Without further ado, here’s a shortlist of some of the things we loved on our trip around the world in 389 days.
Ascending the Tokyo Skytree for sunset over Mount Fuji ๐ฏ๐ต
We went up a lot of high things. This was undoubtedly top of the pile!
๐ Tokyo, revisited (part I)
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PXL_20230112_081737795-1024x768.jpg)
Braving the snow in Astana ๐ฐ๐ฟ
The coldest (and coolest) city we visited on the whole trip. So glad we made the journey up to 51 degrees north.
๐ Journeying to Astana – the ‘Singapore of the Steppe’
๐ Astana: So good they named it six times
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20221116_085205201.MP_-1024x768.jpg)
Cycling the temples of Angkor ๐ฐ๐ญ
So. much. cycling. And so. many. temples! But beating the crowds and experiencing sunrise alone in Angkor Wat was a genuine life highlight.
๐ Sunrise at Angkor Wat (but without the crowds)
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Driving around the South Island in our little camper van ๐ณ๐ฟ
What an incredible place – we just loved NZ so much.
๐ Ridiculously good views from the summit of Te Tapu-nui, Queenstown
๐ The roadtrip begins! Cruising on Milford Sound, the eighth wonder of the world
๐ Joining the Great Coast Road
๐ Glaciers and gold on NZโs west coast
๐ Pedalling the West Coast Wilderness Trail
๐ Driving to the very end of the road (Punakaiki and Kohaihai) ๐ด
๐ Dophins and waterslides (not dolphins on waterslides!)
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PXL_20230515_014122741-1024x768.jpg)
Escaping to the desert island paradise of Ko Adang ๐น๐ญ
Just like The Beach, except with far fewer drugs and murders.
๐ All of our desert island fantasies fulfilled on Ko Adang
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Floating above the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia ๐น๐ท
Expensive, nervewracking and very, very cool.
๐ Flying high above Cappadocia
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20220916_033458602.MP_-1024x768.jpg)
Going To The Sun in Glacier National Park ๐บ๐ธ
Over a million acres of beautiful mountains, lakes and bears beginning in a remote corner of Montana and stretching all the way up into Canada, accessible on the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road.
๐ Eating like a grizzly in Glacier National Park ๐ป๐ป๐ฅง
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PXL_20230616_205412192-1024x768.jpg)
Hiking in the Cinque Terre ๐ฎ๐น
Not exactly niche, but definitely worth the hype.
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Ice skating on the world’s highest rink in Almaty ๐ฐ๐ฟ
Kazakhstan in general was a lot of fun and as always, watching people wobble around on ice skates didn’t disappoint, but this was also a truly spectacular setting in the mountains above Almaty.
๐ Almaty, our final stop in Central Asia
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Joining the Silk Road in Khiva ๐บ๐ฟ
Our first taste of Uzbekistan’s section of the Silk Road had the biggest impact on us.
๐ Rejoining the Silk Road in Khiva
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20221027_031805498-1024x768.jpg)
Kayaking in Lan Ha Bay ๐ป๐ณ
Paddling (somewhat) serenely through one of Vietnam’s most iconic and otherworldly seascapes.
๐ Kayaking between the limestone mountains of Hแบก Long Bay
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Living like a monk on a Korean temple stay ๐ฐ๐ท
Probably the most baffling 24 hours of our entire trip, but we wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything.
๐ A Secret Diary of a Temple Stay, by Sara aged 13 ยพ
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Meeting the hiking dogs of the Caucasus ๐ฌ๐ช
Making friends with some gentle giants while hiking in the spectacular mountains of northern Georgia.
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20220928_093430543-1024x768.jpg)
Night skiing in Niseko ๐ฏ๐ต
Genuinely the most (and best) snow we’ve ever seen. SO GOOD!
