Since this the New Year though, I thought it would be fun to do a little recap. I had done one back in December 2010, but that was, well, a year ago! Back then we hadn’t been on the road so much, but since then we have had a full year of moving around non-stop.

So, where have we been over the last year? We finished-up Asia with Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh and India. Since we were not able to get visas for Iran, we decided to visit Eastern Europe instead. There we traveled through Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece. We also did a side trip to Turkey, where we met up with my mom. After Europe we went to Africa, and there we were back onto our original plan. We visited Egypt, where my friend got married, flew to Morocco and then to South Africa. We traveled through Zimbabwe and Tanzania with Travis’ family before flying to South America to meet mine. Thus far, we have visited Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. 24 countries in 365 days, that’s quite a lot!

Overall it was a great year. We got to see so many things and hang out with family and friends. We visited Chernobyl (here and here) and hiked Mt Sinai under a full moon. We marveled at the pyramids, Hagia Sophia and lions eating a fresh kill. We rode buses, trains, ferries, hot air balloons. We stared at volcanoes and hiked through Patagonian winds. We observed three different kinds of penguins. My husband grew a crazy beard and I shaved my head. We drank so much wine, ate so much good food. There were so many great moments that it’s hard to believe that it really all happened, and even harder to pick what our favourite moments were.

Next year will be just as big, but in different ways. We still have some traveling left to do in South America, but afterwards will be the next chapter in our lives: settling down, getting jobs, and planning the way for starting a family. I am excited for next year, and am really looking forward to it!

To make this little recap more interesting, here is one or two pictures of all of the countries we’ve visited over the past year. A lot more will be getting posted over the next year, as I edit more pictures and catch up on our blog posts.

Cheers!

The sculptures were part of a project called the Vancouver Biennale, where the temporary pieces stay up for two years. Since the pieces will be coming down this month, I decided to post two images from our civil ceremony, in honour of them.

Enjoy!

We, 2008 by Jaume Plensa of Spain.

217.5 Arc x 13′ by Bernar Venet of France.

[All pictures copyright of Amber Hughes]

Afterward we rewarded ourselves with the “taco for two” platter (still to this day the best Mexican food I’ve ever had) while enjoying our last few hours of our vacation. Sadly it was time to get back home and back to work!

[All pictures copyright of Amber Hughes]

Amber was kind enough to take a few family & friends group photos that didn’t happen at the wedding:

In the evening we hosted our goodbye dinner, as the next day friends and family were set to head back home.

[All group pictures are copyright of Amber Hughes]

While the day was started pretty quietly, and I didn’t have to worry about much since Playa Fiesta‘s staff was doing such a great job running the show, I still concerned myself with some last minute DIY. I was getting stressed about getting everything done in time, but Lisa came to the rescue. She did my nails and steamed my dress: without her I would have been a mess. Thank you so much Lisa!

Here are pictures of me getting ready. I really enjoyed having my hair and makeup done: it was the first time ever (aside from the trial run)! As I sat there getting pretty, I tried to just relax and enjoy myself.

Meanwhile the boys were getting ready… or sort of!

Travis and I decided to do portraits before the ceremony. While it made logistical sense, we also felt that it would help us to relax during the ceremony.

The ceremony was quick and sweet. I wrote the entire ceremony, so it was especially meaningful to us. We had two readers.

We got a few more portraits taken during the cocktail hour, after relaxing with everyone for a little bit:

Then it was time for dinner and dancing!

Amber, I couldn’t resist posting this one. You (and Michael too!) totally rocked my world

[All pictures copyright of Amber Hughes]

The rehearsal itself was really just for us and a few others since we had decided to keep everything super easy. I love that Travis was wearing the board shorts he bought a few days earlier at the Wal-Mart in Puerto Vallarta – they are just about the funkiest thing ever!

The theme for the rehearsal dinner (which was just called out of convenience) was “Mexican fiesta”. I didn’t choose it because of the name, but because of the menu: it was a food orgy of deliciousness. To this day Travis and I will still remissness about that meal (that and Playa Fiesta’s “tacos for two”), and we usually bring up the memory of it to torture the other when food is especially bad on the road (as it can happen traveling the world!).

Dinner was followed by cigars, and almost everyone joined in for that. I think it made for some really cool shots!

[All pictures a copyright of Amber Hughes]

First, here are pictures from the cocktail hour.

And now for some karaoke madness! We were lucky enough to be the last ones to have karaoke at Playa Fiesta, and I’m really glad that we ere able to have it. I swear, every time I look at these photos I can’t help but laugh. It was such a fun evening!

[All pictures a copyright of Amber Hughes]

To commemorate our wedding and the wonderful time we had with our family and friends in Mexico, I’ve decided to post pictures of each day from our wedding “weekend”. I realize that I haven’t really shared any pictures apart from those of the wedding day and trash-the-dress session, so I felt that this would be a good opportunity.

So, keep checking the blog for never seen before footage of our 5 happy days at Playa Fiesta!

While we’re on the topic of never seen before pictures, I can’t believe that I never posted pictures from our few days in Mexico before our wedding weekend. We stayed at the Dreams in Nuevo Vallarta (we told them we were on our honeymoon, ha!) and did a day-trip to Sayulita, one of my most favourite places ever.

While our honeymoon started with a few hitches (like my being denied entry into the United States) and a few challenged (such as bedbugs in Indonesia), I feel that things are now settling into a good rhythm and into a happier us. We have been going for 96 days now, and so it makes sense that we have re-acclimated with backpacking and are becoming a lot more zen about any difficulties we might encounter.

Traveling with someone has its pros and cons, just like anything else. I am really enjoying having someone’s company – it is nice to not feel lonely, to have a partner in challenging situations and to have balancing force. We try to cheer each other on and help each other out when we can, and usually it makes a great difference. It’s also nice to split the cost of certain things, such as room and transportation. On the other hand, having someone around all of the time can be a challenge into itself! I feel though that we have handled that aspect quite well, and that we haven’t driven each other mad yet. We try to be considerate of the other, as we both know that everyone needs space from time to time. While we haven’t really been taking much time apart, I think that this might be something that we might start to do more and more in the future. Not just for sanity reasons, but also just to have different experiences from one another and find new conversation topics!

Our trip thus far has taken us on a road trip through Canada, a month of moving around in Japan, a few days in Singapore, a month in Indonesia and a few weeks in each Thailand and Cambodia. We are currently in Ho Chi Minh City in communist Vietnam. We have just started our time here, and should be in the country until the end of the year.

Remember that most blog updates are happening on my travel blog, so don’t be shy if you want to follow us on our honeymoon! You can also check out photos of our trip on Flickr.

Here are some pictures from our trip around the world thus far!