We are back at sea and on the Pacific Princess, as we travel from Rome, Italy, to Manaus, Brazil, over the next 32 days. As we began our journey we visited three ports in the Mediterranean Sea.

After 41 days of traveling through 10 Eastern European countries we have reached our final nation – Croatia. Here, we chose to spend a week in three different places within this small but diverse country.

We journeyed to Romania to visit two different areas of the country that we wanted to experience before they become more popular in the future. Learn about our two views of Romania by reading more of the story.

We have just completed our second European trek. This four-day hike took us through a small section of the Julian Alps, in the country of Slovenia. We wanted to hike here to take advantage of the hut-to-hut system, which is a type of trekking found in Europe.

During our week in Poland, we received a great introduction to the country, a ‘primer’ of sorts. We wanted to learn more about this country’s culture and its turbulent history. In addition, we wanted to view its natural features by bus and train.

As we approached our first trek in Europe we knew that it would be unlike anything we had attempted to date. We would also be trekking in one of the harshest environments in the world, in Lapland, located above the Arctic Circle.

We have spent the past few days in the capital cities of Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. The two cities are located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) across the Gulf of Finland from one another. We enjoyed learning about the history and culture of both places.