Why Bother?

Wildlife

2008-09-17T12:35:00.004+01:00

Nurse Shark in Sydney Aquarium

"Always wear sun block: Sydney is the world capital of skin cancer, swim between the flags and stay away from the spiders." This was Gary's advice before leaving us to our first day in Australia. Twenty four hours later we had already our first meeting with the local fauna. Sara deserves honorary citizenship after the baptism of Tasmanian Sea. After just five minutes on Coogee Beach she was stung by a Bluebottle, a jellyfish (or rather a 'Colony of medusoids' as the sour puff in Wylies Baths pointed out "It's not dangerous!"), known even as 'Portuguese Man O'War'. Forty minutes of screams, ammonia and cortisone later, the child started to finally calm down. Today she is fine again and proudly displays a fire-red bracelet around the lower part of her right leg as an original form of body art. Not bad as a first day, even if it could have been worse... a lot worse in fact!

Despite the fact that they are really everywhere and the most common terror associated with Australia, sharks are responsible of just one fatality per year (apparently all Japanese tourists). As far as flamboyant killers are concerned, Australians talk with much more respect of salties, the crocodiles that live at the estuaries of rivers. A few years ago there was a particularly cranky one somewhere near Darwin. One day, bothered by the engines of big off shores, he bit one and took away the whole back part of the boat. After the incident, they decided to put him to a better use and now he is stuffed and on display in a museum. Into his open jaws can comfortably walk in a man of medium height.

The ones that statistically do the biggest damage are the insects. Amongst my favourites: "Red Back", a small (-ish!) spider belonging to the family of the Black Widow, found in gardens and houses. A single bite will send you to hospital or, failing to find an antidote, to the other world. "Sydney Funnel Web Spider", even worse but they assure me it's not that common to meet one. While the Red Back behaves like a normal spider, biting only when threatened, the Funnel Web is aggressive and often comes for you. The antidote was only recently discovered and since then there haven't been any deaths associated with this spider.

Two more cute marine creatures that will kill you as quick as look at you are the 'Box Jelly Fish", a small one but carrying a mortal venom and the "Blue Ringed Octopus", an octopus that carries enough venom to kill twenty adults in a few minutes. In the right season, both of these creatures are carried to shore by the waves and they can be found on the beach. I start asking myself if we'll be able to survive the next three months!

More Photos...

2008-09-17T12:32:00.002+01:00

... and from the water!

Sydney Harbour from the ferry

... and from Ludi and Gary's balcony.

THE Picture...

2008-09-17T12:30:00.001+01:00

... from different points of view.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Opera House from Circular Quay

... from Botanic Gardens

The CBD

... and again!

Randwick Residents

2008-09-17T12:04:00.003+01:00

Another ten hour flight, Qantas this time and boy, were we impressed!, and without even realizing it we find ourselves in the second part of the trip. The lack of jet lag is a welcome change. The welcome committee came to collect us in Sydney Airport: Ludi and Gary came to meet us and after a glass of wine, obviously Australian, left us to take possession of the two rooms plus balcony that for the next few weeks we'll call home. At last we emptied the suitcases and put our things in cupboards and drawers. Nina and Sara rediscovered TV and all the cartoons they normally watch back home. The washing machine is already overworked. We are on Alison Road, in the quarter of Randwick, 20 minutes by bus from Circular Quay and 10 from Coogee beach. It's raining at the moment, but it is still hot and from the window opened on the communal garden we have already heard the first kookaburra laugh. The atmosphere is no different from many inner suburbs of London or Wexford Street in Dublin. On Belmore Road, which we discovered today, coffee shops, Lebanese, Chinese and Thai take-aways alternate to laundrettes, travel agencies and small corner shops. Grannies with their shopping trolleys, children eating ice-creams and backpackers stroll in the street, in and out of the shops. Despite the unmissable Vodafone Shop, the quarter has a very authentic atmosphere, of a place where people really live, love and work, not like an antiseptic, anonymous shopping centre. We did our shopping on foot, buying from the baker, the local green grocers that has a huge variety of tropical fruit and veggies rarely seen before. We had our first latte and made the first discoveries: a sushi bar and a shop selling Italian goods like buffalo mozzarella and Parma ham. Even Nina and Sara helped us carrying the bags. Once back home, we had dinner on the balcony and after having cooked for the first time in three weeks, we can say we have definitely settled into our new Australian life.

