; we just needed to adjust from the solitude of remote mountains to the rise of a busy city. I shirked from it a bit, getting some important work done, while Pete found some renewed fascination with his photography.

— When I wasn’t working, I was gleefully eating all of the sandwiches.

— We both believe that this might be Pete’s best work to date.

Hawaii, again!

It took exactly zero arm-twisting to get us back to Hawaii. After being surprised with how much we loved Maui during our last visit, we were thrilled to make the long journey to explore two more islands: Lanai and Molokai. All three islands have completely different vibes to them, and all are memorable for beautifully different reasons.

— Also, a kitty paradise makes for a Heck paradise.

— We found heaven (the most beautiful spot in Hawaii), inside of hell (what remains of a leper colony).

Due north

Coming soon on the blog we will recount our time spent up in northern Manitoba, staring into the faces of these gentle giants. This trip had been such a long time coming that I was worried that we had almost hyped it too much to enjoy it. I had nothing to worry about. Locking eyes with a polar bear is something neither of us will soon forget.

Now what?

This post took me far longer to write then it normally would (I am a day off my self-imposed deadline, if you’re wondering). Why? Clearly because 2015 was one for the record books. BEST EVER, indeed. I will be sad to bid it adios in a few short days.

We’re currently riding out the year in Mexico and have plans to hibernate here for the next few months. I would not call us weary of travel, but I would call us just in need of a break, for many reasons. This last year deserves some time to sink in, to reflect on, and to savour. Our business also deserves some attention – we’ve been coasting for the past few months and staying above board only thanks to some talented assistance.

As such, we haven’t declared 2016 to be the Year Of anything, just yet. However, our usual pattern predicts that after these few months, we’ll be ready for something big. And until such time that plans are made, we’ll happily marinate in the anticipation.

It will be hard to top 2015, we know that for sure, but I expect that as always, we’ll be up for the challenge.