December 30, 1996

John's cousin, Kathleen was the first person to pose the question "What was your favorite place?" correctly. She added the words, "And why?"

"Nepal;" John said instantly. "The hiking there is incredible." Then he quickly added, "And Turkey; the sights and the people." He paused. "And Morocco. Of course Indonesia is great. Bulgaria is beautiful. I can't leave out New Zealand. And..."

The fact is, it's very hard question to answer. If she'd asked where were the best National Parks, we would have said Canada and the United States. If she'd asked where did we see the most impressive volcanic craters we would say Hawaii and Indonesia. If she'd asked about the best coastline, we'd say Turkey, New Zealand, Oh, and Australia. I admit, even those questions would be difficult.

The globe's diversity is incredible. We've seen things so new to us that before we left we couldn't have imagined them. Yes, we spent many a night watching 'The Learning Channel' and the 'Discovery Channel', but let me tell you folks - there ain't no comparison to the real thing. So, going back to that ever-popular question, what did we like the best? Our answer, in a word - the world!