Machu Picchu gets about 1.5 million visitors per year. To manage all these sightseers, they designated 3 Circuits with timed entry in order to preserve the site, control crowds, and manage the visitor experience. Yesterday we did ‘Circuit 2 – Clásico’ which takes you through the main part of the site – roughly the middleContinue reading “Machu Picchu, Peru; Day 2”
Author Archives: brianfjohnston
Ollantaytambo, Peru; Day 2
The elevation of this mountain valley town is 9,100 feet (2790m) so while not quite as high as Cusco, the city we flew into last night, we could definitely sense the reduced oxygen content. Our guidance was to take everything a little bit slower and exert ourselves a little less until our bodies adjusted. ThisContinue reading “Ollantaytambo, Peru; Day 2”
Tokyo, Japan; Day 7
Our last day in Japan started with packing and breakfast. Nothing unusual. What also isn’t unusual on this trip is that we sourced some prepared breakfast items from the local convenience store. To Americans, that sounds really lame, getting food from a 7-11 is best avoided at all costs. But in a country where mostContinue reading “Tokyo, Japan; Day 7”
Tokyo, Japan; Day 5
The Japanese whiskey bar turned into another night of karaoke for some of the adult members of our group. Despite this late night fun, we all departed the house refreshed and ready for the day’s activities. Budz predicted that today would be his favorite day of the trip. He knew that we would be visitingContinue reading “Tokyo, Japan; Day 5”
Tokyo, Japan; Day 2
We have a quick announcement regarding the alias of one of our Adventurers. From this point forward, the following individual has expressed a desire to no longer be CreeperPuppy. We introduce you to Toaster_ham! Hopefully, this won’t start a trend which ends with one or more of kids wanting to be referred to as WeContinue reading “Tokyo, Japan; Day 2”
Kyoto, Japan; Day 3
Our Sunday began with a light drizzle and 44 degrees Fahrenheit. It stopped raining and warmed up a few degrees as we left our lodging to begin the first adventure of the day. Kyoto sits in a bowl with protective hills, each of which is considered a “natural guardian” of the city. Yesterday we visitedContinue reading “Kyoto, Japan; Day 3”
Kyoto, Japan; Day 1
We are back on the road! We boarded our flight to Japan late on Wednesday night and flew over the International Date Line on our way to Kyoto. We arrived in the literal land of the rising sun Friday morning and missed Thursday altogether. At least we can look forward to a 36 hour SundayContinue reading “Kyoto, Japan; Day 1”
Grand Canyon, Arizona
We have returned to the US, picked up our dog and stuffed the van to the gills. We have begun our next journey to Michigan, where we will spend the rest of the kids’ summer break. We have enjoyed sharing our European Adventures with you but will not be posting again until our next overseasContinue reading “Grand Canyon, Arizona”
Athens, Greece; Day 2
We had previously scheduled a day trip out to an Ancient Site for today’s Adventure but we canceled it due to ‘piles of old rocks’ overload for the kids. We have been inspired by all of the clay pottery that we’ve seen in the Greek museums on this trip. CreeperKitty suggested that we create someContinue reading “Athens, Greece; Day 2”
Naxos, Greece; Day 4
We have enjoyed taking cooking classes while we travel. It seems like a nice way to learn about the local produce, cooking methods, and cuisine. It also nicely breaks up the monotony of eating restaurant food every day while travelling. We have been to cooking class in Thailand, Italy, and Cambodia. These experiences are notContinue reading “Naxos, Greece; Day 4”
Naxos, Greece; Day 2
We have tried to find a balance between our 5 different styles of travel. It used to be easy for Brian and Tiffany to take the kids wherever and whenever we wanted. Now, these children are showing preferences and desires that deserve accommodation. We have resolved to no longer book multi-day tours visiting temples andContinue reading “Naxos, Greece; Day 2”
Crete, Greece; Day 2
We wanted to see the famed island of Crete for a number of reasons, and a primary one was to see the Palace of Knossos, which is the legendary labyrinth of Greek mythology. We were guided today by an archeologist whose specialty is Roman artifacts at the Knossos site, but her knowledge is extensive, andContinue reading “Crete, Greece; Day 2”
Amsterdam, Netherlands 2024; Day 4
Today, we visited a maritime museum, ate 400g burgers, and spent some time with our Dutch relatives. The Het Scheepvaartmuseum is the National Martime Museum for the Netherlands. The building was the storehouse and arsenal for the Dutch Navy. It was built in the 17th century and remained in use until the 1970’s. There areContinue reading “Amsterdam, Netherlands 2024; Day 4”
