6861 Nautical Miles, 292 Days, and 14 Countries

And now we’re back on U.S. soil – the Florida coastline is just visible in the picture at the top of the post.

I’ve lived outside of the U.S. before, although the longest time up to this point was for four months. I’ve also been blessed to travel quite a bit even prior to this adventure, as has Ted, and we obviously wanted to share our love of exploration with our family.

I’ve always appreciated the United States and the myriad freedoms that we enjoy. I think, though, that it’s easy to become complacent and not appreciate what we have, when you experience it daily. Especially with everything that has happened politically in the States in my adult lifetime, it’s easy sometimes to lament the state of the U.S. and wish for something different.

But our travels over these last months have brought into sharp relief how fortunate we are, despite how our country is sometimes portrayed. We have loved getting to know a bit about the 14 countries that we’ve explored so far, and they each have their own unique landscape, styles, cultures, foods, and people. But the four of us were all a little emotional as we sighted U.S. land for the first time in almost 10 months, and I hope that the girls have gained a new appreciation for their home country, in addition to an appreciation for the countries that we’ve visited. And we hope to continue to learn and grow as this adventure continues!