Doing The Numbers

This is just a quick post to let everyone know I made it home safe and sound last Thursday and was somehow back at work Friday morning.

After a long trip, people always ask me what was my favorite/least favorite country/food/geologic formation. This isn't that post, but it's coming, along with more photos. For now, let's do the numbers:

Photos taken: 4,831 (after deleting a bunch)

Countries visited: 14
Net new: 8
Countries dropped from itinerary due to time constraints: 8
Countries I saw enough of not to go back to for more: 0
Currencies spent: 12
Languages I really wish I'd studied at some point: 17
New visas in passport: 3
(Surprisingly, Americans get visa-free travel to more countries than almost anyone)
New stamps in my passport: 20

(would have had 12 more stamps without the pesky Schengen Zone)

Beds slept in: 40 (that I paid for: 36)

Flights taken: 18 (10 international, 8 domestic, with 11 unique airlines)

Borders crossed by land (or water): 8

Trains taken (not counting subways): 28

Air miles: 24256

Surface miles in things with wheels or keels: 6448

Total miles not walked: 31,704

Circumference of the earth at the equator: 24,902

Miles walked: lots and lots (estimated 12 miles per day in Rome - I hate getting scammed by taxi drivers)

Subway systems ridden: 12

Kindle Books read (not including guidebooks): 17

Museums visited: at least 40, probably over 50
Religious and historical sites visited: I can't count that high

Times I got an extra day out of my underwear because I was too cheap for hotel laundry and forgot to wash by hand the night before: [redacted]