The World Tour in Numbers…

dubai jumping
Jumping in the Arabian desert!

I’ve purposefully hardly shared about our travels this year – choosing to live in the present and not putting it all ‘out there’. So the focus of this blog has been largely on Burundi; but many of you have asked about our travels, so here’s one way of reporting back – and others have been asking about our summer plans, so I’ll paste details of them below as well:

43,000 miles in travel

1,700 new GLO supporters for our database

304 days away, of which…

284 days staying with people (so only 20 days in hotels or AirBnB)

$220 for my root canal in Poland instead of the £650 quoted by my dentist in the UK

102 speaking engagements

81 different beds slept in

63 dogs loved and played with, and then sadly parted from

51 friends from Burundi hooked up with

48 incredibly generous families/friends we stayed with

34 countries visited

27 airplanes flown

25 meltdowns (approximately), all but 5 of which were during home-schooling, and most of them by the kids!

24 total number of cars in the WHOLE of Albania in 1991 – my favourite weird statistic of the year – and we were hosted by the first woman driver in the country

21 days without a shower/bath – so Josiah claims – but surely not?! Maybe 9 days I reckon! Zac on a par with him…

15 boat trips

14 times Jos wrote in his journal ‘and we walked, and we walked, etc’ describing a 90-minute excursion down a hill on what was ‘the worst day of my life’!

9kg of luggage each, see photo below

10 times ‘You’ve ruined my life!’ howled during home-schooling – my favourite lament!

8 trains (highlight being 1stclass tickets in Myanmar costing $4 for 6 of us for a two-hour journey out of the capital)

7 items lost/left behind (towels, travel mirror, computer cable, phone charger, jacket, cap – nothing major)

6 teeth lost from Grace’s mouth in two weeks – not sure what the deal was there, but the tooth fairy had to make regular visits

5 days of sickness only, excluding sniffles and my dodgy back (Grace’s puking first night and she had a virus in Thailand)

2 ‘exotic’ delicacies sampled (in Cambodia, a BBQ’d scorpion and tarantula)

1 emergency trip to hospital for Grace’s foot to be stitched up having been sliced through by oyster shells when she jumped off a friend’s dock

0 thefts, so thankful!

jumping in the desert
At the beginning and end of our travels, with our 9kg rucksacks

We’re incredibly grateful for the experience. More to follow maybe on it. In the meantime, here’s the summer schedule:

10th-14th July– hosting Johnson family from Burundi

12th-14th July– speaking at Shift weekend

15th-19th July – Family debriefing residential 

Friday to Sunday 19th-21st July – Whites mates’ weekend

Saturday 20th July – men’s breakfast in London

Sunday 21st July – King’s, Chesham

Sunday 28th July – Uckfield Baptist 

Tuesday 30th July – Friday 2nd August – talks at New Wine, Peterborough

Monday 5th August – Tuesday 6th – New Wine talks again

Wednesday 7th– Friday 16th August – fly to France, family holiday at parents’ place

Saturday 17th– Friday 23rd August – speaking week at Lee Abbey

Gearing up for new schools and new life starting Monday 2nd September!

5 Comments3949 views

5 comments

  • My favorite statistic is the lack of showers and of course the ruined lives!

  • Makes my ministry trip to Pakistan, India and Nepal seem pretty tame. Thanks for sharing – what a family!

  • It was such fun to read your stories of how the members of your family were doing during your travels around the world and then unfortunately complete silence. I understand and respect the reasons but it felt weird not to be able to follow all your adventures anymore.
    Are you still going to publish a book about your travels maybe? Be blessed as a family. So glad it all worked out for you. Your energy is incredible. Love Ilse

  • I second Ilse’s appeal for a book about your travels please!

  • Another request for a book… pls! You guys are amazing!!! May God continue to bless you abundantly!!!
    (Gateway Church, Poole – Alder Road site)

Join the discussion

Your email address will not be published.