I am excited to announce that we have named our upcoming journey 'The Warm Up'. We are staying positive and presuming that travelling for 10 weeks with a baby and a three year old will only inspire us to go on a longer more adventurous trip in the future!
This is slightly to disguise the fear I have developed of not knowing how to cope with the following issues:
A) how to keep a baby cool outside, when it is not cool outside
B) how to go anywhere without a double pushchair and a 3 year old that is allergic to walking
C) children waking up at 6am, here or away this is an earthly hour
D) what to talk to my husband about when there are no household chores, internet surfing or other jobs to do in the evenings. (Perhaps this is what I'll talk to him about!)
So Team Geek is off to see what it's like to have two parents constantly on hand and to learn a little more about the world. The basic intinery is as follows:
Week 1) New York
Week 2+3) New England (upstate New York, Vermont & Boston)
Week 4+5) Aruba
Week 6) Florida
Week 7+8) Mexico
Week 9) Minnesota
Week 10) New York
Is this a stupid idea with two small children? Possibly, but at least we will find out. My integrity to my future self will be intact. I don't want to regret not having done it, and if it goes well we can go again (preferably to Thaliand, Vietnam the carribean , new zeland in a camper van and pacific islands) and if it doesn't work, at least when people ask we will be able to tell them a lot of stories which might be comical then, but will be enough to reason with ourselves not to go again.
Showing posts with label Travels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travels. Show all posts
Friday, June 05, 2015
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Today i spent over £4,000
Today Xss and I booked our flights. I am sure everyone who knows me must be more than fed up with me talking about going travelling and getting away from my British life. For those that aren't (or even those that are and want to learn when the annoying pain that is LE will bog off and shut up) here are the flights:
Early August (7th!) Fly from London to Rio, Brazil.
Stay in Brazil for 4 months (3 months on the farm)
Late November Fly from Rio to Santiago, Chile
Late November Fly from Santiago to Lima, Peru
Early December Fly from Lima to Cusco, Peru
See Machu Picchu
Mid December Fly from Cusco to Lima, Peru
Find a way to get to Iguitos/the Amazon and see the rainforest
Mid December Fly from Lima to Miami, USA
Late December Fly from Miami to Minnesota
Spend Christmas with my wonderful Russell Family
Late December Fly from Minnesota to LA, USA
Drive to Death Valley and Las Vegas and back
Early January Fly from LA to Tokyo, Japan
Go see Kyoto
Mid January Fly from Tokoyo to Puket, Thailand
Spend one month in Thailand volunteer placement in a Zoo
One month in Cambodian volunteer placement teaching English.
Go overland to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Mid May Fly from Hanoi to Hong Kong
Mid May Fly from Hong Kong to Dehli, India
Overland to Goa
Early June Fly from Goa to LONDON BABY!
Early August (7th!) Fly from London to Rio, Brazil.
Stay in Brazil for 4 months (3 months on the farm)
Late November Fly from Rio to Santiago, Chile
Late November Fly from Santiago to Lima, Peru
Early December Fly from Lima to Cusco, Peru
See Machu Picchu
Mid December Fly from Cusco to Lima, Peru
Find a way to get to Iguitos/the Amazon and see the rainforest
Mid December Fly from Lima to Miami, USA
Late December Fly from Miami to Minnesota
Spend Christmas with my wonderful Russell Family
Late December Fly from Minnesota to LA, USA
Drive to Death Valley and Las Vegas and back
Early January Fly from LA to Tokyo, Japan
Go see Kyoto
Mid January Fly from Tokoyo to Puket, Thailand
Spend one month in Thailand volunteer placement in a Zoo
One month in Cambodian volunteer placement teaching English.
Go overland to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Mid May Fly from Hanoi to Hong Kong
Mid May Fly from Hong Kong to Dehli, India
Overland to Goa
Early June Fly from Goa to LONDON BABY!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
We're going to find Duplo....
Xss and i are in the final stages of booking our flights and projects for our trip away. We have finalised it down to 3 projects we would like to do in South East Asia:
Work in a Zoo in Thailand- What better way to be allowed to do a job that you are completely unqualified for and would never be allowed to do in the UK, than to go to a developing country! Yippee. We love the idea of this one as we wont have to learn much local language, and it wont be very emotionally draining (sorry cute cuddly animals, we care about you really). Must remember not to make comments like- i'd like a pet Lorris monkey, to live in a rainforest lounge room i'd create so he can learn cool tricks, and generally be a novelty in my otherwise non-comment worthy existence. I'd call him Duplo. This project is also all really rather ironic as i had a huge rant at Lovely the other day about how it was silly to care about and help animals when there are so many deserving people in the world that also need out help.
Luckily, The other two projects are more meaningful:
Work teaching English in Cambodia- This would be with street children in a day centre and so would be more valuable a thing to do than the above, but only for a few hours a day and then free time to explore.
Work teaching staff at a small local tourist cafe in the middle of somewhere, English (in Cambodia as well).
So we need to decide between the bottom two. I am more keen on the bottom one as we are spending 3 months with street kids in Brazil, and will hopefully have spent so long making meaningful relationships (we are even taking Portuguese classes) and fitting in with the culture so intricately that it might be hard to throw ourselves into this environment again so quickly, especially for a shorter period.
The ones that didn't make the grade: Working in a tiger reserve in India- i am still keen to fit this in! Living on a commune in south India, working with Elephants in Cambodia, washing them feeding them etc, and working in a forest in Cambodia to stop poachers and track use etc.
Am excited to book soon. What an adventure. Why do we never think to so these things when we are working. I could totally have taken a month off work before to go to one of these projects, and most of them only cost local currency when you are there.
So far the country hit list goes as follows:
Brazil
Chile
Peru
USA
Japan
Thailand
Cambodia
Vietnam
Laos?
