Our longest bus ride on this trip clocked in at a whopping 24 hours straight. We had another one that was 40 hours total, but we were able to stop half way through and sleep in a real bed. Therefore, it really goes down in the books as two 20-hour bus rides. 

Needless to say, we spend a lot of time on buses while traveling through South America. Down here there is not an extensive train system like Europe, and airplanes are much more expensive, so buses are our primary means of transportation. 

So how do we pass all this windshield time?

America,

I love you, but my time away from you has been the best thing for our relationship. As it’s said, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” and my appreciation for you has grown during this year abroad. I miss your peanut butter, your Heinz ketchup, and your widespread availability of toilet seat covers in public restrooms. For many reasons, you are beautiful just the way you are.

However, there’s another saying, which is “out of sight, out of mind.” And during many of my days of travel this year, I found myself fully forgetting you, spending my days and nights in the arms of others: France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Argentina, and the list goes on. It has given me some healthy perspective and while I wish to someday return to your warm embrace, there are a few things I will need you to work on first.

So for the 2014 year, I recommend you adopt these 5 New Year’s Resolutions:

What can I tell you about Rome that you don’t already know? It is a well-toured destination with gobs of guides and information on the city. It is home to many top-toured sites including the Coliseum, the Forum, the Vatican, the Pantheon and so much more.

Tom and I spent five days in Rome and one blog post would not be enough to tell you about everything that we saw, did, ate and drank, so I decided to take a different approach to this post. I’m going to tell you what we learned from Rome.