Category Archives: Family Travel

I only wanted a little swim!

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I love Brazil, it’s an assault on all your senses, from the smells to the sounds to the sights. It’s also a full blown assault on your wallet, especially when the world cup is on. Although we knew it wouldn’t be cheap so I can’t complain, but I do feel a little like I have a target on my back.

Brazil’s hilarious as it grinds to a halt when theres a game on, let alone when Brazil are playing! We had asked for something in the room and were told it would be delivered when the game had finished, no “would you mind…?” just “no” for a moment it felt strangely Parisian. There was absolutely no one on the streets either as the bars and restaurants were crammed with people. I don’t think any nation on earth could be as football mad as Brazil, the atmosphere is amazing because of it.

So the other day we were leaving Salvador for the little island of Boipeba, out in the middle of nowhere which, with enough luggage to sink a small boat became a bit of an undertaking.

Taxi to port: Check (30mins)

Ferry to Bom Despacho: Check (1 hour)

Coach to Valenca: check (1 1/2 hours)

Speedboat to Boipeba: check (1 hour of hanging on)

Boy to carry luggage in little wheelbarrow that was bigger than him: check (15 minutes)

Tractor for last 4 kms through flipping rainforest: CHECK! (15 minutes)

And after all that…we finally arrived at a little slice of paradise in the middle of nowhere at Casa Bobo a little eco resort. Right now we are all sat on our bungalows veranda listening to crickets, and other animals that if I were walking down an alley late at night and heard the same sound I’d turn around and walk the other way but it’s ok here as we are in the middle of nowhere… But despite the strange noises it really is beautiful here, it’s all little bungalows with wooden walkways and low lighting.

Now some people might say that eco is synonymous with the guilt ridden green excuse to extort wads of cash from unsuspecting mugs like me, and they’d be right of course, but now that we are here I can see why people love it so much and it really is worth every penny.

So after a lovely dinner of pasta with lobster we sat on the veranda looking up at the night sky which was filled with stars, more than I have ever seen anywhere. And once again I realise how incredibly lucky we are to be able to be here together…Although I haven’t seen the bill yet so in four days time it could be a completely different story!

Oh and on a final note anyone thinking of travelling to Salvador, take note, everything seems to cost 20 Reais:

Excuse me, how much move my luggage 20 meters when I could have done it “20 Reais signor”

Excuse me signor taxi driver how much to drive just around the next corner? “20 Reais”

Excuse me how… “20 Reais”

You’re starting to see the pattern? That target’s getting bigger and bigger, and as long as we keep ravelling with half the world in our luggage I fear it can only get worse so as soon as possible we will be unburdening ourselves of as much “stuff” as possible. You should have seen us today, it was embarrassing, we looked like American tourists.

Right I have to go now and spend the next half hour chasing a bloody mosquito around our room with an eco slipper!

 

Tickets please ! Tickets s’il vous plait!

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For weeks, we’ve been waiting for this one day. Mum and Dad have been : shopping, organising, stressing, the whole lot really. I think it was about 5  days ago that the removal company came and took everything. And when I mean everything, it’s e-ve-ry thing : bed, TV, sofa etc. we had to sleep on the floor for 2 nights then went to my grand dad flat for the 2 last nights. Everyone we told about our world trip was very envious (and I sort of understand them).
Baba and Dada took us to Heathrow airport. We said lots of farewell and good bye and felt a mixture of sadness and happiness. We were checked by security and dad biped as usual.
Our first flight was to São Paulo at 9h50pm to then go to Salvador at 10h45am the following day.
We arrived in Salvador at 1pm. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, the Hit Hotel. In my opinion it is a very strange name. On our way to the hotel we didn’t see anyone in the street and then realised that a big football match was on: Brazil v chile. We settled in our bedroom with views of the ocean and quickly turn on the TV to watch the match .  It was a very tight match and they had to go to penalties. Brazil won 5/3.  In the streets, and little bars, people were celebrating, singing, playing the drum…

Finally  we went for a swim in the sea. Although it is winter here the weather is very hot and the water is very warm and clear.

From Porto de Barra, there was an amazing sunset and everybody clapped when it was over, that was funny!

We slept very well that night!

Max

Cela fait des semaines que nous attendons ce moment. Maman et papa ont passe beaucoup de temps a organiser, stresser et preparer notre depart et tout et tout. Il y a 5 jours a peu pres, les demenageurs sont venus vider la maison, il sont tout pris, absolument tout. Nous avons dormis par terre pendant 2 nuits puis sommes alles dormir chez Dada les 2 nuits avant de partir. Nous sommes prets a partir enfin. Dada et Baba nous ont accompagnes a l’aeroport. Nous avons dit au revoir, c’etait un melange de tristesse et de joie. Nous passions les douanes et papa bip déjà, ca commence bien!
Notre premier vol nous emmene a São Paulo et tout de suite après nous allons a Salvador de Bahia. Nous partons a 9h50 du soir et arriverons a 13h a Salvador qui a 4h de moins que Londres.