Amsterdam, Netherlands 2024; Day 2
The 5 Adventurers are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment in the Haarlemmerbuurt neighborhood of Amsterdam. This area is west of the central city and has a main road which leads to the Dutch city of Haarlem 17 km (10 miles) away. Our uptown New Amsterdam York neighborhood of Harlem was named for it. WeContinue reading “Amsterdam, Netherlands 2024; Day 2”
Singapore; Day 5
Last Day! We said goodbye to Singapore. We were glad we visited but probably won’t go out of our way for a repeat visit. We spent far more time navigating shopping malls than we prefer. The airport wall a mall with a cool fountain. Our hotel was in a mall. The Subway entrance was inContinue reading “Singapore; Day 5”
Singapore; Day 2
Jessica and her kids were early risers today and had two types of grapes available for breakfast. The bunch in her left hand is familiar to us. The bunch in her right hand were unusual – Korean Shine Muscat Grapes. Those grapes are very expensive (> $14). After seeing them for sale all over herContinue reading “Singapore; Day 2”
Singapore; Day 1
We bid farewell to Cambodia this morning and to our hosts at the Authentic Khmer Village Resort who provided us with charming accommodations. Each of their “rooms” are stand-alone villas which were built to appear as independent buildings connected by boardwalks over a marsh. Despite the volume of water, we saw no mosquitos and weren’tContinue reading “Singapore; Day 1”
Siem Reap, Cambodia; Day 1
Our long travel day gave way to a relaxing pool day in Siem Reap on Friday. You may remember that on our last trip to Asia we had a delayed flight and our bags didn’t join us until a day or two later. Similar to bringing an umbrella along to guarantee a rain-free outing, weContinue reading “Siem Reap, Cambodia; Day 1”
Look Out Asia! The 5 Are On The Move!
Testing! Testing 1 2 3! Testing! That’s right, we’re back to having Adventures and wanted to share our travel stories. It’s been over a year since our passports have gotten any activity so it felt high time to get on the move. We are thrilled to be headed to Asia for an extended Thanksgiving breakContinue reading “Look Out Asia! The 5 Are On The Move!”
World Tour Wrap-Up
13 months ago we didn’t have a clear vision what lay in front of us. We knew that we wanted to travel, to explore the world and to expose ourselves to new environments and cultures. We wanted to test our resiliency in the face of foreign challenges. Tiffany and Brian had always travelled for workContinue reading “World Tour Wrap-Up”
Travel Home; Day 3
One of the things about long road trips, where you are in the car for 8+ hours is the need for a variety of activities for the passengers. In our car today, the kids watched 2 movies (Lion King and Zootopia), listened to parts of 2 audiobooks and played a rousing game of DnD withContinue reading “Travel Home; Day 3”
Union Pier, Michigan; Day 3
We enjoyed some favorable weather and spent time down at the pool. Brian’s mom had thought to bring some items of interest for the kids. One of which was the set of bubble wands which produced some amazing bubbles – CreeperKitty used the technique with a rope he’d seen in Geneva and made some goodContinue reading “Union Pier, Michigan; Day 3”
Union Pier, Michigan; Day 1
We had one final breakfast at Mamoh’s house, finished packing the family van and departed for Michigan. Brian’s mom (Busha) rented a large house in Southwest Michigan to host the 5 Adventurers as we make our way back home. We arrived before dinner and had just enough time for a quick game of billiards (actuallyContinue reading “Union Pier, Michigan; Day 1”
Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 5
We have begun to sort our affairs here at Mamoh’s house and are starting to consider all of the stuff which needs to come to California with us. As you may remember, we drove from home last summer with camping gear and items which would sustain us through the North American part of the WorldContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 5”
Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 3
Here in Leesburg there are a number of things that have changed since we were last in town. One of these changes is the addition of a new cafe on Main Street. It’s notable because Leesburg only has 2 restaurants and we visited the second one (and latest addition) today. We were able to enjoyContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 3”
Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 1