Hong Kong?
India
Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Work in a Zoo in Thailand- What better way to be allowed to do a job that you are completely unqualified for and would never be allowed to do in the UK, than to go to a developing country! Yippee. We love the idea of this one as we wont have to learn much local language, and it wont be very emotionally draining (sorry cute cuddly animals, we care about you really). Must remember not to make comments like- i'd like a pet Lorris monkey, to live in a rainforest lounge room i'd create so he can learn cool tricks, and generally be a novelty in my otherwise non-comment worthy existence. I'd call him Duplo. This project is also all really rather ironic as i had a huge rant at Lovely the other day about how it was silly to care about and help animals when there are so many deserving people in the world that also need out help.
Luckily, The other two projects are more meaningful:
Work teaching English in Cambodia- This would be with street children in a day centre and so would be more valuable a thing to do than the above, but only for a few hours a day and then free time to explore.
Work teaching staff at a small local tourist cafe in the middle of somewhere, English (in Cambodia as well).
So we need to decide between the bottom two. I am more keen on the bottom one as we are spending 3 months with street kids in Brazil, and will hopefully have spent so long making meaningful relationships (we are even taking Portuguese classes) and fitting in with the culture so intricately that it might be hard to throw ourselves into this environment again so quickly, especially for a shorter period.
The ones that didn't make the grade: Working in a tiger reserve in India- i am still keen to fit this in! Living on a commune in south India, working with Elephants in Cambodia, washing them feeding them etc, and working in a forest in Cambodia to stop poachers and track use etc.
Am excited to book soon. What an adventure. Why do we never think to so these things when we are working. I could totally have taken a month off work before to go to one of these projects, and most of them only cost local currency when you are there.
So far the country hit list goes as follows:
Brazil
Chile
Peru
USA
Japan
Thailand
Cambodia
Vietnam
Laos?
Hong Kong?
India
Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Latest Moan
Eu sou uma peru. My Portuguese is not coming along at all!! I have finished a whole term of it and i still feel like i cant say anything! It doesn't help that class is on a Monday night 7.30-9.30 by which stage i am fighting to stay awake, and the only thing that interests me on top of that is making sure that the teacher moves on to interrogate the next student as soon as possible, without me making too much of a fool of myself.
We are also struggling to locate a second project to work on in SE Asia, and want to book our flights soon...... the pressure is on! Hopefully by the new year it will all be booked and we will be definitely be going. I'll post the itinerary soon.
I haven't written on her for a while as work is so stressful. People are leaving each week, and we have only a handful of new starters to combat this, coupled with an increased number of referrals! I do feel so sorry for the Americans that have come over though (lots form Miami) as social work is so culturally different and where as before they might have stood a chance of removing kids from risky situations before they have suffered harm, here the standard has pretty much got to the stage where several, very bad things, have had to have actually happened (and been proved by the police investigation), before we can even approach the courts.
Well, at least we are trying to make a difference. Social services are always seen as the bad guys, and it makes me frustrated that charities like 'Kids Company' are praised, people raise money for them and they can give out money and Christmas presents galor, are held in high esteem for working with such difficult young people, but Social Services are legal bound NOT to do most of these things (no handouts), work with the same kids (and their families) and are constantly slated in the press. Roll on a positive press campaign from Britain soon!
P.S Tx comes home next Friday from Uganda for a break- SOOOO excited.
We are also struggling to locate a second project to work on in SE Asia, and want to book our flights soon...... the pressure is on! Hopefully by the new year it will all be booked and we will be definitely be going. I'll post the itinerary soon.
I haven't written on her for a while as work is so stressful. People are leaving each week, and we have only a handful of new starters to combat this, coupled with an increased number of referrals! I do feel so sorry for the Americans that have come over though (lots form Miami) as social work is so culturally different and where as before they might have stood a chance of removing kids from risky situations before they have suffered harm, here the standard has pretty much got to the stage where several, very bad things, have had to have actually happened (and been proved by the police investigation), before we can even approach the courts.
Well, at least we are trying to make a difference. Social services are always seen as the bad guys, and it makes me frustrated that charities like 'Kids Company' are praised, people raise money for them and they can give out money and Christmas presents galor, are held in high esteem for working with such difficult young people, but Social Services are legal bound NOT to do most of these things (no handouts), work with the same kids (and their families) and are constantly slated in the press. Roll on a positive press campaign from Britain soon!
P.S Tx comes home next Friday from Uganda for a break- SOOOO excited.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The Start
So its Sunday afternoon and i am BORED. Xss gone to see his parents, Tx gone to Uganda, and no-one else bored enough to engage with me.
Thought i'd get this blog up and running again in order to map my progress of moving from London, sorted, friendly, domestic straggler, into Development Dynamic, communune owning nanny with a rainbow of children hanging off her apron tails.
Currently Xss and i are looking to leave next summer earliest after his sister gets married, and look at doing something for a year before reconsidering. haha.
Project Xss found last week looks promising with a position in 'research on child traffiking'! thats up my alley but will i find it too sad, as i imagine with all these things, its not so much the outcome of each of these individual children that counts, but the details around each of their sad stories.
Task for the week: Read more about Outreach International
Thought i'd get this blog up and running again in order to map my progress of moving from London, sorted, friendly, domestic straggler, into Development Dynamic, communune owning nanny with a rainbow of children hanging off her apron tails.
Currently Xss and i are looking to leave next summer earliest after his sister gets married, and look at doing something for a year before reconsidering. haha.
Project Xss found last week looks promising with a position in 'research on child traffiking'! thats up my alley but will i find it too sad, as i imagine with all these things, its not so much the outcome of each of these individual children that counts, but the details around each of their sad stories.
Task for the week: Read more about Outreach International
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