2018 was another year rich with travel adventures…
January was about …
… welcoming Oren and Jess to Sri Lanka ~ our first family visitors!
… Jess making friends with our young neighbours
… exposing Oren and Jess to some of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist art and temples
Feb was about …
… taking that long awaited trip to Tamil Nadu, India (Pondicherry and Auroville)
… getting an appreciation for Hinduism as practiced in Tamil Nadu, India
… enjoying the visuals of people going about their day to day lives
March was about …
…saying our final goodbyes to our friend Bandu, in Mihiripenna, Sri Lanka, on the 3 month anniversary of his passing over to the other side
… supporting Nilu and her sons adjustment to life without their husband and father, Bandu
April was about …
……enjoying springtime in Paris, France
… meeting up with Barbara, Ben’s childhood friend/crush, 40 years or so later in the South of France
… visiting a number of great French cities that neither one of us had ever been to, such as Toulouse
May was about …
… taking a road trip through France’s Atlantic coast
…experiencing La Rochelle, France at night
… then visiting my mom (Ben) in California, USA
… and visiting Peta’s parents in Chicago, USA
And Josh, Oren and Adam
… being at my sister Dina’s wedding!
June was about …
… celebrating Poya (full moon Buddhist celebration), back in Sri Lanka, by visiting Buddhist temples
… sprucing up our house in small and big ways, in Mihiripenna, Sri Lanka
July was about …
… reconnecting with good friends, Kris and Rasa, in their new habitat in Tarragona, Spain
… meeting up with Josh and Ana in Southern France
… and doing our very best to gorge on local oysters in Bouzigues, France
… visiting Carcassonne, France for the first time
… taking a walk through memory lane, with a short visit to Essaouira, Morocco
August was about…
…having great home exchanges in Amsterdam, Netherlands
… discovering the hidden gem of a beach 30 minutes from Amsterdam, Netherlands
September was about …
… being there for my parents’ move, in Chicago, USA
… visiting Ezra in Portland, OR
… being there to witness the growth of Adam’s micro-greens business (Closed Loop Farm) in Chicago, USA
…catching up ~ Kaplan sisters.
… reconnecting with our globe trotting friend, Brook and her baby Jaia, in Highland Park, IL
Oct was about …
…swimming with turtles at our local beach, 5 minutes from our house, in Mihiripenna, Sri Lanka
… enjoying Nilu’s Sri Lankan curries at home, Sri Lanka
… finally getting a real (polished concrete) floor of our home base in Sri Lanka
Nov was about …
… celebrating Ben’s birthday in one of our favorite places, Ubud, Bali
… immersing ourselves in gorgeous Balinese temple architecture
.. adding another layer to our relationship with Ubud, Bali
Dec was about …
… expanding our Indonesian “vocabulary” by discovering the archipelago grouping of islands of Flores, Indonesia. (Town of Labuan Bajo)
… snorkeling in waters chock-full of bright, colorful tropical fish.. pink sand beaches. Komodo National Park
… visiting Penang, Malaysia for the first time, taking in the architectural gems that warrant Penang’s status as a UNESCO world heritage site
… admiring the bright orange sunsets on Koh Lipe, Thailand
2018 proved to be another glorious year of globe trotting!
Looking forward to seeing what 2019 delivers…
Wishing you all a new year full of love, happiness, health and adventure. May 2019 bring tolerance for others, other cultures, other religions, other beliefs.
Thanks to all our Green Global Trek blog readers for reading us during the year and for your thoughtful and enthusiastic feedback, which we always enjoy receiving.
Ben & Peta
What a year! Wishing you all the best for the next one!
Thanks Tracey, to you too. We chose to feature our travels in our yearly retrospective, but of course 2018 had its challenges too. (Figured everyone has their own challenges, so no point in sharing those!)
Here’s to 2019!
Ben & Peta
What a great year you’ve had.
Peggy, we certainly had a full year of travel where we built around our trips to visit family in the U.S. (twice in one year). We figure that if already we were going to the States, we might as well stop along the way to break up the long trip and continue our nomadic lifestyle while keeping the wheels on professionally.
Ben
What a wonderful year! Hoping 2019 is all that and more for you guys!!!
Hugs,
Deb
Thanks Deb, to you too!
Bracing for an explosive 2019 on the political front in the U.S. and planning for a busy year professionally.
Ben
What a wonderful year! Thanks for keeping us all entertained and informed. A happy and healthy 2019 to you both.
Thanks Anabel.
“Keeping us entertained and informed”, that is compliment indeed. We hope to also bring our readers exposure through our blog during the year, to cultural differences and role modelling of acceptance of those differences as positives.
Ben & Peta
Great retrospective of 2018 Peta and Ben! It’s lovely to see all the amazing places you’ve visited and your times with family and friends. Thank you for your beautiful and insightful posts. I always enjoy reading them. I want to read more about Flores and Komodo. I was there way back in 1991and loved them. Hope we will meet in Sri Lanka in 2019. Best to you both! Caroline
Thanks Caroline for your wishes and such lovely compliments on our blog. Our next few costs will cover our time in Flores, in Labuan Bajo and the islands, so stay tuned. I am sure it has changed a lot since 1991, as tourism is starting to grow there, you can feel it and see very visible signs. There was even an empty new Starbucks store that had just been built at the end of the pier ~ cannot see that excited us much ha.
Hope we get to meet in Sri Lanka too. All the best to both of you for 2019.
Peta
Such a great year! Best wishes for 2019!
Christie
Thanks Christie, and to you as well.
Peta
Hi Peta and Ben,
I remember most of these posts over the last year and enjoyed revisiting today. Best wishes for 2019 to you, your family, your friends. I love your final statement – tolerance for others. Yes!
