Final Reports - The best (and worst) of our trip

As we arrive home and start to bore everyone with the thousands of tales from our trip I thought I would provide answers to the typical sorts of questions we have been getting from people such as what was our favourite place, worst place,  best hotel etc. So here goes...

Top five places we have visited. Now this is a really really tough one to get down to just five as there have been so many but here goes:

1. Inka Trail and Machu Picchu, Peru - still cannot even contemplate how the Inka's built this place. One, if not the, most impressive thing I have ever seen. Stand out moment is coming through the sun gate following our mini Inka Trail trek and seeing Machu Picchu for the fort time. Truly amazing. 

2. Mekong River, Laos - arriving at Pak Beng and Luang Prabang on our Mekong River cruise. Pak Beng for the amazing hotel as sunset as Luang Prabang for its sophistication and beauty. 

3. Rio carnival, Brazil - one of the best experiences ever. Everyone needs to go to Rio at carnival time once in their lives. The atmosphere and parties around the whole city are electric. 

4. Banos - a real surprise and such an amazing outdoor experience with awesome activists (white water rafting, canyoning) as well as awe inspiring scenery and waterfalls (Diablo). 

5. Halong Bay, Vietnam - more phenomenal scenery and a hell of a good time with Caroline, Dave and Lynne staying on our own boat. 

Other strong contenders are Lencois, Sydney New Year, Iguazzu Falls, Ilha Grande. 

Worst three / most disappointing places: 

1. La Paz - safety concerns and the effects of altitude overrode our enjoyment a little here. Also not a massive amount to do and literally no restaurants and bars. Has to be one of the worst capital cities in the world. 

2. Vientiane - nice enough but three nights was just too much as there is not a great deal to do. Fairly non descript place. 

3. Quito - could have been so nice but again ruined a little due to very valid safety concerns 

Top 3 beaches

1. Lopez Mendes, Ilha Grande, Brazil - closest to a deserted paradise we have ever been on this gorgeous, idyllic beach. 

2. Ipanema, Rio, Brazil - best people watching and party beach around. Could sit in my deck chair with a cold Brahma here for hours and watch the world go by. Fantastic waves too. Some of the best we have had. 

3. Mui Ne, Vietnam - one of the longest stretches of gorgeous beaches we have been on. Also home to one of huge best restaurants we went too (see later). Enjoyed my afternoon runs down this. 

*The "beach" beach in Thailand was also a contender for actual beauty but it was sooooo toursity it ruined it a little. 

Best pool - The Radisson Blu, Phuket - sheer luxury in this gorgeous hotel. 

Best boutique hotels we stayed in. 

1. Pak Beng lodge, Pak Beng, Laos - set high up on the hill overlooking the Mekong, this luxurious hotel was a real surprise (we thought it was going to be more "Super 8"). Amazing rooms and awesome dinner. 

2. Porto Bay, Buzios, Brazil - our first proper chill out time for nearly three months came at the right time. This was a gorgeous little hotel in the wonderful Buzios with an amazing pool. Did not leave the hotel for days!

3. Chamanapamba, Banos, Ecuador - a weird, wonderful and charming little place with lovely German owners. Only place where we have had an upstairs in our room. Also great views overlooking an erupting volcano. Don't get that everyday. 

4. Atempo Design Hotel, BA, Argentina - really cool design hotel in Palermo BA. 

Most luxurious hotels

1. The Wynn, Las Vegas, USA - love the sheer luxury of this place. Room and pool are out of this world. We also absolutely loved being at Vegas at this point of our trip. The familiarity and ease was so nice. 

2. Oriental Residence, Bangkok - apart from being the scene of a very sad departure of Carlone, Dave and Lynne this hotel was sheer luxury with a fantastic pool. 

3.  Andaz, West Hollwood, USA - über cool hotel in LA with fantastic roof top pool and lots of rock history. 

4. Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, USA - we love these hotels. The music, the vibe, the decor are all brilliant. For us, the one in Vegas is definitely the coolest hotel in Vegas. Also home to Mr Lucky's!

5. Hard Rock Hotel, Palm Springs, USA - another HRh entry to the list. This one is a lot more relaxed and has one of the best hotel bars we have been in. 

Best classic tourist attraction - Christ the Redeemer - iconic and even better seeing him in person. Worth visiting just for the awesome views of Rio. 

Most surprising moments. 

1. Arriving at Pak Beng Lodge - sunset, champagne and stunning hotel combined into a most memorable experience. Nat cried. 

2. Diablo waterfall Banos - where did this come from and why does no one mention it as a must see in Banos? Truly epic waterfall over 400 metres high. 

3. São Paulo - such a great city. Very pleasantly surprised by it. A lot more sophisticated than others in South America. 

4. A volcano erupting outside of our window in Banos. Nuff said. This amazing photo was taken from our balcony the day before we arrived. 

Most scared moments - surprisingly there have not been that many!

1. The dodgiest and dirtiest bus ever from Puno to Arequipa on Juliaca bus (picture of the cracked front window)

2. White water rafting in Banos - Nat's face throughout says it all. We will upload the video of the boat flipping to Facebook. It has an amazing last shot of Nat upside down before we go under and the boat lands on top of her. Very entertaining. 