Five Pills to Survive China

2008-09-16T16:40:00.004+01:00

And we are nearly at the end of the first stop, all in one piece and within budget. After having seen the Bund, the French Concession, Pearl Tower and the old city, the last thrill that Shanghai has to offer will be the Maglev Train (some are more excited than others), the magnetic levitation train that will take us to Pudong International Airport. After having kicked the cases in a fit of rage (mine) in Yichang Airport, finally we got rid of some stuff and sent home the first parcel. I am more and more convinced that the only essential things are passport and credit cards, the rest is useless. Even more, it's a burden. Anything can be bought and abandoned on the way.

Having said that, now a few lines to share the wisdom of three weeks in China:

1) Public toilets are disgusting and the place is in general very polluted. I don't have the numbers, and probably the official ones differ from the real ones a great deal, but they must be dying by the thousands of respiratory problems caused by the poisonous air of the big cities.

2) To avoid the curse of Shi Huang Di, never put into your mouth water that is not boiled or bought, not even to brush your teeth. Eat only where the locals do, even in the streets, but avoid any kind of raw food. Westerner cuisine is available almost everywhere (even chains like Pizza Hut, Starbucks, McDonald's etc), but it costs like in Europe and it is neither as clean nor as tasty as the local one.

3) Even if they spit everywhere and they really do not know how to queue, (they'll try to stampede you but if you complain firmly they politely stand aside), Chinese people are very open and curious about foreigners. We never felt threatened or in danger, not even in the dodgy parts of Beijing or Shanghai, maybe because they have a more refined, almost elegant way of stealing money from us laowei=foreigners... that brings me to the next point:

4) Always haggle every price, in shops, but even restaurants, hotels and taxis:

"How much to take me to the airport?"
"150."
"90!"
"150!!"
"90, and if you make me miss my plane I won't give you even those!!!"
"OK, 90."
Even this way, as soon as you lower your guard, and in three weeks it has happened only too often, they take you for a ride.

5) Very few speak English, the little they speak is a more or less incomprehensible form of Chinglish. Even signs and information are rarely translated. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME WITHOUT SOME CHINESE!! All the independent travelers we met had at least a bit of Chinese.

Various:
Unless you have some specific reasons, like a timetable similar to our own, avoid winter and summer as the weather is extreme.

Hotels, hostels and guesthouses:
Beijing: Novotel Xinqiao
Xi'an; Bell Tower Hotel
Chengdu: Sim's Cozy Guesthouse
Yangtze: Victoria Cruise
Shanghai: The Seventh Heaven
The only cash machine who speaks English: Bank of China
Chain of Japanese restaurants cheap and clean: Ramen Ajisien
For the first time the Rough Guide disappointed us. Imprecise and not up to date, we often had to improvise.

The heroes of our three weeks in China:
Beiyan who prevented a disaster by booking our transfers from Beijing to Xi'an, Xi'an-Chengdu, Yichang-Shanghai.
Jolin from Yatour that called on the phone to fill in the gaps in Brendan's Chinese that blocked the queue at the ticket office in the station, helped us to book the train from Chengdu to Chongqing.
Luther from Victoria Cruise, who let us out from the engine room of the ship and shouted for a taxi before we even docked, allowing us not to miss the plane for Shanghai.
Sim, because whoever can offer a bed and hot water for 5 euro per night, practically free food and make a profit, deserves to be a hero!
Brendan, 'wo de laogong', without whose irritating talent for speaking foreign languages we would have never survived 3 weeks of China without a scratch.

Thanks to all of those who left a comment, above all the new arrivals: Mauro, Luigi and Silvia, but even Max, Luz, Gio, Mamma, Ivan and Giangi. As soon as I'll be out from behind the Firewall I'll start to reply to everybody :-)

Next post from Sydney

Beijing: The Forbidden City

Tea House in Chengdu

Dian Dian

"How many of these will I have to kiss?!"

Shanghai: View from the Seventh Heaven

Loonie in Beijing Tea House

Backpackers

Pannacotta Warriors

2008-09-16T15:58:00.004+01:00

The thing we just can't get over as far as the children are concerned is their normal behaviour. All in all, they seem to be the same, just like at home. After having fallen asleep a couple of times with their heads on the table, they got over the jet lag quicker than us. They are pleasantly surprised by the interest they generate in the locals but every now and again they complain about somebody who goes too far hugging them without permission to take a photo.
They eat more or less anything, baozi and Gong Bao chicken becaming their favourites, but given the chance they still prefer to go to McDonald's and sometimes we give in and take them there. After one of the first days, when coming back from the Great Wall we had to get off a bus in an unknown suburb of Beijing and strip Sara in the middle of the road with -5C because she couldn't keep it in anymore. They are learning not only to eat but even to go to the toilet when possible rather than when they'd like to. In general, they have learned to exercise patience because in this kind of situation, often they can't satisfy a need when it arises the same way they would at home. They walk for kilometres in the cold and the rain, they don't complain about the limited wardrobe, asking to change their vest only when it smells of Pringles.
Whenever we go out in busy cities, they latch onto our hands and don't let go until we get back to our hotel. For now they seem happy enough with our company and don't look for their friends, even if they have already sent a few emails and written a couple of blog entries for their classes. Nina acquired a passion for flea markets and haggling, Sara still prefers big department stores. They do their homework, they read Harry Potter and the Famous Five, they play with their Nintendo DSs and bicker, like at home. They are curious and interested in the new things they see, but they are more concerned with what they'll have for dessert, exactly like at home.