A Salvador les rues sont vides, jusqua ce que nous arrivions dans le centre ou plein de gens, tous en t- shirts jaunes Brazil se dirigent vers la plage. Nous nous rappelons qu’il y a gros match: bresil / chilli et de grands ecrans sont sur la plage pour suivre les matches. Nous arrivions a notre hotel, qui s’appelle Hit hotel, bizarre, et nous allons vite dans notre chambre pour suivre la fin du match. Le bresil gagne et la ville se reveille avec plein de gens dans la rue qui chantent, rient et font du tambourin. ..

Nous finissons la journee avec une baignade dans la mer. C’est l’hiver Ici mais il fait tres chaud et l’eau est bonne. De la plage de Porto de Barra, nous avons un magnifique coucher du soleil, une fois finit, tout le monde applaudit, c’est drole!

On va bien dormir ce soir!

And so it begins

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Leaving is so strange as right now it still just feels like just another holiday. We are so glad to have left the last moments of madness, of running from one place to another arranging sorting and completing. And before we knew it we were in the calm of the airport saying our goodbyes to loved ones.

Our flight from London to São Paolo was decidedly un eventful apart from waking a couple of times to find Alex lying across the passenger sat next to him, who seemed nonplussed.

The four hour wait for our next flight to Salvador was a little tedious but we amused ourselves people watching, arguing (the boys… Again), and wandering around the behemoth that is Gru airport. I have never seen so much coronary inducing food under one roof, in my life, it was amazing. You know things are bad when McDonald’s is the healthiest option, but this may also have been because I managed to lose some weight while waiting in the queue as the staff moved at a glacial pace. It wasn’t that they weren’t that interested, or trying, it was just that no matter how hard they tried they just couldn’t do things quickly. I’ve never seen anything like it, they also seemed to be side tracked by anything vaguely more interesting than serving people, which amounted to pretty much anything really. Of course when one of them decided to try to tune the TV in, well the whole place virtually ground to a halt!

Finally able to check in for the connection flight, which meant more security checks and the inevitable hilarity as dad set off the alarm and had to be double checked… Again! Although this wasn’t as intrusive as the Heathrow check, as this guy was either thoroughly convinced I was a terrorist and determined to prove so and conduct the most thorough check short of producing rubber gloves or he fancied me!

So we finally made it to the hotel, only to find we had booked the wrong dates AND I didn’t have my PIN numbers for my new credit cards so can’t use them! And this is only day one…

Leaving…

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The loveliest thing about leaving is that you get to see everyone you love, and then you leave.
The problem with leaving is that you see everyone you love, and then you leave!

We take so much for granted and a trip away like this makes me realise this so much. It’s so easy to assume people will always be there and so we may see less of them as a consequence. But take away the possibility and you come to realise how special your friends and family are to you. We’ve had some wonderful days/evenings reminiscing and this made me feel quite nostalgic.

As part of the cleansing process we decided to get rid of the boxes of photographs that had sat gathering dust in a cupboard, rarely seeing the light of day. So we spent about three evenings sitting at the dining table surrounded by piles of photographs trying to divide them up. And gradually we have been able to give them to people and it’s been wonderful seeing their reactions as some of the photos were over twenty five years old. I would recommend this to everyone, if you haven’t used it/worn it/played with it for over a year get rid of it or give it to someone else, who’ll keep it for years and probably never use it, but at least then it’s their problem.

We are really going to miss you all so much!

TADAAA!

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Easy as….

From….ooh why didn’t we get you in sooner you strapping young man!

Image

To…. Are you sure about this… Image

To… our first load: Image

To… I’m really not so sure about this… Image

To… a flat in box… Image

And now all we have to do is find a tv so we can watch England v Uruguay!

And the list goes on… and on…. and on…

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This week I have mostly been….

Getting jabbed… AGAIN!

Boxing STUFF… AGAIN!

Contacting the various companies to stop various over priced services, and re-contacting and then contacting them again as I couldn’t remember the surname of the person who served me in Byron last time we were there so failed the security section of my call… AGAIN!

In France… eating Waahaaay too much… AGAIN!

Actually we spent a wonderful weekend in France as it was my father in laws 80th birthday, so the family got together to celebrate. We all sat around listening to fabulous stories from his youth, the war and everything else in between. And what a fantastic life he’s had, it made me realize that this trip we are embarking on is a good idea despite all the turmoil and strain. I want to have wonderful stories to tell my grandchildren but above all I want be able to look back and, hopefully, say I made the most of my time.