We had one last Adventure this morning in New York to visit an old President. Then we went to see a new building, flew on an old airplane, and drove a new car to a familiar destination. Tiffany lived in Ulysses S. Grant’s boyhood hometown of Georgetown, Ohio. Her father Stan (Pa) is the PresidentContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio Part 4; Day 1”
New York, New York; Day 3
Yesterday was our downtown day. Today was our Central Park day and was another 8 miles of walking. We didn’t awaken at 4:30a as we had on Thursday morning but we were still up early as our European body clock timings dissipate slowly. We are staying a few blocks off of the park so weContinue reading “New York, New York; Day 3”
New York, New York; Day 1
Today our Adventurers took their last long flight and departed Europe after nearly 13 weeks travelling from one bucket list destination to another. We were last in NY (and the US) late on December 6th as we ran through New York’s Kennedy Airport to catch a flight to Thailand (via Qatar). Our total time hereContinue reading “New York, New York; Day 1”
London, United Kingdom; Day 4
Yesterday, we visited the West End to see a stage production and talked about the kid’s current obsession with Percy Jackson and the Olympians. But before Percy, there was obsession with Wings of Fire. Before that was Lemony Snicket and his Unfortunate Events. But the big one, the one that started it all, is ofContinue reading “London, United Kingdom; Day 4”
London, United Kingdom; Day 2
We had a lovely Saturday walking from our flat in Pimlico through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens before wrapping up the day back at a pub eating fish and chips. We started the morning by walking over to Buckingham Palace to pay our respects to the current Queen and to marvel at the Queen VictoriaContinue reading “London, United Kingdom; Day 2”
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 4
We have enjoyed some marvelous weather here this week. Brian was here in June during the World Cup 2006 and experienced some great weather then. In fact, he doesn’t believe that he as ever seen rain in this country. We will have to see if that weather luck holds out through rainy London starting tomorrow!Continue reading “Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 4”
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 2
There are 30 parks in Amsterdam and we visited many of them today. There are over 800k bicycles here too and we added 5 of our own to see those parks! We rented typical Dutch bikes and found them to be easy to procure, ride, and lock. The vast number of bicycle lanes and fellowContinue reading “Amsterdam, Netherlands; Day 2”
Brussels, Belgium; Day 5
On a cool and rainy day in Belgium our Adventurers were able to take care of some final travel arrangements, pack for Amsterdam tomorrow, play Minecraft and watch a classic movie from the 80’s. In other words, today was a leisurely Sunday spent without the usual number of steps in our average week. We areContinue reading “Brussels, Belgium; Day 5”
Brussels, Belgium; Day 3
Today we had a full complement of 5 Adventurers to explore this capital city of Belgium and, in a way, the European Union. We chose to travel on the Brussels Metro to get around. We found this Metro to be a bit shabbier, smaller, and more expensive than the Paris version but it was muchContinue reading “Brussels, Belgium; Day 3”
Bailly-Romainvilliers, France; Day 2
Hmmm…how did we come to choose this particular French town as a stop for our European Adventures you wonder? Simple. We spent the day at Disneyland Paris. Instead of walking miles seeing history, nature or culture, we rode rides, ate junk food and overall had a great time. And of course walked miles back andContinue reading “Bailly-Romainvilliers, France; Day 2”
Paris, France; Day 7
We have walked 34 miles (54 km) here in Paris this past week. Some of our walking today happened in front of and on top of masterpieces. And CreeperPuppy successfully tied his own shoe at Monsieur Eiffel’s iron masterpiece. We began the day by a return trip to the Jardin des Tuileries. The adults wantedContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 7”
Paris, France; Day 5
We had an All-American day which was only disrupted by a kind French woman seeking directions. The kids have consistently said that they miss breakfast the most. They missed the concept of eggs and toast while we were in Asia and Africa. They missed morning pork badly when we were in the UAE, Egypt andContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 5”
Paris, France; Day 3