Chinglish

2008-09-16T15:48:00.004+01:00

We have so far seen many examples of Chinglish but this one stands out:

After we spent the morning looking for a phantom tourist bus that should have taken us for a trip around the city, we arrived to Chenghuang Miao, another Chinatown for Chinese, where Brendan insisted in going for lunch to a place that according to the Book of Lies served authentic food. The girls and I, tired, cold, wet, and glancing longingly at a McDonalds, reluctantly followed him. When we finally arrived at our destination, we found this sign on a window of a canteen where people pushed their way through a crowd to get in:

"Dumplings stuffed with the ovary and digestive glands of a crad"

After a general mutiny we ended up in Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Shanghai

2008-09-16T13:33:00.003+01:00

After a week in the heart deep and spicy of China we arrive to Shanghai and WOW! It's like being beamed into another universe. More modern and sparkly than a European capital, with shops and cosmopolitan restaurants at every street corner, it seems well capable of satisfying any caprice. For the following 7 days, the Seventh Heaven, found in a French guide abandoned in Sim's library, will be our home. We are on the Nanjing Dong Lu, once a dangerous quarter frequented by sailors, now the most famous shopping street in China. The first 24 hours were definitely positive: we were pleasantly surprised with the first real cappuccino after the last one drank in Sardinia last September. Later we bought 1000 Nintendo DS Games for 60 euro, to Nina and Sara's delight.

We don't have any special ambitions for the next few days, we just want to explore the city at our leisure and take it easy. The days on the river have been intense, packed with excursions and guided tours, all laced with a cold that challenged even our extreme weather gear. Keeping an eye on our daughters while surrounded by water required our constant vigilance. Whenever given the chance, Sara ran on deck mimicking Kate on the stern of the boat, maybe hoping that Leo would save her, but having to settle in the end for her parents' telling off.

Three Days on the Yangtze

2008-09-16T13:31:00.002+01:00

Fengdu - the city of ghosts.

Gorges of the Yangtze

From Travellers to Tourists

2008-09-16T13:07:00.004+01:00

Trains stress me out. Chinese trains send me into a panic. Chengdu Station is better than the Beijing one, but people are the same: they push, they can't queue and passing the security checks with 80kg luggage while trying not to lose your daughters is a nightmare. Luckily the only tickets left were the expensive ones (5 euro a ticket for a 4 hour journey!) so we could use the VIP lounge where we spent a couple of hours before departure. Once again we were the only Westerners around, once again people were open, curious, almost anxious to make friends. After the initial faff getting settled into your seat, the train is always a good place to have a chat, to observe and learn something about the locals. Within the first hour, Brendan had engaged his neighbours into a debate on regional variations of Chinese cuisine. Soon even another four from the next row joined the discussion and half of the carriage was happily talking food. Sara and I, without any chance to contribute, were busy doing her maths homework under the scrutiny of our travel companions who commented on every page of the maths book, giving us big smiles every time Sara got the answers right. Getting off the train, everybody helped us with the luggage.

In Chongqing, our destination, we switched worlds. At the station, the tour operator came to collect us to bring us to the boat where we'll be spending the next three days on the Yangtze River, through the Three Gorges Dam, all the way to Yichang where we'll finally catch a flight to Shanghai. For the first time since we left home we give in to the luxury of delegating all responsibility, while putting ourselves in the capable hands of the organizers of the cruise. The idea of being just passengers for the next three days is pleasant but at the same time it feels odd to stick to somebody else's timetable. Even our travel mates are different from before, mostly English speaking and part of a group tour. The contrast with the atmosphere cultural-hippy from Sim's Garden Hostel is dramatic. The change requires a mental readjustment. Apart from everything, it is simply wonderful being able to dump your dirty jeans into the laundry bag to find them magically cleaned and ironed some hours later!

Chengdu

2008-09-15T13:12:00.006+01:00

The city is a black hole, there is no arguing with it. We got here from Xi'an by plane and immediately were suffocated by the smog in the air that sticks to your throat making breathing difficult. Chengdu seems to embody all the negative traits of China that we had so far escaped. The city is dirty, humid with a polluted fog that constantly shades the sun.

