Our sabbatical was 151 days long from January 1 and ended May 29, 2013. We visited seven countries, Chile, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, Denmark and Norway. Over this period we moved around a lot, visiting different regions within the countries we visited and slept in 50 different beds! We can pretty much sleep anywhere now!
My favorite places were the Chilean Patagonia region around Puente Arenas and Torres del Paine. The area was just beautiful and our boys were with us which made it really special. Next on the list has to be the Routeburn Track in New Zealand. This three-day hike across the mountains in southern New Zealand was just spectacular. The scenery and cherry blossoms in Japan would also have to be on the top ten list! The most challenging time was in Tokyo. I just could not get comfortable there. I suppose the language barrier was just to high to live there for an extended time.
It was striking to me how much in common humanity has throughout the world. The social issues facing countries wherever we were focused around the migration of young people from rural to urban areas, how to support aging populations, and energy and water woes.
I suppose it is our age, but regardless of where we were the conversation seemed to always drift to retirement age and pensions, taxes, and health care. Although these issues were very common topics of conversation, the solutions that nations took were very different. There certainly is NOT a one-size fits all solution to any of them nor are any of the solutions perfect!
The kindness and generosity of the people we met was overwhelming. We were treated to countless dinners out and in friends homes, friends ferried us back and forth to the airports and played tour guide time and time again. We are grateful to so many people that made our trip go smoothly and kept it interesting!
We missed good coffee, beer and cheese!
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