The Johnslingtons

Think of the perfect mountain town. It’s small, warm enough in summer to hang out outside at night, but cool enough for sleeping. There are amenities enough to keep you fed, and it’s easy enough to get to, but not so much that it’s overwhelmed with people. The scenery is stunning, and the trails for… Continue reading A Perfect Mountain Town

Going to Rome was my idea. I’d never been and it felt like one of those places a person should see in their lifetime. (Dan was there in 2004, which was apparently enough for him.) Our pals Grant, Ellen and Violet from England, whom you might remember from last year’s travels in London and France,… Continue reading All Roads Lead to Rome (Is That Why It’s So Crowded?)

Fiona started our trip with two loose bottom teeth. Less than a week in, they were both outa there. The first one was so wiggly that the three adults placed bets on when it would come out. Three days later (on the day I predicted, for the record), while we were relaxing on the best… Continue reading The Tooth Fairy Comes to Italy

Into every island vacation some rain must fall. And during our Sardinia stay, it fell on day three, after a couple of days of this kind of idyllic gorgeousness: Wednesday dawned gray and windy, with a forecast of thunderstorms on and off all day. Having already gotten plenty of good, jet lag-curing beach time, we… Continue reading Stormy Weather

We flew 11 hours from SFO to Frankfurt (more on that later), and then, after a six-hour layover, two more hours to Olbia, Sardinia. Our flight left San Francisco at 2 pm and landed in Frankfurt at midnight Pacific Time. Not ideal conditions for sleeping in United Economy. Fiona slept maybe an hour. Me less.… Continue reading How to cure jet lag, Sardinian style

Hm. Kinda dusty around here. Let’s change that. What’s that mess above? Oh, just the usual way I start packing. I throw everything on the bed, sort into piles, then decide what’s in and what’s out. Those of you who have followed for a while may recognize some of my packing list from last year,… Continue reading On the Road Again!

Time spent away from home: 5 months, 2 days Continents visited: 5 Countries visited: 14 Principalities visited: 1 (Yay, Liechtenstein!) International traffic tickets received: 1 (Damn you, Liechtenstein!) Brand new countries/principalities visited: 4 (Yup, including Liechtenstein.) New passport stamps received in real countries: 8 New passport stamps paid for at the tourist office of a… Continue reading The Johnslington’s Big Trip, by the Numbers

Best Sunsets Ham Rankings (Note: We didn’t have any ham during our quick stop in Italy; otherwise they’d be on here.) Beer Rankings (Everywhere else basically just has light pilsner, which is fine, but rarely something to write home about.) Wine Rankings, by Value (Decent wine in Europe is so cheap it’s silly. Australian wine… Continue reading Around the World – A List of Lists

In looking back over the memories (and photos) from such a long trip, patterns start to emerge. Whether it was conscious or accidental (likely a little of both), certain experiences started to repeat themselves across our travels, leading to some fascinating and fun visual echos. Here are just a few of them:

No matter how carefully you plan, it’s pretty impossible to pack perfectly for a multi-month trip away from home. That said, we got pretty darn close (especially given how light we packed). And as we traveled, there were several items that, again and again, we found ourselves feeling incredibly grateful made the cut. Here’s our… Continue reading Around-the-World MVPs (a Julie/Dan collab)