England, Norway & Belgium 2026

By The #'s

By the Numbers crunches our biggest trips into snapshots—stats, highlights, and the quirky moments that stuck. Light looks at big adventures.

Stephen J Cilento

5-July-2026 | 2 Minute Read

The Highlights Reel

England by car: Nothing says “welcome back to England” quite like driving on the opposite side of the road, sitting on the opposite side of the car, and convincing yourself that every roundabout is totally fine.

Norway by sea: Sailing into Norway gave this trip a different kind of scale. Mountains, water, weather, and scenery that made the ship feel small in the best possible way.

Belgium on foot: Our horse-and-carriage ride was canceled the day before, so we traded wheels for walking shoes. As it turned out, Bruges is a pretty good place to let the streets decide where you go.

Fourteen ways to move: Planes, ships, cars, and everything in between. By the end, it felt less like a trip and more like a sampler platter of transportation.

One hundred fifty miles walked: Three hundred fifteen thousand steps sound ridiculous until you remember how much of travel is simply deciding to see what’s around the next corner.

Nineteen days. Three countries. Six major bodies of water. Fourteen ways to get from here to there.

And somehow, after all those miles, the best parts are still the moments that didn’t go quite as planned.

Adventure, on Purpose.

Some trips come together a few months before departure.

This wasn't one of them.

We spent nearly two years planning this adventure. For months, it lived on the calendar as "someday"—something to look forward to while life carried on as usual.

Then, almost without warning, "someday" became "yesterday."

It took two years to plan...

...and flew by in less than three weeks.

Here's how it all adds up.

Trip Snapshot

Days away: 19

Route: United States → England → Norway → Belgium → United States

Transportation: Planes, cruise ship, rental car, and 11 other ways of getting from one place to another.

Luggage: For the first time ever, we each checked a bag. When your packing list has to cover everything from 40° mornings in Norway to 90° afternoons in England, layers win over carry-on bragging rights.