Tate’s mid-trip thoughts

I think this trip was a fabulous idea and that I am very glad we did it.  I am sad that I am not able to see my friends or my grandparents, but we sometimes FaceTime them and get to see them that way. 

Aside from my family and friends, I also really miss sports like my soccer team, basketball, and baseball. I also miss riding my bike. taking walks in our neighborhood, and playing with our neighbor friends and their dog in their yard. I miss finding good brands of things we like, like salsa, tortillas, peanut butter, lemonade, etc. One thing I am pretty excited to have again is my mom’s cookies. They are so tasty!

Some of my favorite memories on our trip so far are when we went to the three escape rooms, hiked up to the monasteries at Meteora in Greece, went on our safari, rode in the RV around the Ring Road of Iceland, swam in so many different places when it was so hot (Zanzibar, Cinque Terre, Lake Como, Rovinj, Naxos, Parga), and went on the Segway tour in Krakow.  I’ve also enjoyed walking a ton every day and eating so many wonderful foods. 

Some of my favorite foods were gyros in Greece, pizza all over Italy, and doner kebab in Florence.  I also really enjoy that most nights before bedtime, we all watch a show together as a family either on the smart tv (if our apartment or hotel has one) or on our iPads. We also read our family book. The books that we have read together on the trip have been:

Cloud and Wallfish – about an American boy who moved to East Berlin during the Cold War

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – about a girl who escaped the Nazis before WWII (about the author’s life)

The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden – about a family of children who made a beautiful garden as a gift to an older friend who had a stroke

The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue (we’re reading this right now) – about the same children who try to save their mom’s baking business after a health inspection goes poorly

I have really enjoyed all of them and I also really like that when we read, we can massage one of our parents to earn some money to spend on pretty much whatever we want.

Some places that I am really looking forward to are Thailand, which is where we will have spicy Thai food, and also lots of other places in Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia (Bali). 

It’s hard to say what my favorite places are because I’ve loved all of them, but some of the places I’ve really enjoyed have been:

Kerry, Ireland

Everywhere in Greece

Florence, Italy

Everywhere in Poland

I also really loved the cruise because it was so fun and happy and our grandparents were there which made it even better. 

One time in Italy, we had a really nice Italian server who didn’t speak English, so Mom had to test out her Italian which she studied while studying abroad in college.  She did really well and we ate at that place twice and had the same nice server both times. 

Another highlight of this trip has been seeing our friends who have come to visit us including the Getchells, Barretts, Drewers, Tardifs, our grandma and grandpa, and Mr Cox.   We still have more people that are coming to visit us. This trip has been an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, incredible experience.