(Andrew) With over 44,000 crocodiles, Padenga Crocodile Farm on Lake Kariba is one of the largest of its kind. At the age of 3, its reptilian inhabitants are slaughtered for their precious skin, which is sold in today’s markets. We arrived off of our houseboat and were greeted by a pool of disinfectant to dip […]
Read moreSand Playground
(Andrew) In the Sahara there is SAND. Sand behind your ear, sand in your hair, sand in your shoes and sand in towering dunes. We arrived in Erg Chebbi after 3 hours in our Hyundai Minivan. Everyone was exhausted but buzzing because of the view of the dunes. As soon as we had unpacked, we […]
Read moreHappy 2012
Naya sala mubaraka ho! Feliz Año Nuevo! furaha ya mwaka mpya! Hamingjusamur Nytt Ar! Stastny Novy Rok! Happy New Year! Which photo do we use for our holiday card? When will the cards get back from the printer? Are all of our addresses up-to-date? Did we buy enough international stamps? This holiday, we decided […]
Read moreLast Day Thoughts
We made a video of the kids’ feelings about the year before the trip; what they looked forward to, were afraid of and what they most anticipated. That video is in the Preparation section of this site. Now, as we wrestle with re-entry and the rhythm of everyday life, we will try to capture some […]
Read moreAndrew’s Guide to a Kid’s Best Travel Day
(Andrew) Here are some good hints I have learned over the last year: Either wake up or just stand up. On early mornings you have to get out of bed or you miss the flight. Plain and simple; you sleep, no travel. Put on some nice, baggy, comfortable clothes (cotton t-shirts and sweatpants work best.) […]
Read moreLiving La Vida Hamster
(Andrew) Zorbing: the activity of rolling down a hill while strapped inside an extremely large plastic ball. That is the definition of zorbing from the PC dictionary. We zorbed today. What the dictionary doesn’t describe is that it is REALLY FUN! What the dictionary also doesn’t describe is that you can also zorb not strapped […]
Read moreDude, Turn Off Your Butt
(Andrew) Our first major activity in New Zealand was going on the Spellbound Cave tour which includes seeing the spectacular luminous glowworms. The cave that we went to was the place that BBC Planet Earth filmed the segment on glowworms. This place was the best place to go. We drove to the pickup place from […]
Read moreCannibal Sleepover
(Andrew) I was not looking forward to this village stay even though Papua New Guinean people are very friendly. We left our lodge on the Karawari River and boarded a very long motorized dug out canoe. We passed many small villages and I hoped that none were ours because I was looking for the 5-star […]
Read moreBirthday Star Galactica
(Andrew) Our flight landed in Singapore airport at 10:00 pm from Jakarta, Indonesia. It left the next day at 11:00 pm to Port Moresby, PNG. A full 24 hours in Singapore! As a compromise for having a longhouse birthday (see Reis’ post), Dad agreed to take us to Universal Studios Singapore, even though it was […]
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