But apart from that, even Chengdu has its good side. The panda bears and the Giant Buddha of Leshan delivered on their promise. We saw the pandas from up close in a breeding colony on the outskirts of the city. It was a half day trip where we were all very taken with these giant teddies.

The statue of the Buddha was the most striking site so far. We reached the town of Leshan after a 4 hour journey in a car without any suspension. The motorway was closed due to fog and the driver had to take an alternative route through alleys clogged by traffic. Chinese people drive like crazy, overtaking on both sides, often even in the emergency lane. There seem to be no rules except the one that the biggest on the road has right of way. First buses, then cars, motorbikes and bicycles. Pedestrian do not count and every time you cross the road you take your life into your hands. Even getting off a bus, bicycles run you over without even slowing down.

The statue of the Buddha is 70 mt tall, sculpted in the mountain side and 1300 years old. It is inside a park with other temples and manicured gardens, at the end of a long staircase carved from the same rock as the statue.

The other cool thing about Chengdu is our guesthouse. At our arrival, after getting over the shock of seeing two pigs playing with a puppy in the garden, we immediately entered in the spirit of Sim's Cozy Guesthouse and mingled with its population. The washing machine is not as good as the one at home, the whole place is a bit of a mess because they just moved here, but staff are very friendly and welcoming and the food is to die for! Sechuanese cuisine is known worldwide as one of the best in China: it definitely didn't disappoint us. All dishes are very spicy because they are full of chili and sechuan pepper, but the flavours are original and well defined, the ingredients are fresh and even the vegetables don't lose their taste despite the spices. Sim's chef seems to be particularly gifted and able to concoct anything on the menu at any hour of the day or night. Here we have dinner, the four of us, with 4 euro including beer, while we sleep for 20e per night. Our favourite hangout is the Japanese style room on the second floor above the bar where sitting on the big cushions on the floor we eat, play mahjong or write a blog entry. Sara became best friends with Dian Dian, the puppy that was playing with the pigs on the first day. Every now and then he grabs the bottom of her jeans and doesn't let go until we lift her up. By now we look like real backpackers. Shame that tomorrow we have to leave.

Xi'an

2008-09-15T12:27:00.004+01:00

We got to Xi'an after a 12 hour trip by night train. Beijing Western Station was quite difficult to negotiate. It's as big as an airport and extremely busy with not so disciplined crowds even at nine o'clock in the evening. With luggage and kids in tow it was no joke. We were the only Westerners around and in the departure lounge people were as usual keen on trying their English while others just stared at us as if we were a traveling circus. The night on the train was comfortable, much more so than the last equivalent European trip I did.

We spent the day walking around the city, one of the richest and most industrialized of the whole country. The centre is divided between a commercial area with department stores, designer shops and all the international chains like Starbucks and MacDonald's, and the Muslim quarter, a maze of shops and stalls of food and local handicraft. There we learned a hard lesson in the art of haggling. We saw a set of chopsticks we liked in one of the first stalls, for the price of 240Y (24E), found them again in another stall 180Y, bought for 140, convinced that we really clever and getting a good deal, only to see them around the corner for 65! As soon as I realized the mistake I started to say "NOOO!", more to myself than anybody else but the girl in the shop, thinking that I was complaining about the price, started to come down, "Ok then, 50, 40..." The more she lowered the price, the more I despaired. The more I despaired, the more she lowered the price. When we arrived at 35 I explained to her that I had no intention of buying because I had already bought them somewhere else. She finally understood what was happening and it ended in a good laugh. Now we haggle for everything, even bottled water. If they ask 200 we offer 20 and in the end we always win. When they part with the goods with bad grace, then you probably paid the fair price. You pay for lessons and so far we clocked up about 50E in stuff that we could surely have got cheaper.

Terracotta Warriors

Nina eating a rice pudding bought on a street stall in the Muslim Quarter. We all had lunch on the street for a grand total of 2 euro. Let's hope we escape the curse of Qin Shi Huang Di...

Last Hours in Beijing

2008-09-13T23:14:00.003+01:00

Sitting at a table in Pizza Hut (yes, we succumbed once more to the call of the West), we pass time before boarding the train that will bring us to Xi'an. We spent the day between the Forbidden City and the Temple of Yong He Gong where Sara was fascinated by the Buddha. Between my two daughters she is definitely the one that takes her religion more seriously, while after her first communion, Nina professes herself agnostic. I was observing them today while they watched, transfixed, the golden statues and their fruit and flowers offerings, the faithful who burned incense while praying. I saw how, for the first time, they really understood what we tried to teach them all along, that different people have different beliefs but no less valid than our own and the world is big enough for everybody.