3. Thunder storm in Paratay - never seen of heard anything like it. When the lightening hit the ground in front if us 200 metres away I did literally sh1t myself!!

4. Sky diving (not scared at all)

Best sunset - no explanations needed here. Pictures say it all. 

1. Pak Beng over the Mekong River

2. Colonia de Sacrento - never seen colours like it and nice to share it with our parents (unfortunately minus the Y'ster)

3. Seminyak Bali, enjoying a beer at Ku De Ta Bar. 

Fave beer goes to Beer Lao Dark or any of the USA IPAs I which we have been spoilt by choice. 

Most disappointing moments: luckily the haven't been many but speed boat tour of Thai Islands at break neck speed with no view and overlooking the salt flats in Bolivia and Colca Canyon in Peru are the main ones. Nice excuse to go back!

Best bars (there have been many!)

1. Barney's Beanery LA - if it was good enough for Jim Morrison it's good enough for me! I love a dive bar and this is the best one I have been in ever. Shuffle board tops it off. 

2. Ku De TA Singapore - awesome views over the harbour at Singapore and next door to the best pool in the world. 

3.  Lao Lao Garden, Luang Prabang - need I say more than it had a fire pit??

4.  Small Bar (Phuket) - really cute little bar across the road from our hotel. Very random and quaint decor. Became our regular night cap spot. 

Top 10 restaurants (having eaten out over 250 times along the way I think we are well qualified to judge this!)

1. Andres, Bogota, Colombia - this sprawling restaurant is hands down the coolest and whakiest we have ever been in. 

2. Lamb Tongue, Mui Ne, Vietnam - a little shack of a restaurant with plastic chairs and tables set on the beach. Some of the best seafood we have had including this whopping great lobster. We and drank like kings all for £7 per head. 

3. Huyanaca, Lima, Peru - set next to some Inca ruins this was the first time we had 'pushed the boat out in a while' and it was well worth it. Also tried guinea pig here. 

4. Zig Zag, Arequipa, Peru - another great meal which included delicious Alpaca. Had dinner with James and Emily after randomly bumping into them again!

5. Zuccarde vineyard, Mendoza, Argentina - out last day treat of an amazing lunch, wine tasting and all the meat you could eat at this gorgeous vineyard. 

6. El Toro, Santiago Chile - a restaurant recommended by the Wallpaper Guide that looked nothing from the outside. Chosen place for my birthday meal and amazing, cool restaurant that had a dive bar type feel with out dive bar type food. 

7. Grappa - bit of a random late night find in BA after going to a drum gig (tiempo). Had a real Bathazar (NYC) feel to it. 

8. Dantesco, Mendoza, Argentina - despite its budget sounding name this was a gorgeous retaurant and a surprising find near where we were staying in the Maipu Valley. Amazing wine at dirt cheap prices. 

9. Cecconi's LA - dining with the Kardashians for our last meal of our trip. Great vibe to this place - buzzing atmosphere and lovely food. Good English export to the US!

10. The Ivy LA - best ribs and pudding ever! Become a bit of a tradition for our last day in LA. Gorgeous place. 

Best breakfast - Mel's Drive In of course!

Although the mortadella sandwich at the Mercado in São Paulo is a strong rival. 

Best Hard Rock - KL for the party

Worst Hard Rock - Bangkok (where tourists go to die!)

Biggest dump - Phuket Town, Juliaca Peru (like a war torn place!)

Best airline - loved flying with both Air Asia and LAN for overall comfort and efficiency. 

Fave country overall - Brazil. An absolutely awesome place. Highly recommend a two week holiday for people to go to São Paulo, Paraty, Ilha Grandec, Rio and Buzios. All absolutely amazing places. We also loved Lencois as well. 

Best bootie - no explanation needed. 

Most valuable smart phone apps for travelling

1. Booking.com - booked 90% of our hotels through this. Brilliant app. 

2. Google maps - saved us many times when taxi drivers rarely had a clue where they were going. 

3. XE - so many currencies we lost track of conversion rates and just used this instead. 

Most active and avid blog reader - Eric hands down also with at least 175 comments in total too.

And finally... Best tenant. OK - given there was only one nomination but the winner is Mr David Nevick particularly for all the notes he left us for when we got back. My personal fave was the one left under our quilt saying "Caroline and I have made sweet sweet love in this bed" 

And finally having arrived home after 147 days..

Best things about being home:

- catching up with everyone by far the best

- being able to lie on a sofa

- toast and marmite 

- squash

- having a washing machine

- having our watches back

Weirdest feelings / things about being home 

- not having to check in when we arrived somewhere

- unpacking fully

- picking up the phone and calling someone

- not having to find wifi to access the internet

- the fact that it does not feel like we have been away

- handling English money and not having to convert prices 

- driving on the left (feels very weird)

- the feeling of liberation that we don't need all the crap we have accumulated in our flat (had a clear out already!)

- not having to work out what time it is at home

- not having to "think in blog", constantly take good pics for the blog and spend a fair amount of time every day writing it

- having to wash up!!