I've included Highlights in every blog post thus far, but as I close out this trip, I was thinking all the great things we got to do, and I started writing a list of the most memorable ones, and the list went on and on.  So I thought I would share it in closing.

Final highlights from our trip include:
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We spent our final days in South Africa staying in a wonderful airbnb house in Hazyview, just outside Kruger National Park.  We did a day-long wildlife safari, and the next day we drove north onto the Panorama route to see all the sights of Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd largest canyon complex in the world (who knew?).  Then we drove to Johannesburg for a final visit to the temple, and began the very long journey of flying back to the United States, which was made even longer by a cancelled flight. (see lowlights).  But we made it!

Highlights:
1. Seeing all the African wildlife in Kruger National Park
2. Taking an AWESOME hike through Blyde River Canyon

Lowlights:
1. A long, long delay on our flight back home
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We left the tourist filled spots along the southern border and turned northeast to drive into the heart of South Africa.  Along the way, we entered Lesotho for lunch and a short day-trip visit to the country.  Then we continued on to Swaziland where we stayed for a few nights in the airbnb home of Tera's cousins Misti and Sbu, and stayed next to Sbu's wonderful large extended family.  We spent Christmas there in Swaziland.

Highlights:
1. Cool trip into Lesotho to see all the roadside pop-up shops and talk to some locals
2. Getting to meet Sbu's family at his airbnb place
3. Walking safari through Milwane sanctuary
4. Fascinating look into Native Eswatini culture and living

​Lowlights:
1. Long days of driving

​After disembarking from the cruise ship, we stayed for 3 days in Capetown, and toured the area and did some hikes and reveled in the beauty of the setting of Capetown.  We also saw the Robben's Island museum, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades.  Upon departing from Capetown we headed south and east and drove along the famous "Garden Route" stopping in Cape Aghulas, Knysa, Mossel Bay and Aberdeen.  We saw and did much, and had a marvelous time in the beauty and variety of the South African coast.

Highlights:
1. Climbing Plattekip Gorge to the top of Table Mountain
2. Seeing little Penguins on Boulder's beach
3. Hermanus cliff walk coves and beaches
4. Spanish Galleon Museum in Mossel Bay
5. Kingfisher Trail in Knysa
6. Bungee Jumping off Bloukrans Bridge (for the kids)

Lowlights:
1. Throwing up after bungee jumping off Bloukrans Bridge (for dad)
2. Power outages all along the Garden Route
3. Hotel finding stress in Aberdeen

After departing Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, we had multiple days at sea, and then a series of stops in island nations of the Indian Ocean, namely Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion Island.  Thereafter we continued south towards South Africa and had a stop in Durban, then continued to our last port of Capetown.

Highlights:
1. Overnight stops in Seychelles and Mauritius
2. Scuba Diving in Seychelles and Mauritius
3. Bridge Class during the at sea days
4. Hikes aplenty at each of the ports
5. Family Learning hours - with new friends joining

Lowlights:
​1. Thick and dense cloud cover at the Maido overlook in Reunion
​2. Unmet expectations in Durban

We boarded the cruise ship in Venice, ready to embark on a 30-day cruising adventure from Venice to Capetown.  This first half of the cruise included ports in Croatia, Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and 8 days at sea between ports.

Highlights:
1. Family Learning Hour each evening before dinner
2. Cruise dining options
3. Learning to play bridge
4. Visits to new countries for Erik, Greece and Saudi Arabia

Lowlights:
1. Lack of all-you-can-eat soft-serve ice cream
2. Single-use internet option

(click below-right to read more)

Back in 1995 when Tera and I were dating, we took a summer trip with Tera's family to Europe and on the way north driving from Italy to Austria, we took a short detour into Slovenia.  We spent about 30 minutes in the country (much to Tera's mothers dismay, since she feared for our safety due to the ongoing war in Bosnia).  We wanted a fuller experience, so we returned to Slovenia for a few days, before going to Venice prior to our cruise adventure.

Highlights:
1. Piran seaside town in Slovenia - 
2. Beautiful Slovenian countryside views
3. Skocjan caves
4. Venice in all its glory
5. Dinner with an old friend

Lowlights:
1. Construction noise in the airbnb in Venice

​(click below-right to read more)
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We returned from Eastern Europe and spent 5 nights in Bologna, Italy, without a rented car.  It was public transportation on the efficient and effective trains of Italy for our next few days of Bologna sightseeing and Italian day-trips.

Highlights:
1. Visiting the city-state of San Marino
2. Pasta-making class in Bologna
3. Walking the pilgrimage trek of San Luca
4. Seeing the mosiacs of Ravenna
5. Airbnb within a 2-minute walk of the train station

Lowlights:
1. Free (not worth it) walking tour of Bologna
2. Last-minute change of Evgeny Kissin concert program

(click below-right to read more)

We flew down to make North Macedonia and Bulgaria our base for 11 days of travelling through countries of south-eastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia.  We visited North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania.  We enjoyed them all, and would definitely return to this area of the world in future travels.
 
Highlights:
1. City of Skopje, with all it’s countless statues and colorful old bazaar and ecletic mix of architecture.
2. Multi-church going day in Sofia, Bulgaria
3. (3) Hikes in new places
4. (5) New countries to tick off our list
 
Lowlights:
​1. Getting car towed in Sofia
2. Following google maps to our doom

(Click below-right for more)

Highlights:
1. Paris Musee d'Orsay and kid's excitement to be there
2. Schobrunn Zoo
3. Vienna Museums
4. Church meeting in Bratislava
​5. Hungary iron curtain info

(Click below-right to read more)​