We really liked Beijing but it is time to leave it behind. Even in transit, sitting at a table of a public restaurant as the only fixed point, I strangely feel at home. I think for the others it's the same. Brendan reads his book and the girls are drawing, nobody seems bothered by the precariousness of the situation. Very early on, at the beginning of this experience, we are learning how feeling at home is a mental state and has little to do with a specific place. Feeling at home in our own heads seems to be what counts. Once that happens we realize we don't need much more.

Chinese Cuisine

2008-09-13T22:10:00.003+01:00

After the first day, I had resigned myself to a diet of boiled rice and green tea for the next three weeks. In an attempt to cushion the culture shock on the girls, we stupidly tried to eat Western food, with at best mediocre results. But after our first dinner it was clear that it would be impossible to continue with these highly improbable dishes that were vaguely European and distinctly bad news for our livers. There was nothing for it but to surrender to Chinese cuisine. After two days, we are all converted. Completely different to what is on offer in Europe, here it's much healthier, without that fast-food taste of MSG. Below you can find a picture of my favourite breakfast these days: spring rolls, baozi (little balls of steamed rice filled with fruit compote), fritters and custard pie.

My adaptation to this new culture has gone one step further. Despite the many kilos of medicine that I brought, I needed a pharmacy. Just finding one was an adventure: we had to head for Qianmen (a type of Chinatown, if that isn't a contradiction in terms!), decidedly outside the standard tourist sites, where for the first time we had confirmation of the reported fact that the Chinese continuously hawk and spit on the ground. This behaviour has been recently banned, in preparation for the Olympics, so as not to horrify Westerners. The ban has worked in the tourist areas where fines are enforced, but away from them, people fall back into their old habits. The pharmacy was part of a large department store that seemed out of Stalin's Russia, with two shop-assistants who looked like Red Cross nurses from the Great War. I explained my problem to the one who seemed to have a few words of English, and she asked me:
"Do you want Chinese or Western Medicine?"
At first I looked at her as if she were joking, but then the spirit of adventure (or desperation) got the better of me: "I don't care - as long as it works". She wrote out a pair of characters on a slip of paper, and sent me to another counter where they handed me a box of tablets identical to what we might expect to find at home, but entirely in Chinese. When I realised that I had no way of figuring out what exactly it was that I was about in ingest, I returned to my Red Cross Nurse of the Great War and asked her what was in the tablets: "Antibiotic? Anti-inflammatory?"
She looked at me, confused, without reply.
"Herbs?" I suggested.
"Yes. Chinese herbs."
That was enough for me. In that moment I would have tried cyanide, if that's what they had given me". Three days later, the problem is resolved. Whatever it was, it worked.

After the Great Wall, we visited the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. Beautiful places, wonderful architecture, but as ever it was the people who fascinated me. The park around the Temple of Heaven, for example, was full of people practicing Tai Chi, taking waltz lessons, some were singing in groups, others simply playing cards - all of them making the most of the sunshine, despite the cold.

Last night we met Beiyan who brought us to a restaurant to eat authentic Peking Duck, roasted and caramelized, sliced into small pieces and placed into rice pancakes with plum sauce and vegetables. The only one who didn't like it was Sara who, under the influence of jetlag, fell asleep with her head on the table before beginning to eat.

Good Morning China!

2008-09-01T19:44:00.004+01:00

[Original Blog Entry Monday December 30 by Letizia. Translated by Brendan. ]

It's four in the morning and we finally concede to the jetlag and surrender to Greenwich Mean Time: The girls are playing on their Nintendos in the other room, Brendan is studying the guide, and I'm writing my first post on the road. China has welcomed us with open arms. After 10 hours of half-light on the airplane, we landed in Beijing to the kind of beautiful sunlight that we haven't seen in Ireland since September. At the passport check we were waved through with wide smiles. We noticed a button on the policeman's kiosk that we could press in the event that we weren't satisfied with our treatment. Our suitcases arrived even before we did, and soon afterwards we were already in a taxi called by an airport official whose job seemed to entail helping passengers in whatever way necessary.

Brendan passed his first test in Chinese with flying colours, chatting with the taxi driver while the kids and I were giggling in the back. Once in the hotel, we colonized our room, opening the suitcases and taking out books, slippers, computer and the various other items that for the next months will constitute our home. They are exactly those things that differentiate between a normal holiday and what we are doing - vital for helping us at least feel as if we are not always in a hotel, but difficult to drag across four continents. I'm already thinking impatiently about the first parcel that we'll send home.

