The End of Our Year Abroad

After fifty weeks galavanting around the world, we are back home. Now it's time to reconnect with family and friends -- after four years abroad (including our three years living in Tanzania).

Our final act of the year abroad was to conduct a "snake draft" of our favorite places that we visited. We thought that this might help us reflect, reminisce, and even get a bit wistful that our adventures have come to end. Each member of the family took turns picking six different villages/towns/cities that we fell in love with. No place could be chosen twice. Megan has a disclaimer, though: "After planning this trip, choosing my favorite places was like choosing a favorite child. I love them all and I'm glad that they all made the itinerary." 

Here are our draft choices, organized by each member of the family. We included a few sentences on why we found each spot so special:

Eliza

Tokyo, Japan (1st picked): "Tokyo is so different from everywhere else. It was crowded like India but it was super clean and orderly like Switzerland." -- Eliza

Bitola, North Macedonia (10th picked): "I made a lot of friends in Bitola playing basketball and hanging out at the playground. So it's permanently engrained in my mind as a great place." -- Eliza

Ollantaytambo, Peru (11th picked): "Amazing views, good hikes, and lots of old ruins. Incas, Incas, Incas!" -- Eliza

Udaipur, India (20th picked): "Udaipur was the perfect balance between having everyday life but also having cool temples and palaces to visit. I really loved the chaos of India because it gives you an adrenaline rush." -- Eliza

The Peruvian Amazon (21st picked): "We made friends with a really cool British family while staying at the lodge. And we got to see capybaras and tarantulas and macaws eating clay." -- Eliza

Safranbolu, Turkey (30th picked): "It was so nice and cold and I just got new sweatpants. I loved my sweatpants. It was one of the few times that I've ever seen snow. And we got to eat so many Turkish delights." -- Eliza

Annie

Kas, Turkey (2nd picked): "Kas was very pretty with the striking blue of the Mediterranean but also the steep mountains. Plus, we had perfect weather while we were there." -- Annie

Kanazawa, Japan (9th picked): "I loved Kanazawa because it was scenic but the neighborhood where we stayed wasn't too touristy. I loved the beautiful gardens and learning about bonsai trees." -- Annie

Ljbubljana, Slovenia (12th picked): "Ljbubljana had an amazing old town and it was all pedestrian with cool buildings. There are lots of good reasons why so many tourists go there." -- Annie

Zurich, Switzerland (19th picked): "I liked Zurich because I wasn't paying for anything. The city was super clean and had great museums. We also got to see our cousins." -- Annie

Saigon River, Vietnam (22nd picked): "This was great because we were with grandparents at a very nice resort. Plenty of pool time after exploring Vietnam for a month." -- Annie

Wahiba Sands, Oman (29th picked): "I liked Wahiba Sands because it was so beautiful and desolate. There were bright blue skies and tall sand dunes that we got to run up and slide down. I'd never been anywhere like this before." -- Annie

Jane

Cusco, Peru (3rd picked): "Cusco had such a festive atmosphere as well as a lot of natural beauty." - Jane

Kujava, Montenegro (8th picked): "It was sunny, so we spent all week outside. Kujava is just a valley away from crowds and cities, and we did nothing but play, cook, and burn campfires!" -- Jane

Medellin, Colombia (13th picked): "Medellin was very proud of their art and their sports and their parks and their subway. It was just a fun place to be for a week." -- Jane

Fort Kochi, India (18th picked): "We were in Fort Kochi during Christmas. Since Kerala has a large Christian population, it was super fun with drumming circles, light shows, and people getting dressed up as Santa. Everybody there was super nice and we ate really, really well." -- Jane

Istanbul, Turkey (23rd picked): "Istanbul had a little bit of everything. It had the Hagia Sophia and the fancy shopping of Istiklal Caddesi and the artsy scene on the Asian side of the city. Plus, we got to take a boat ride all the way up the Bosphorus to the edge of the Black Sea." -- Jane

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (28th picked): "It was a bustling, cosmopolitan city with good food -- banh mi is delicious. We got to discover all of the nooks and crannies of the city while finding the best bubble tea. And, we learned all about the Vietnam War." -- Jane

