The stats are in! The Best and Worst List of the Past Year Around the World

The statistics are in. I have tallied the details from my travels the past 12 months.


Here are a few stats from August 2010 to August 2011:
20 countries
60 cities (not counting repeats)
85 cities (counting repeats)
12 currencies
38 planes
21 trains
10 boats
1 cruise ship

Itinerary and course of travel for the past year:

Leg 1 drive across the US beginning August 16th, 2010:
Los Angeles, California 

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Lake Powell, Nevada 

Bryce Canyon, Utah

Route 12 through Utah 

Aspen, Colorado 

Denver, Colorado 

Des Moines, Iowa 

Chicago, Illinois 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

New York, NY

Leg 2 European train tour:
Paris, France

Brussels, Belgium

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Cologne, Germany

Berlin, Germany

Prague, Czech Republic

Vienna, Austria

Budapest, Hungary

Milan, Italy

Venice, Italy

Rome, Italy

Naples, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

Assissi, Italy

Betona, Italy

Berlin, Germany

Paris, France 

London, England

Back to US to repack: 

Cincinnati, Ohio

Leg 3 South East Asia:
Singapore, Singapore

Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Singapore, Singapore

Krabi, Thailand

Koh Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Phuket, Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Singapore, Singapore

Leg 4 Middle East, The Mediterranean:
Dubai, UAE 

Abu Dhabi, UAE 

Sharjah, UAE

Los Angeles, California

Rome, Italy

Betona, Italy

Perugia, Italy

Cosenza, Calabria, Italy

Leg 5 Back to the US for the holidays:
Cincinnati, Ohio

Miami, Florida

Boca Raton, Florida

Del Ray Beach, Florida

West Palm Beach, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Leg 6 Spring, Middle East,  N. Africa, Mediterranean:
Dubai, UAE

Sarasota, Florida 

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Hamptons, Long Island

Cincinnati, Ohio

Marrakech, Morocco

Essaouira, Morocco

Madrid, Spain

Formentera, Spain

Ibiza, Spain

Los Angeles, California

Cincinnati, Ohio

Leg 7 Summer Mediterranean Tour:

Barcelona, Spain

Valletta, Malta 

Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Naples, Italy 

Pompeii, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

Positano and the Amalfi Coast, Italy

Rome, Italy

Pisa, Italy

Florence, Italy

Corsica, France

Ville Franche, France

Monaco, France

Barcelona, Spain

Sardinia, Italy

Rome, Italy

Athens, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Delos, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Finish:
Back to Cincinnati August 11th, 2011

The Best and Worst List of the Past Year:

Favorite countries:
Italy and Greece

Favorite cities:
Prague, Czech Republic; Mykonos, Greece; Siem Reap, Cambodia; Dubai, UAE; Barcelona, Spain

Favorite foods:
Dubai (Lebanese) kibbeh nayeh, any Southern Italian cuisine, Greek horta and tyropita

Least favorite food culturally:
Cambodian; Czech Republic, Dutch

Favorite drinks:
Moroccan tea and the ouzo cocktail "Plomari Splash" at Solymar restaurant, Kalo Livadi, Mykonos, Greece

Most bizarre drink:
Luwak poop coffee in Bali, Indonesia

Most fun had:
Dubai and Mykonos

Most eye opening experience:
Reading the book 'Somaly Mam' on my way to Cambodia then visiting the kids in the Cambodian school for orphans (see Siem Reap, Cambodia and The Smiling Mom )

Most peaceful time spent:
6 days at the Hostal La Savina in Formentera, Spain; 2 days in the Riad Mimouna in Essaouira, Morocco; any day I am in Mykonos, Greece

Most touching moments:
Receiving an email from Rodrigo, the waiter in Madrid (see A Special Encounter in Madrid ) ; looking into the eyes of the poor and begging children in Cambodia; having a romantic interest tell me the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" is what he thinks of me and standing in front of the site where a terrorist bomb ripped through a tourist cafe a week earlier in Marrakech.

Most terrifying experience:
Being harassed in German by a vagrant in the subway late at night in Berlin

Most beautiful spots:
Formentera, Spain; Mykonos, Greece; Phi Phi Islands, Thailand; The Amalfi Coast, Italy, Route 12 through central Utah, USA

Most beautiful water to swim:
Sardinia, Italy; Formentera, Spain; Mykonos, Greece

Favorite sightseeing spots:
Phi Phi Islands boat ride, the opulence in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the Gaudi architecture in Barcelona, the Kasbah in Marrakech and strolling along the city streets of Prague

Favorite cultures:
Greek, Italian and Moroccan

Least favorite culture:
German

Best beaches:
Formentera, Spain and Mykonos, Greece

Best bargain hunting shopping:
Any open air market in South East Asia

Best bargain for a hotel:
Hostal La Savina, Formentera, Spain; Sea Side Studios, Kalo Livadi, Mykonos, Greece

Cheapest places to visit:
Bali, Indonesia; Cambodia

Most expensive places to visit:
London, Paris, Madrid and Mykonos, Greece (during the month of August)

