Our last scavenge took us to the beautiful, amazing city of Montreal. We didn’t sleep on the plane from Istanbul in order to get back on Eastern and Central time zones. We got off the plane and forced ourselves to walk around the city and look for some dinner. It was perfect weather and the “Montrealers” were out, enjoying the city too. As we found in many parts of the world, the concept of “take away” or fast food is not popular here so we did the unthinkable . . . we got Subway. A low point for sure but we were at risk of falling asleep if we sat down.

We woke up and worked out (Shannon’s equivalent of coffee) and got ready to go. First scavenge was to “go have a crepe”. Yes, please! This leg of the trip was full of eating scavenges.

The next scavenge was to another church and it was the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. While we swore we would not do another religious site, we were awestruck with it’s beauty and agreed that we were glad we did this one.

So, after soaking in some amazing architecture and history, we traipsed through a lovely neighborhood to locate BIKES!! Hooray! We love to walk, bike and this was our city! We stopped first at a park with a Ferris wheel, because . . why not?? We wanted to do the ropes course but they were not open yet.

We went to La Banquise, which was made famous byAnthony Bourdain for “Poutine”. It is a local specialty that consists of French fries, cheese curds, topped with a brown gravy.

If it sounds rich and over the top . . . it is. The squirrel loved it though.

Feeling very full but thankful to be moving on bikes and so fortunate to have a beautiful day, we reluctantly went to try out and compare two bagel places and L’Express. L’Express had the best and most beautiful Latte and desserts we have ever seen.

Ended up at a Farmer’s Market. We were tasked with creating a “picnic”. Okay, we bought some things and ultimately did eat the marzipan.

On our way to the next stop we witnessed our 3rd public demonstration in 3 weeks. The first was in Georgia for increased health care, the second was in Israel (huge political demonstration that thankfully was peaceful) and this one was for immigrant rights. It’s always a little unnerving to be in the middle of a crowd of protestors. Onward to a “required” scavenge to Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal. It has the 3rd largest dome in the world and houses the remains of a saint known as “The Miracle Man of Montreal”. We did not see any pilgrims that climb from the street up a very steep hill and concrete steps to the crypt of the church. We did meet up with our old college track friend, Tall Paul and his son, William and dog, Luna.

Final scavenges were to Bar George to “find the prettiest thing” there and a subway station. It was a small bar in a hotel and it was stunning. Too bad we couldn’t stay for an afternoon drink but we had to get back to our hotel to turn in the score sheets.

WE WON!!!! WE WON!!!!

We won this leg!!!!! All that eating paid off and it turns out that biking was the fastest way to get around this city. We came in 5th overall and are so proud of ourselves for pulling up from behind.

Congrats to Team Order and Chaos for their 1rst Place Finish and that’s Bill, “The Ringmaster” in the middle. Bill and his wife, Pamela, put together this amazing trip and we could not be more thrilled with our experience!

After an awards ceremony and a dinner, jet lag hit and we all headed back to the hotel, but not before stories were shared, friendships were sealed, and numbers exchanged.  Spending 23 days on a pretty intense competitive travel trip allows for serious bonding, especially with the teams we spend 9 hours in a late night van ride or Trip Tellers who shared 26 hours in a car with us and 6 hours stuck at a border crossing.

So, we did it!  We travelled around the world in 23 days, visited 12 countries (most for just 2 days) and stayed in the competition until the very end.  We accomplished more than we could ever imagine in a single day.  We were initially surprised  by the sheer volume of activities the leading teams could finish in a day and it became clear early on that in order to be competitive you have to wake-up at the crack of dawn and stay out way past our bedtime.  And, we embraced it. The feeling of visiting 29 places in a single day was exhilarating in a way some may not enjoy.  Shannon’s husband would hear the daily reports and claimed he could NEVER do a trip like this while Donna’s husband is looking at ways to take on the world next year.

We both got out of our comfort zones, had to let go of our control freak tendencies, and excitedly embraced countries we NEVER would have considered visiting because they were out of the typical travel bubble.  We were brave enough to speak with strangers to ask for directions, ask their most famous citizen, and what they thought of the conflicts in their countries and what we discovered is that people want to engage and learn more about us as well.    We barely scratched the surface of the history and people of South Korea, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Israel, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Istanbul and Canada, but we emerged ready to learn more, read more, and travel back to some of these places.  ….

We would highly recommend a trip around the world with Global Scavenger Hunt in the near future if you can escape work and family obligations for 23 days…

20,000 miles, 26 hours of driving, 9 airports..oh my!  Can’t wait to go again!

Re-entry thoughts . . .

Donna was taken aback when she stepped off the plane at Raleigh Durham and everyone was speaking English! I have been a “stranger” in foreign lands for so long. I will try to stop overplanning everything and just go. . . because the “magic” that happens is in that which you cannot plan or pay for.

Shannon was thrown straight into the end of year chaos of a high school and AP Exams and didn’t have a moment to process being thrown back into real world life. However, she found herself trying to contain herself from laughing to herself at little memories from the trip while proctoring AP Exams. While it was nice to have the everyday luxuries of home, like ICE, the exercise routine and food beyond bread, cucumbers and tomatoes, she already misses the wild unpredictability of daily life on the road.

Favorite Food: anything from L’Express and Sushi from the Istanbul hotel after we gave up scavenging early due to chaos, traffic and frustration.

Least favorite food: Poutine.(might be just the right thing after a night of drinking but NOT good while biking), plus intestine soup!

Favorite sight?

Donna: Mostar and Konjic Monestary in Bosnia

Shannon: The Necropolis in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and Mostar bridge

Favorite experience? Samarkand bike attempt while being chased, Georgian restaurant with traditional song and dance, talking a race kayak team into letting us try their boats.

Donna: Nori-bong Karaoke in Korea, Wine tasting in Georgia, sprinter van up to Samarkand with 3 other female teams, racing through the Balkans with the Trip Tellers, Turkish Haman.