Despite the tiredness - for us it was 2 in the morning and none of us had slept on the plane - we headed out and reached Tiananmen Square by foot. Very quickly we realised that we were amongst the very few Westerners around. Locals looked at us with intense curiosity, especially at the girls, and more than once we were stopped in order to have our picture taken with complete strangers. Nina: "I feel like I'm Avril Lavigne!". When we got to the square, the souvenir vendors descended on us, and for the second time we saw the proof of Brendan's Chinese. Along with the language, he also acquired the ability to haggle, without which you can't survive here. From him we learned the magic words to free ourselves from the vendors. When nothing else works; no, no thank you, I don't want it, just say bu yao! with a certain authority, and they vanish. First they freeze, silent, and then they disappear. He assures me that we're not being rude, but I'm not convinced.

The cold at that point was too much, as was the tiredness, so we took shelter in a nearby subway station. Once inside, nobody was inclined to venture back out into the cold and so Brendan gave his final demonstration of his command of the language: with the map of the subway on the wall, in Chinese, he managed to get us back to the hotel, changing train along the way. Needless to say we were the only Westerners around. I don't know if I'll be able to compete with this when it's my turn to translate in South America.

We Should Have Converted the Attic Instead

2008-08-31T14:20:00.001+01:00

[Original Blog Entry Friday December 28 by Letizia. Translated by Brendan. ]

...this is what I say to myself, looking at the suitcases more or less packed, the panic rising in my chest and asking myself whose idea was this in the first place? (Brendan answers: look in the mirror). Two hard suitcases of 20kg each and two rucksacks - one 6kg and the other even more. All as expected. The girls have their schoolbags containing some texts, a Nintendo DS, and little else. It might not seem much for four people and 8 months, but it's a lot to drag around the planet and across the equator. With the money we're going to spend on this trip we could have got a really beautiful attic, finished in wood and with its own bathroom.

The Christmas tree came down on the 26th and we've spent the last two days preparing the house for our guests from New Zealand who get here in April. It was like moving house: we got rid of a lot of useless junk in order to make room in the wardrobes and drawers. The rubbish bin is full, along with the recycling bin, and two charity bags full of clothes and toys are ready to be placed outside the front door. As a result, my head is clearer. The more I get rid of clutter, kept only for the sake of nostalgia, the more my mind feels free of fear or confusion, leaving space for new ideas, energy and enthusiasm. We feel like we're at the beginning of a new phase and we're curious to see where it will bring us. We tell each other, mostly joking, that if after the 8 months we manage to come back on the same flight, there's a good chance of us staying together for at least another 10 years.

Sara is doing the round of the neighbourhood, saying goodbye to her friends (John just called me on the phone to say that they will feed her - I'm such a bad mother!). She hasn't decided whether Piccolana the raindeer or Pernod the cat will go into her backpack, but in any case she's happy to be leaving. I swing from panic to mystical calm with the bags when, as ever, I realise that I can't change the laws of physics and square the packing circle: " I don't give a f**k. One way or another, everything will work out." Brendan appears serene - he's clearly more evolved a being than I as he arrives at mystical calm skipping the panic stage. Nina is the hardest to read. At times she's excited about our departure, but most of the time she stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it, not looking for her friends, watching TV in her pyjamas. I can't tell if this is her way of hiding her unease, or if she's really as calm as her father. Yesterday I told her to choose a few books to bring with her, and she replied "No mamma, I'll just bring the Harry Potter that I'm reading now. We can pick the others up as we go". That's the spirit! That's my girl!

This evening we'll say goodbye to friends and relations in Steve and Liz's house, where we and anyone who wants to come and see us off have been invited to dinner. After that we'll be officially on our own. For my part, I've convinced myself that I'm off on a 3 week holiday to China - I don't think about what comes next.

The next post, Great Firewall permitting, will be from China :-)

Apologies

2008-01-19T09:18:00.000Z

Due to primitive internet facilities (Chinese Firewall and limitations of the Nokia N800 that I have to share with my other half), I haven't been able to keep up with this blog. Tomorrow we'll leave China and I'll try again from Australia. In the meantime, check out my Italian blog for photos (click the "se preferisci leggermi in italiano" link on the right) and Brendan's one for stories. Try here again in a week.

Santa Claus First!

2007-12-24T00:36:00.000Z

This morning, in that half asleep phase that comes before waking up completely I had a revelation. I opened my eyes and shared my newly acquired wisdom with my husband: "We should have gone the other way!"
"What?!"
"We should have started the trip on the other side! Like that we would have had an 8 month long summer!"
"Have you got something against sleeping?"
With consciousness, arrived even the reasons for the original choice: avoid the Olympics in China and winter in New Zealand, plus enjoy the Australian summer. I knew we had a good reason!