…SO I have taken to comfort eating and so to cap it all, rather than the buff look I had worked all winter to achieve, I will be THAT fat bloke who really shouldn’t be wearing Speedos but hopefully manages to carry it off with the panache of a French man on the Cote D’Azur. So with my Speedos leaving very little to the imagination I will proudly pull them up as high at modesty will allow and then will stroll up and down the beach looking bored and smoking Gaulloise cigarettes while listening to this:

The flat is gradually developing more and more of an echo as we dismantle, dump and pack our life, but it’s becoming more and more refreshing and liberating as we go. Although I am completely over not being able to find ANYTHING I need… sunglasses…adaptor… various cables, however I have found my old silver ring which will look fab with my Speedos! YAY!

So on that note, and image, I will leave you and go to dismantle something then lose part of it. I’m kind of hoping it will be my turntable which was one of those purchases that only a man can make where nostalgia and fond memories overtake common sense as it never EVER gets used!

Emptying it all out

Emptying it all out

Fitting a lifetime dream in 6 months of travelling

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Children favourite destinationsThe excitement is huge, no doubts about it. So many places to see, so many things to do!!

The kids help us mark on a world map all the places we want to visit.  First on their list: Orlando’s Disney World, hum not what we had in mind! Then comes the North Pole,  Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, Sydney’s Opera House, they also want to climb mountains, trek the jungle, visit the Amazon.

Rj is easy, wants to see and capturing it all, through his camera lens. His big wish, however, is Japan and the Sakura.

As for me,  the dream is to visit Amazonian tribes and Peru’s rich historical landscape. I also really would like to focus on meeting local people and children wherever we go for the boys to appreciate the cultural differences, and what it means in the day to day life.

From here in London, the World seems so small and accessible: all the destinations are available, the travel expertise at hand, there are plenty of people that have visited your destination already and that can guide your travels…

A year would have been ideal but the school has only allowed us a term off (which we feel very lucky to have got considering the high profile of the school). The plan is to combine this to the long French summer break and we’ll have just 6 months to do Our little tour around the world!

So here we are, looking at travels guides and searching the internet for information about our destinations.  The cheer amount of resources is overwhelming in itself: from friends advice and recommendations, blogs, touring websites, travel guides, and photography books, we are not running out of sources of inspiration… We could nearly complain that it is too much! So we are dissecting every blogs and books to source the best of the best for our little tour.

And there we have it: it will have to be compromise!  6 months will definitely not be sufficient to fit everybody’s dreams and cover all 5 continents in sufficient depth. No North Pole, no Great Wall of China, but we have Machu Piccu and the Opera House! We also have the trekking and the jungle, the elephants, the monkeys, the pink dolphins and pyranas. No one seems disappointed for too long, we soon realise that there is much more to see out there that our original wishes are quickly overwritten by new dreams.

The line drawn on the world map has therefore changed and the main legs of the trip are finalised : It will be London – Brazil – Peru /Bolivia/Chile – Australia – Singapore – London. Lost of gaps to fill, especially between Singapore and London as we are planning on travelling through a fair few asian countries by any mean but flying. Lots of roads to map, trains and buses to book, people to meet. Exciting!

 

 

 

De-cluttering

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It’s funny but the more we box up the more I realise I don’t actually need all that “stuff” that just seems to clutter our lives. Yet when it’s lying there I cannot imagine being without that peaked cap we bought in Italy that says “Italia” in big bold letters across the front. Despite the fact I have never been bold enough to wear it in public, I might just want to one day. I could say the same about so many things: The Gaggia coffee machine that, like everything Italian, looks fabulous but never worked properly, the dab clock radio with a menu so complicated that if my life depended on it I couldn’t program a radio station. Don’t get me started on the mandolin that someone gave me…

It’s only because we are about to leave for so long that we have had to de-clutter, and it’s very liberating and I wish we had done it sooner. Various articles and books extoll the virtues of de-cluttering and downsizing and like so many self help mantras they are put off for another day but now that we are in the process I am getting a taste for it.

The boys have found it harder to part with their Playmobil, Lego and guns and stuff that they never play with anymore but we have managed to sneak things out although there will be hell to pay when they realise. As they seem to grow out of clothes every couple of days getting rid of clothing was easier than expected, I wish I could say the same for me! Although I drew the line at the 80’s camel overcoat, I have noticed it’s only when something is gone that you’ll admit it looked bloody awful on you, is that a bloke thing?

So onwards and upwards to a newer, lighter and less encumbered life.

 

30 days to go: can the pre-travel logistics kill the dream?

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When thinking and planning to travel, One usually expect a number of twists and turns, losses, sickness, delays, and more, especially with children.

I knew that this very trip, because of its cheer size, would be particularly challenging to organise: packing home, organising the removal & storage, cancelling our administrative life in London, handing over responsibilities at work, planning our route throughout the world, organising all the jabs and the strategic packing for 6 months, all at once, was never to be easy.