Best spot for singles:
Mykonos, Greece and Ibiza, Spain during the summer months

Worst place to be without a hotel room:
Amsterdam, Holland (see Amsterdam, Holland )

Place I liked the least:
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Most difficult place to maneuver without knowing the language:
Sardinia, Italy (and I even know a little Italian)

Most pleasurable language to listen to:
Italian

Most unpleasant language to listen to:
German

Most difficult place to learn your way around with or without a map:
Palermo, Sicily

Best public transport system:
Barcelona

Number of countable romances this past year:
5

Number of opportunities for more romances: 
Countless

Amount of money spent:
I don't want to think about it, but not as much as you may think

Value of the experiences had and people I have met: 
Priceless

A Winter's Break

From Christmas to mid February, I spent time with my family in Cincinnati helping to babysit my 11 year old niece. I hadn't decided where my next venture would be, so I took a short trip to Miami and stayed with a long time friend who was in desperate need of help. She was ill and had no idea. I was able to give her the guidance she needed and point her in the right direction in finding a proper doctor to give her a proper diagnosis. She was in bad shape, so I spent the next three weeks re-organizing her house that had been severely neglected.

This is the annual South Beach shot I get every year with friends in Miami. This year my friend, Vera stopped in town from LA for a visit along with her friend Paula from Brazil.

Once my job was done and I was able to see she was on the road to recovery, I was free to plan my next trip. As I said in an earlier post, Dubai is top of the list!

More fun in Dubai!

I went back to Dubai to visit my friend that hosted my previous stay. I spent 10 days reliving the fun and excitement I had experienced back in December. After Dubai, I flew back to Florida to meet up with my family in Sarasota for Spring break week. My mom, my sister, my two nieces, nephew and I spent the holiday week soaking up as much sun as possible.

It took all day, but they finally managed to bury her. One tiny handful at a time.

I then headed to the Hamptons for a quick weekend jaunt, back to Cincinnati for Easter then it was back to the chalkboard to begin to plan my BIG birthday coming up on May 7th.
The decision was finalized shortly thereafter........Marrakech, Morocco!

Dubai!

I arrived close to midnight expecting to find my friend that would be hosting my stay fast asleep and unwilling to await my late arrival. A key was left for me to let myself in. I was pleasantly greeted at the front door by my friend and a glass of wine. It was now 1:00 and the next three hours would set the tone for the week ahead.

We stayed up drinking wine and laughing until 4 am. The kind of laughing that hurts your stomach. The kind that prevents you from saying your words in between the gulps of air supporting the laugh. The laughs continued night after night as we hit the town for dinner, drinks and a mirage of fun.

I spent the days sightseeing at places I have only read about for the last eight years. The Burj Al Arab which is a seven star hotel in the shape of a sailboat carefully placed in the ocean, The Burj Al Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world, the Dubai Mall that has an aquarium, a skating rink, a gold souk, and a fountain to make the Bellagio Hotel’s look like a lawn sprinkler, The Mall of the Emirates that has a ski slope built inside the mall and massive buildings that were newly built in shapes of architecture my eyes have never seen. I visited the Dubai museum, the old town, the gold souk and spice souk. I rode the Abra along the Dubai creek and watched the sunset fall behind a skyline built with oil rich hands. I took a desert safari into the Sharjah desert for a 4 wheel sand dune adventure. I rode a camel, did some sand boarding and visited a camel farm. 

My friend and I took a day to drive to Abu Dhabi to try out the new Ferrari World theme park. They were, unfortunately, closed that day so, instead, we enjoyed a quiet lunch on the sidelines of the Yas F1 race track at The Yas Hotel. We visited another 7 star hotel, The Emirates Palace, that has its own gold vending machine all while my friend would tell me stories of the opulence and wealth that flows from the government and the rivalry that is apparent between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect world tour. I would now have to fly back to Los Angeles to attend a court hearing where I will testify against a girl that robbed my storage unit a year ago. A trip I do not want to take, but is necessary.

Once I return to the US, I will take a short detour back to Italy to visit the city where my great Grandmother is from, then head back to Cincinnati for the holidays. I will resume my travels again in February where I will revisit some of my favorite spots. Dubai is top of the list!

I haven’t decided if I should continue the blog in the meantime. It takes up a lot of time and has prevented me from focusing on the writing I would like to do about many of the things that happened to me on a daily basis during the trip. Things I did not include in the blog. Stories best shared amongst girlfriends. All of the juicy gossip. The good stuff!!! 

If there is interest, then maybe I’ll write more as I feel fit over the next few months. We will have to see where the road leads. Until next time.....

My favorite building

At the gold souk

Gold!

Riding the Abra

More on the Abra

Saturday afternoon boat ride

I love this picture

Camel chillin in the desert

Sand dune

Ridin the camel

Sand boarding

Camel farm

I ran into a friend from Los Angeles very randomly

At the Yas F1 race track in Abu Dhabi

Cool building

Gold To Go....just in case there's an urgent need for gold.

Burj Al Arab

Burj Al Khalifa