Strange days these last ones before departure. The shops are full of turkeys, hams, chocolates and Christmas puddings. People arrive to the check out with trolleys full of stuff like they were preparing for a siege or a famine. I on the other end am doing my shopping just day to day, with my little basket, careful not to buy too much stuff that I would have to chuck in a few days. At the same time, we have received more invitations for lunch and dinner in the last couple of weeks than in the previous 7 years: family, neighbours, colleagues, they all seem to want to say goodbye before we go, a real wake like with those that emigrated to America years ago.

At a week from departure I am after all quite calm. I keep asking myself if it is really the case but the answer is always the same: "I'm cool!" Except at every little itch going for cool to stressed in zero seconds. I start doing the "what if" game trying to predict the future and every possible scenario, settling eventually for the most tragic as the most probable until I find myself in a spiral of anxiety. I touch the bottom and calm down, finally understanding that I can't do anything but live one day at the time and react as best as I can according to the inspiration of the moment. In the meantime though I have wasted a lot of energy that I could have used better. Luckily for the ones who live with me all this happens inside, without consequences for the others. I'm a bit of a cold fish, the more I get nervous, the calmer I look.

Today I have learned a lesson from my 8 year old daughter. At breakfast I asked: "Girls, are you excited about the trip now?"
In between spoonfuls of corn flakes Nina answered: "No mum. Now I am excited about Santa Claus, once that will be gone I'll get excited about the trip!"
She is right, one thing at the time.

Ascoltando: Muse, Space Dementia

'Tis the Season to be jolly

2007-12-24T00:07:00.000Z

The date approaches fast and a certain unease is starting to crawl over me. For the last couple of weeks it's like being at a boarding gate, in limbo. Everything is ready, enough waiting, now it is time to go. Even if it's not actually all ready and every day there is something to sort out. Yesterday for example I went to the doctor to ask him for a letter to explain the amount of medicines we'll be carrying: all legal drugs and for personal use. Ten boxes of antibiotic could rise some eyebrows going through custom. Last week we payed for the Yangtze cruise, today they confirmed having received the transfer and gave us even an upgrade: from the Victoria Rose to the Victoria Prince, bigger and more modern. Our friend Li Beiyan in Beijing booked for us the train between Beijing and Xi'an and the flights between Xi'an and Chengdu and Yichang and Shanghai (Xie xie Beiyan, I hope you are picking that restaurant nice and expensive!!). We're left with the hotel in Xi'an and the one in Shanghai, there's still time.

For once I am totally immune to the Christmas frenzy that every day becomes more intense around here. We're to the point of avoiding the city center unless absolutely necessary. Christmas carols have been playing continuously in all shops since the beginning of November, after one hour drives you nuts. I am quite capable to resist the temptation of buying beautiful and useless staff, party clothes, cashmere scarves and scented candles leave me totally cold this year. Yesterday, passing by the pet shop I have seen a new one : Santa's stockings for cats and dogs with toys and food with a Chritsmas theme.

I am not a complete King Herod, I decorated the tree for my daughters and Santa will arrive even to this house. My Christmas shopping is of a different kind. I can't pass Mahers Outdoor Shop in town without going in and every time I came out with some new gadget. The last purchases are some really thin super absorbent towels with practically no volume and 4 Sporks, knife, fork and spoon in one. I have almost fallen under the spell of astronaut food but then I told myself we're not going to the jungle and we'll be able to buy whatever we're missing on the way. My last, for now, bit of shopping was on ebay: two gadgets not to lose your children, some traking devices with an alarm that will go off if the child strides further than 25 meters. Not exactly necessary but can't hurt having them.

Insurance

2007-12-14T12:19:00.000Z

From the very beginning it was clear that the problem wasn't easily solved. All the insurance packages seem to be made for students backpackers or retired people who go to Lanzarote for two weeks. Families going on holidays for three weeks at the time are also catered for, but backpacking families are definitely out of any scheme. In the end we had to go through a local broker, O'Leary Insurances that found a tailored made solution to our problems: a policy that will cover medical expenses for the eight months up to 6.350.000 per person, repatriation, but even covers luggage, passports, credit cards, cancellation, legal fees and civil responsibility up to 2,5M E. It covers even activities like skiing and scuba diving. Last but not least, we'll have a person on the other side of the phone to deal with if things go wrong. Always better than dealing with an agency in England where every time you ring up you deal with a different person after having being put on hold for ages. Total cost 1000e.