Shari thanks for reading us and for your encouraging comments on our blog. Best wishes to you and yours for 2019 as well.
We live in strange times, with more and more leaders excluding those that are different. It feels like at least on a personal level we can all try to be more accepting and tolerant and inclusive.
Peta
What an amazing year you had – full of joy, adventure, connection, and love.
Happy New Year you two. May 2019 be all you could wish for! xo
Alison, it really was an amazing year!! It had its challenges, but for the most part it was very positive and wonderful. Happy new year to you and Don ~ to health, love and more adventures.
Peta
Wow! So many adventures, journeys, connections and wonderful experiences. That was quite a year for the two of you and those you love.
Here in the US as we think about 2019, I can’t help but think about traveling with somewhat of a different perspective given the current state of chaos with TSA and Air Traffic Controllers calling in sick during the shutdown. Right now, I’m super thankful to “not” have any flights booked.
But, then I think, isn’t travel such a wealth of knowledge just waiting for those who open their minds to experience the world outside of the secure nest, so-to-speak. It helps us glean perspective and keep it real, don’t you think?
Keep on traveling and sharing your journey. I look forward to the day our paths cross in this vast world.
2018 was definitely chock full of positive things, and for this we are both most grateful!
Lets hope the current chaos in the U.S. gets resolved, although from the looks of it, 2019 is going to be a hellova difficult year from a political point of view. I think “we ain’t seen nuthin yet”… Unfortunately. But at least with the Democratic wave, there is an inkling of some hope…
I definitely do think that travel is actually a very important part of acceptance of others who are different from ourselves. Exposure to differences, different cultures, religions and belief systems all helps with having a global perspective for sure.
Thank you…. I do hope as well that our paths cross one day too.
Peta
What an inspiring retrospective! It’s hard to imagine you topping 2018… but I have a feeling that you two will!
Thank you for sharing some potential destinations (for us) that we might have not even considered.
Ha ha, thank you Janis. So glad our retrospective inspires you. We have a few plans for this year, but most of it will just unfold as the year does… I do hope for more family time in 2019, as even though we were in the U.S. twice in one year, I still would love more time, if possible.
So glad to introduce you to new destinations.
Peta
Looks like a great year! I’m glad we managed to catch up with you even briefly in Chicago in the spring. I wonder where in the world we’ll meet up next… Happy New Year!
Thanks Maya, nice to know you are reading us! Great seeing you all in Chicago, maybe next in Sri Lanka?
Happy 2019 to all of you as well,
xoxo
Peta
That’s quite the year. Makes mine seem quite pedestrian. I didn’t know you made it to Portland, how did you like our fair city?
Ben went solo for a weekend to Portland. We have both been before and enjoyed our time there very much. Although primarily our time was spent with family and not as much doing the tourist thing… Looking forward to more exploration on future visits though.
Peta
What a year you both had, Peta. I thoroughly enjoyed your moments around the world. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm for travel. Wishing you a year ahead filled with new adventures, inspiring connections and beautiful photography.
Thank you Jane. 2019 was definitely a peak year for travel. So glad you enjoyed our whirlwind of a year and our enthusiasm for travel. Wishing you too a wonderful year of all the same. Those are good wishes to be had!
Peta
Aside from the tragedy of Bandu it’s been a great year, hasn’t it? Wishing you more of the same in 2019 🙂 🙂
2019 had it’s challenges to be sure. However, it primarily really was quite epic in terms of travel and opportunities to reconnect with family and friends. Wishing you a great 2019 as well.
Peta
An exciting year full of friends and family. Looks like a great year. We overlapped on a few destinations: Essouira and Georgetown.
The day we decide to go to Bali I’ll ask you for tips!
Frank (bbqboy)
Frank, those are two really good destinations…..
With pleasure, re Bali, feel free to email me: petakaplan@hotmail.com
Thanks for your comments.
Peta
Wow, what a year of adventures and connections. You two inspire me. 🙂 Wishing you a magnificent 2019 filled with even more adventure!
Thank you J.D. High compliment indeed!
Same to you ~ have a magnificent 2019, hope it yields everything you wish for!
Peta
What a wonderful year! May 2019 be just as adventurous and exciting for you both.
Thanks so much! And to you and yours as well!
Peta
I always enjoy seeing end of the year posts. You all had quite a year with wonderful travels and family visits, but also sadness in saying goodbye to your friend. Happy trails in 2019!
Thanks for reading our end of the year posts. We always wonder if these have “public” appeal, but at any rate, they are certainly good personal records of the year.
As our Buddhist friends remind us, life is a combination of happiness and sadness, as they travel together. The trick is to accept both as ephemeral, and keep going… What was most interesting to us about the three month Buddhist milestone ceremony, was how the family took it as a time to accept, celebrate life and move forward.
Peta & Ben
W O W. Just …. WOW. Your post gave me shivers of joy for all that you have done/accomplished and shared with us. Just. Wow.
Thank you Pamela for your kind words. So pleased to know how much you enjoyed our retrospective. It is hard to know if it is meaningful to anyone else, but it certainly provides us with a good memoir of the year.
Peta
You both embrace this gift of life in the most extraordinary ways! I enjoyed this retrospective of your last year—so colorful and artistic, filled with the love of family and friends, home and exotic adventures.
You two are an inspiration!
Wishing you a glorious 2019!
Thank you Laurel for your enthusiasm at our way of life and retrospective blog post for 2018. It was such a jam packed good year overall and 2019 looks like it will hopefully be full of the same. Our 2019 travel cup already runneth over…. 🙂
Wishing you both a glorious 2019 as well, especially with your upcoming new summer adventures.
Peta & Ben