We wanted to enjoy being Parisians for a day by staying in our neighborhood and investigating local parks and restaurants. We are staying in a small apartment near the historic Le Marais area. We almost made it down to the Seine yesterday before tiring so we decided that this would be a good goal forContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 3”
Paris, France; Day 1
Today was primarily a travel day as we left the French Alps for the capital city of Paris. In order to get there, we returned to Geneva and caught a high speed train which delivered us to the Gare de Lyon in a little over 3 hours. The kids haven’t had a tremendous amount ofContinue reading “Paris, France; Day 1”
Chamonix, France; Day 4
We decided today that we would get outside into the beauty of this valley regardless of the weather conditions. And to start, we were rewarded with sunshine and mild temperatures. We chose to pursue the objectives of an orienteering course which runs though Chamonix. There are 20 stations deployed throughout the valley area. An orienteerContinue reading “Chamonix, France; Day 4”
Chamonix, France; Day 3
Some rainy days you adjust your plans and stay inside. Today we decided to do what we wanted to do despite the weather. Our hope today was to get a closer look at the second of the ‘Seven Summits’ that we’ve been near during this trip. These are the tallest mountains on each of theContinue reading “Chamonix, France; Day 3”
Chamonix, France; Day 2
Our accommodations here in Chamonix are appropriately befitting a ski town. There is a large ski locker room in the basement whose flooring is thick rubber mats to cushion the blows of hard ski boots. The interior walls are all knotty pine and threadbare carpet. There is an indoor pool and a pair of saunas.Continue reading “Chamonix, France; Day 2”
Geneva, Switzerland
Today was primarily a travel day as we said goodbye to Italy and hello to a new country. We left Venice by boat (of course) and met up with the first of our three trains today. The trip from the Venice – Santa Lucia train station to the Venice-Mestre station was pretty quick. Enough soContinue reading “Geneva, Switzerland”
Venice, Italy; Day 2
We awoke today to a sky which couldn’t seem to make up its mind whether it would offer rain or sun. The radar wasn’t much help. We thought we’d run out for breakfast, but we were slow to get our shoes on and a light shower drove us to cook at home. After making breakfastContinue reading “Venice, Italy; Day 2”
Bologna, Italy
As much as the parents wanted to visit the crypts of Donatelli and Michelangelo, the kids seemed to be in need of a different type of Adventure. We have seen a lot of cathedrals and statues in Europe so far and have several more on our list to see in the next few weeks. InContinue reading “Bologna, Italy”
San Gimignano, Italy; Day 7
We said arrivederci to 2 Adventurers today. Grandpa Ed and Grandma Loesje have been away from home for 6 weeks and were ready to return to California. Brian drove them to the Florence Airport to send them to Amsterdam and then onto America tomorrow. The Florence Airport is quite different from the Florence rail stationContinue reading “San Gimignano, Italy; Day 7”
San Gimignano, Italy; Day 5
We went to Italian cooking school today in Montaione. It is another remarkable hilltop Tuscan town with buildings from the 12th century. It was remarkable today, however, for the notable lack of individuals that we encountered. We saw no tourists besides ourselves and no locals roaming the streets. We found this strange but decided thatContinue reading “San Gimignano, Italy; Day 5”
San Gimignano, Italy; Day 1
We all enjoyed Rome much more than we had anticipated. We stayed in the Trastevere neighborhood and found a local park that the kids insisted on visiting nearly all 5 days that we were there. The restaurants served delicious food which made us feel better about the slightly inflated prices. And the sites that weContinue reading “San Gimignano, Italy; Day 1”
Rome, Italy; Day 4
We found ourselves travelling to another country today. This country is, according to our helpful guide, the wealthiest country in the world but also the smallest. It lies entirely within the city of Rome and has been here since the 5th century (but only recognized with sovereignty in the 20th century). Of course, we areContinue reading “Rome, Italy; Day 4”
Rome, Italy; Day 2
We are finding that Rome is a very walkable city and didn’t find ourselves lost even once. It helps to have 5G coverage and internet mapping because the old part of the city has zero right angles and thousands of ways to get confused and turned around. For those of you that have visited thisContinue reading “Rome, Italy; Day 2”
5 Adventures Together 