Recently however, new and unexpected challenges have arisen:
– the flat is now nearly empty and done up but renting has suddenly come to worry us: the first 2 viewers didn’t jump on the offer and we wonder whether our plans to finance the trip will end to be reviewed. The financial worries always keep me up at night which turn the littlest worry in a massive anxiety! I have started meditating again…

  • Getting visas into India has proven to be an incredible challenge: 4 trips to their offices, a massive pile of paperwork to sign, fill and bring, justifications and proofs required…they even told Rj “not to bother (visiting India)”. Should we really? We persist, India has to be a big part of our trip…

  • The kids although excited are clearly anxious about this big adventure and the move. They show concern about having little bits of their life with us. A couple of “doudous” (soft toys comforters) will make the trip with us!
    (They are not too worried about missing a term of school, neither am I but I still need to ensure we come back with the knowledge required! )

Some days, we ask ourselves, is it really worth it? Do we really need to go through all this for a 6 months adventure?
Many people told us they couldn’t do it, I start to understand why…
But it’s our dream and leaving aside all very inconvenient practicalities, this is what we want to do and experience with our children!
Anyways, we are deep in it to the shoulders now, so let’s breath deeply and face to the challenges thrown at us! 30 days to go!

–

oh dear God

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You have got to be kidding. How is it possible that the three times I have now tried to get our Indian visas I have been sent away with a new list of requirements?!?!

So today’s went something like this:

Officious man behind impressive desk with way too shiny a head

“You can’t apply for a visa more than two months before you want to travel to India”

Me, now losing the will to live

“I know but I was told I could because we are travelling from June 27th”

“You will need to apply in august” he said, completely ignoring what I had just said

“We can’t apply in august as we are leaving at the end of….(slight pause for emphasis)…June”

“Can’t you come back in August?”

“No….we can’t….as….” And it just trailed off as his eyes glazed over and then repeated

“You will need to apply in August”

“Someone said we might be able to add a covering letter explaining how we are leaving London for good at the end of June and therefore can’t be back for August, is this correct?” I said.

“Yes, you can do that” he said matter of factly

At which point I wanted to lean across his rather too large desk and slap him on the head.

So with another list of things that need signing and counter signing I left and scootered home in the rain, which somehow was a perfect reflection of my mood. It will be worth it in the end, I think.

 

Stepping out of our comfort zone: when planning a trip becomes daunting

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Travel sources, maps, guides, blogs

Travel sources, maps, guides, blogs

We have now come to realise that planning a trip of that size can be somewhat overwhelming.

In our case, planning the trip also involves leaving a business and a good school behind and renting our flat to finance the trip. We are therefore talking removal, furniture storage, responsibilities hand over, agreements with the school as well as booking flights, finding hotels, best routes and tours through unknown territories, for us that is.

At night, I wake up in a sweat, wondering how on earth we will manage to do all we have to do in 4, 3 and now 2 months…

We have booked the main legs of our trip, all 6 of them, having to decide on where we will be when and when we will have enough of it…tick.

We have found out about visas and time restriction and rearranged our trips around them. We think. tick.

We have called the insurance and planned our jabs (a massive list of them – the kids are going to hate us!) .tick.

We have found and booked reasonable (not cheap) accommodation in super-expensive and World cup pumped up Rio in July 2014, tick.

We have had the estate agents around, we need to contact them again a months before leaving and contacted the decorators to touch up the place. tick.

I am briefing and training my workmates and transferring all the information to them so that they can take over, hopefully smoothly. tick.

A few issues remain to be sorted out:

– how do we pack super light and have everything we need from tropical beaches to 3000m climb?

– how not too over plan and benefit from flight special offers and visa requirements?

– travel sickness, hmmm…

Let’s sleep on it!

 

From Dream to Plan

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Ranj and I always had itchy feet…that story started well before we met each other, it’s in our blood!

Ranj enjoyed a few holidays trips around the world whist I only really travelled in my dreams. A few trips to Spain were my first tasters and initiated a real curiosity for Latin and South American cultures. A dream that I decided to follow when leaving France in 96 and settling down in London as a

a world adventure with kids

a world adventure with kids

step to further destinations.

Combined, our families originate from 5 different countries. Add to this the origins inheritated ‘by law’: we now have 8 nationalities sitting around the table on a regular basis! French, Italian, Spanish, British, Indian are now joined up by Brazilian, Irish and Thai.

Both our families had travelled substantially: on Ranj side, the family tree covered India, Kenya, Malawi before joining the Italian line of his mother’s family; on my side France and Spain were the source but the tales came from travels through Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Tchad and Algeria.

For our boys, there is no such thing as a Home country. The world is their oyster!

For us, with the family stretching across the globe, the World just got much smaller and the Dream bigger!

It is time to pack up and taste the dream…