๐ Chasing the powder in Niseko
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Observing the New Year festivities at the Hokkaidล Shrine ๐ฏ๐ต
A very different New Year for us, but we loved embracing Japanese traditions and learning our fortunes for the year.
๐ New Year in snowy Sapporo
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Paddling through the rice paddies of Luang Prabang ๐ฑ๐ฆ
Making friends with Susan the water buffalo and learning how to grow sticky rice. Who knew it could be so fascinating?!
๐ Ten steps to the perfect Lao sticky rice
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PXL_20230308_015624892-1024x768.jpg)
Quaffing wine in the vineyards of Marlborough ๐ณ๐ฟ
Gorgeous weather and a whole day of NZ wine. Perfection!
๐ Marlborough by tandem, fuelled by wine
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Riding the Otago Central Rail Trail on two wheels ๐ณ๐ฟ
Four days of spectacular cycling through a wild, arid and sparsely populated corner of NZ’s South Island.
๐ We actually finished something! Cycling the Otago Central Rail Trail
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PXL_20230428_021857024.MP_-1024x768.jpg)
Soaking in a snowy onsen in Tazawako ๐ฏ๐ต
Bathing in the forest while surrounded by deep snow drifts was a magical experience.
๐ Beef tongue and snowy onsens in Honshu
๐ Japan in 12 hot baths
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PXL_20230110_045554538-1024x768.jpg)
Taking the slow boat down the Mekong river ๐ฑ๐ฆ
An incredibly peaceful few days drifting along the Mekong River through Laos.
๐ Messing about on the Mekong
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Urb-exing the sanatoria of Tskaltubo ๐ฌ๐ช
An afternoon exploring a spa town full of crumbling sanatoria near to Georgia’s second city, Kutaisi. Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, and totally different to anything else we did on this trip.
๐ Urbexing the abandoned sanatoria of Tskaltubo
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20221002_131027857-768x1024.jpg)
Visiting Meteora’s mountaintop monasteries ๐ฌ๐ท
We loved exploring these precariously-perched monasteries in mainland Greece. The area is apparently one of Greece’s biggest tourist destinations (except that no one seems to have heard of it!).
๐ Walking the mountains of Meteora
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Wading through the travertines of Pamukkale ๐น๐ท
A weird and wonderful landscape unlike anything we’d seen before.
๐ Wallowing in the Cotton Castle
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20220910_154315772-1-1024x768.jpg)
eXploring Singapore by night ๐ธ๐ฌ
(Please forgive the shoehorning of the letter X in here – if only we’d had the foresight to do some xylophoning on our trip.) We do love a free activity and Singapore’s supertree light show didn’t disappoint.
๐ Celebrating the finale of our Southeast Asian leg in Singapore
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Yodelling our way around Salzburg ๐ฆ๐น
Salzburg way exceeded our expectations – another city to add to our list of places we’d happily live.
๐ ๐ถ The hills are alive with the sound ofโฆbeer halls ๐ป
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PXL_20230819_091038464-1024x768.jpeg)
Zooming across Japan on a bullet train ๐ฏ๐ต
Japanโs rail network has got to be the best in the world, and boarding a Shinkansen felt more like getting on an aeroplane than a train. What a way to travel!
๐ Getting buried alive in Ibusuki
๐ Christmas in Hiroshima and Osaka
๐ Four together again in Tokyo
๐ New Year in snowy Sapporo
๐ Itโs called Hakodate, mate*
๐ Beef tongue and snowy onsens in Honshu
๐ Memoirs of a geezer (in Kyoto)
![](https://nearlyneutraltravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PXL_20230108_033957917-1024x768.jpg)
We realised two things writing this post:
- We experienced way, way more than 26 highlights during our nearly 13 months away
- Fitting even 26 highlights neatly into alphabetical order was really quite difficult!
But you might also notice that there’s very little mention of food here – we had to make this a rule, or else all 26 entries would have been about what we ate! We might just have to write a food highlights post too. It’s making me hungry just thinking about it…