Best Moments of the first year of family travel

So, y’all know we’ve now been traveling for a year. If you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you do know for sure. If you don’t, follow us on those places too! Today we’re talking about the best moments of our trip so far!

In video, all our stops!

We’ve had many great moments, but I’ll try to just list just the top 10 otherwise this post wouldn’t end.

Ready? Here we go!

– PS: they’re listed in chronological order –

1) Walking behind a waterfall

Our first stop was Tongariro National Park and our host, Kelly, is super knowledgeable about the area. She told us about this hike that goes to Taranaki Falls, and where you can walk behind it. I’m super glad she did, it was such a memorable experience for all of us! It’s slippery and wet, maybe not for little ones, but my 3 older ones loved it as much as I did.

2) Hobbiton dinner

Hobbiton is magical, I love it. I’m a nerd – my whole family is. But it IS a fast-paced tour, and you can’t just wander around taking in all the little details. When we found the Dinner tour, I knew we had to do it, even if it broke the bank (and it does). So we did. It’s a bit slower paced, and there’s some kind of magic at night there, it’s so different! It was a wonderful experience – and the food at Green Dragon Inn was superb!

3) Kaikoura animals

Wild fur seal pups playing at the waterfall while mom takes a nap at the car park? Yep, you’ll see it in Kaikoura. They’re incredibly adorable and they’re not afraid of humans which is a great thing – but also, you’ll need to be the one keeping the distance. Besides all that, there are dolphins, whales, sharks, albatrosses, and so much more there! It’s unbelievable.

4) Snow on the road

We toured NZ’s South Island during winter, but we saw very little snow. Most of it was high up on the mountains (unreachable for us) or on the road – just once. We were driving to the Glacier region and it was snowing! We found a spot, parked the car and went to play in the snow right there. It was just a tiny bit, but so much fun we all remember it!

5) Touristing in Auckland

Auckland is home, so we don’t really do touristy stuff there, but on our last 3 weeks, we did. And it was awesome. We had so much fun, discovered so much, I can’t even number it. We enjoyed it as we do all the places we visit. Auckland is a great place to wander around aimlessly and just be. I love it so much! I also miss it a lot.

6) Meeting the Guardian Robot at Ghibli Museum

Nerdy, I know. Can’t help it. The whole Museum was amazing, but seeing the giant robot at the garden up-close, that was the highlight for me. I had to hold back tears. Seriously. If you haven’t, go watch Laputa Castle in the Sky and then you go see the robot. And try to maintain composure.

7) Family and friends

How not to list it? We had wonderful times with our friends in NZ before leaving. I loved seeing my dad and my mom-friends in Japan. Then going straight to Brazil to see the rest of the family and friends, oh dear. The heart couldn’t take it. Our best memories come with these wonderful people, even if it was pizza with soda and the usual blabber. Miss you all!

8) The Andes

We saw it from the airplane window when arriving in Chile. Then we saw it everywhere we looked in Santiago. We rented a car just to be in it. Then we crossed it again to go to Viña del Mar. Always impressive. But walking around it, being surrounded by mountains, it’s something different. It’s just one of those things you need to experience. I can’t put it in words. The older kids weren’t very impressed, but I was, and so was Angelo. Even Coral loved it.

9) Salar de Uyuni

You know a dream? The Uyuni Salt Flats were mine. And it’s incredible. It goes beyond what one can imagine. If I could choose one place to go back to right now, it would be the Salar. It was us, the sky and that’s it. Nothing else. This time, I’d take my flip flops, though, because it hurts to walk on salt crystals. They’re hard and pointy.

10) Food, always the food

We’re moved by food. If the food is good, then we’re good. We’ve eaten so many delicious dishes this last year! Super fresh Fish & Chips, marvelous ramen bowls with juicy dumplings, vegan burgers to die for, parrillada, high teas, home-made soup to warm our frozen bodies, uncountable ice creams, oh, my. Just let me dream with them.

We’ll have the worst moments next week, stay tuned!

Subscribe to our newsletter! We only send them once a week and 3 of our subscribers per month receive a postcard from wherever we are in the world!

SaveSave