2022 Year in Review

2022 was a good year for us!

We spent a lot of time touring in Max, in fact we pretty much lived in Max for about nine months of the year. And we had a really good vacation back to Canada that included four provinces.

We visited a total of 21 countries during the year. 7 of those were new countries, bringing our total countries visited list to 57.

Let's look at the highlights of 2022, along with a bit of a timeline.

We started the year in Greece. A highlight of that country was the amazing Museum of the Royal Tombs. Arguably one of the best museums I have ever been in. 

One of the intricate pieces on display that was produced around 350 BC. 

This one is about 30 cm ( a foot) long.

We made our way into Turkiye on January 22nd for a three month stay. We would follow the southern coast as far as Syria. To me, that was a highlight of the trip, although it's difficult because there were so many amazing things we saw. But to say we drove our motorhome to the border of Syria was something special for me.

Gorgeous area at the ancient city of Heraclea, Turkiye.

Me. high above Kas, Turkiye.

Despite the fact that weather was generally cooler and more rainy than normal, we still had our fair share of sunny days.

Ruth and the scenery at Alanya, Turkiye.

From the border with Syria, we made our way inland to cross the interior of Turkiye heading towards Bulgaria. Along the way, we found out that we could do some spring skiing! Turkiye is the cheapest country in the world to go skiing, so we had to take advantage of that!

Spring skiing in Turkiye. April 2nd, and the temperature was about 9C (48F).

We crossed the border into Bulgaria April 21st. This was a new country for us. Unfortunately we were now on a time deadline and had to make it up to Denmark to make our ferry booking to Norway. We will have to spend more time in Bulgaria in the future.

Into Romania in late April where we stayed at a guesthouse and campground for a few days and met a family displaced due to the war in Ukraine. Such nice people, and such horrible things happening to them. I often wonder if they are still in Romania or have made it back to their home. 

With the family we met from Ukraine.

May was a busy driving month as we made our way through Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Germany and into Denmark.

It's hard to pick a highlight from that month, but the hike we did in Romania was a lot of fun...

Ruth, making her way through Ramet Gorge in Romania.

June and July were spent in Norway. Definitely the most photogenic county we have ever been to (close second is Iceland!). Every road in Norway is a scenic drive. It's difficult to pick out the best photos of Norway, since there are so many. However a highlight was our first major via ferrata hike at Trolltunga.

Me, on the via ferrata at Trolltunga.

We were hiking or biking almost every day in Norway.

Another fantastic day in Norway.

Early August we made our way back to Germany and dropped of our motorhome Max at the dealer where he would sit until November. We took the train to Amsterdam and then flew to Montreal, and took a connecting flight to Calgary. We enjoyed visiting friends at Cabri Park, which is the campground we used to manage in Saskatchewan. And then met up with other friends Jeannie and Barry in Taber, Alberta and back up to Calgary where I met with my long time friends for a weekend away in beautiful Jasper National Park.

I love my annual get together with these guys.

We've known each other since 1979!

From there, we flew back to Ottawa and then connected to Halifax, Nova Scotia where we rented a car and drove to our daughter Lindsey's new house. We spent a couple of weeks having fun with the grandkids. One of the highlights was a day at the Ontree Aerial Adventure Park. 

Suited up for adventure!

A fun hike to Nova Scotia's Cape Split.

Early September we flew back to Ottawa and spend ten days visiting with family and friends there. Ten days really wasn't enough, and we were busy every day. 

Then we flew back to Amsterdam and connected to London England. 

The Thames River in London.

We spent a few days in London, then took the bus up to Leeds area where we stayed with friends Glen and Steve for almost a week. Lots of fun with them, and always lots of travel discussion. Then to Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony in Somerset where we visited with them for a week before heading to Albania for the month of October.

Out for dinner... again!

We had a great coupe of weeks exploring Albania with Helen and Tony. Then they headed back to England, and we carried on into Kosovo for another two weeks.

We met up with new friends David and Mirsie in Kosovo and did a couple of hiking trips.

And we finally made it to the gorgeous village of Theth, Albania.

November 5th we flew back to Germany and picked up our motorhome. We spent the month of November driving from Germany through Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and France and into the tiny country of Andorra. We spent time with friends Bjorn and Freja in Belgium, and Katja and Yves in Switzerland as well as my cousin's daughter Teyha and her husband Clem in France.

It's hard to pick a highlight out of November, but we enjoyed Switzerland enough to know that we need to spend more time there.

Lac Leman, Switzerland.

December has been spent in Spain. Just the two of us, meandering our way in our motorhome towards the ferry departure to Morocco. It's been a relaxing month, not having to be anywhere at any point in time.

Max, wild camping in Spain.

The village of Miravet, Spain.

We also had fun dog sitting for a few days at a beautiful home near Valencia.

It's been a fantastic year. But 2023 is going to be just as good! We're really excited about our upcoming travels and we look forward to sharing them with you.