Megan

Hanoi, Vietnam (4th picked): "Hanoi was an adventure around every corner. It was bustling, chaotic, full of good food, and it had possibly the best bookstore of our trip. Hanoi is a place that I want to go back to." -- Megan

Filandia, Colombia (7th picked): "Filandia was full of life. Lots of local tourism, Colombia's independence day celebration, day trips to the Parque de Cafe and the Cocora Valley. Great weather, great day hikes, and cute cafés." -- Megan

Zagreb, Croatia (14th picked): "Wade and I spent one day in Zagreb back in 2010. It gave me the impression as the type of place that we wanted to spend our year abroad visiting. It lived up to my memories -- great parks and very walkable. Overall, the perfect place to relax after spending nearly a month traveling with grandparents." -- Megan

The Lares Trek, Peru (17th picked): "Isn't it obvious? We had a challenging hike in stunning settings with cool cultural interactions with Quechua communities. Overall, it was not overly touristed. I would 100% recommend this hike to anyone traveling to Peru." -- Megan

Cordoba, Spain (24th picked): "It's easy to see why so many travelers love Spain. The Mezquita 100% lived up the hype. Tapas culture was a delight. We happened to be there during one of their biggest festivals of the year, which made for a vibrant few days. And getting to enjoy it all with the O'Roukes was the cherry on top." -- Megan 

Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina (27th picked): "We heard good things about Mostar because of our connections with the United World College that is there. It did not disappoint. The glacial river running through town under the Ottoman bridge is truly special, but the sunny days doing math with the girls in the cafes made for a great week. This town has overcome a lot since its wartime destruction thirty years ago." -- Megan

Wade

Sombor, Serbia (5th picked): "The main reason we went to Sombor was because it is Nikola Jokic's hometown. We wanted to stay in Sombor for all the other reasons. It's remote -- a medium sized town on the open plains approaching Hungary -- but Sombor's architecture, civic pride, and pace of life made it an awesome excursion away from touristy towns. Best of all, everyone seemed to know Jokic and everyone was happy to chat with us." -- Wade

Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam (6th picked): "Dien Bien Phu was another 'thesis-driven' detour for the Morris family. We wanted to see the site of Vietnam's famous 1954 victory over France -- arguably the most significant post-WWII battle of the 20th century. The town is now a shrine to the battle but far from the main tourist sites of the American War. As with all my favorite places, folks were friendly and ready to engage in conversations about local history." -- Wade

Pushkar, India (15th picked): "Pushkar is famous as a Hindu pilgrimage site, but it made my list because of the food. My favorite meal during the year abroad was at a place called "The Next Bite Café". I asked the septuagenarian grandma working the kitchen for a 'full-spice' meal like the ones she makes for her family. After a few bites, my face melted off, I saw the world in technicolor, and I became one with Brahma." -- Wade

Çanakkale, Turkey (16th picked): "To me, the Dardanelles Straight is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Canakkale is right there on the shoreline, teaming with nightlife, Turkish coffee, and backgammon. Nearby, you can pay your respects to Hercules at the gates of Troy. On the other side of the straight, you can do a multi-day tour of the Battle of Gallipoli. Both places are testaments to the hubris and violence of mankind, separated by roughly 13,000 years of history." -- Wade

Plovdiv, Bulgaria (25th picked): "Initially, we viewed Plovdiv as a pit-stop between Istanbul and Belgrade. After a few days, we fell in love with the city's multi-layered history and charm. From Philip of Macedonia to the Romans, from the Ottomans to the Soviets, this town has seen it all -- and they've done a great job celebrating their past without the entire town becoming a stale museum." -- Wade

Caceres and Trujillo, Spain (26th picked): "Our visit to the Extremadura region of Spain brought our year abroad full circle: from Incan resistance in Peru to the birthplace of the conquistadors in Spain. Villains on one side of the Atlantic and heroes on the other, our day-trip to see Francisco Pizarro's hometown of Trujillo had us reflecting on the on the brutality of conquest, but also on the interconnectedness of the world." -- Wade