Listening to: The Cure, Friday I'm in love

A Puff of white smoke from the Magic Dragon

2007-12-12T17:44:00.000Z

Anybody who lives abroad and has regular dealings with consulates knows very well how frustrating the experience can be. If bureaucracy is heavy in the country of origins, it's guaranteed that in the respective consulate it has the specific gravity of lead. Not to mention all the other national defects that for whatever reason when exported abroad become worse (It's not my place, who cares?), and when concentrated in a public and happy island like the consulate they reach maximum potential. In the Italian Embassy in Dublin they put Catarella to answer the phones so that to whoever calls, my country introduces itself with an individual that doesn't speak either Italian or English, when in a good mood he grunts, when God forbid you find him in a bad mood he showers you with insults: "For f*** sake, who the f*** is it now? Can't you leave me in peace today?"

The Chinese consulate doesn't seem any better. Located in Dublin, it doesn't accept visa applications by post, you should go there in person to apply and the go back 5 working days later to collect the passport. They concede to use a courier, which is the solutions we chose: cost 100E, plus 130E for the visas.

Because of the money involved, we wanted to be double sure that the documents we wanted to send were ok, so about a month ago we started to try and inform ourselves by phone. On their website they give the opening times to the public and the ones when they answer the phones. No matter how many times we tried though nobody came to answer our calls. After a week of no luck, Brendan sent an email with a list of our documentation, details of flights and itinerary, asking if it was enough to get our visas. They answered within minutes with a clear yes. So we sent our courier and after ten days with no answer I asked Brendan: "Still no news from the Chinese consulate? The five days are up."
"Don't worry, maybe it takes a bit longer, you'll see that...SHIT!!"
"WHAT?!"
"I forgot to include pictures!"

We sent an email profusely apologizing for the oversight, telling them we put the pictures in the post that day and asking them to please join them with the application they received nearly two weeks previously.
Red Dragon: "Bring pictures when you came to collect passports. Mon-Thurs 9 to 12."
Green Shamrock: "Thanks for the suggestion, but it will be a courier to collect the passports, can't we send the pictures in the post and then collect by courier?"
Red Dragon: "We don't accept applications by post."
Green Shamrock: "The application is not by post, it's just the pictures. You already received the application by courier, can you please accept the pictures by post?"
SILENCE...PLEASE...SILENCE...PLEASE, PLEASE...
Green Shamrock: "Tell me now if you are going to accept the damn pictures by post or I have to come to Dublin to bring them myself!"
Red Dragon: "Give pictures to person who comes to collect the passports."
Green Shamrock: "Who comes to collect the passports is a courier who already charged me 50e to bring you the application and 50 to collect the visas! If I bring him the pictures now he is going to charge me another 50!! Can't you please put together the pictures that now surely have with the application you've had for the last 2 weeks??"

SILENCE

Finally Brendan sent another email starting again with the apologies and politely explaining that we needed an answer straight away because if they insisted in receiving the pictures directly one of us had to get on a plane and bring them to Dublin as it was cheaper then sending a courier (God Bless Ryanair!).

With money coming into the equation we find a way to communicate and finally they empathize with our problem: "Brendan, this is incredible! I thought much cheaper sending pictures by courier! As you already have put them in the post it's ok."
An hour later we got an email to say that the the visas were ready.

Indulgences of Modern Times

2007-11-21T12:56:00.000Z

I was asked if with all the miles we'll cover in the next eight months we have considered buying credits for the emissions of CO2 that we'll cause. On the British Airways website there is a link for a company called Climate Care, which is one of the biggest ones providing this service in the UK. The idea is: by using "government published figures to convert units of energy to CO2 emissions", they tell you how much you pollute when traveling, but even staying at home (using electricity, gas and oil), and they allow you to pay a fee to offset your emissions. The money goes to finance projects to reduce the CO2 emissions in different parts of the world. The goal is to reach a carbon neutral situation where your emissions are neutralized by the green projects you support.

The idea is good, but putting it into practice is another matter and what I saw didn't convince me. The companies offering the service are all private ones and they operate according to schemes that cannot be verified or monitored and some of them turned out to be fraudulent, ineffective or even self defeating, (see The Guardian "The inconvenient truth about carbon offset industry"). Among all the different CO2 emissions, already difficult to calculate by the IPCC own admission, the ones caused by air travel are the most difficult to calculate because depending on altitude and amount of cargo (see FAQ on Climate Care). Even more difficult to establish is the amount of CO2 offset somewhere else. The most popular projects are the ones that plant trees, that naturally get rid of CO2, but the amount is unmeasurable especially because the companies doing it, offset immediately all the CO2 that the tree will process in a 100 years lifespan. A scheme to plant trees in Ecuador(see World Rainforest Movement) has been accused of evicting thousands of small farmers and manage plantations where the CO2 released by the soil is superior to the one absorbed by the trees. The founder of Climate Care, Mike Mason, said that planting trees as a form of offsetting is a waste of time and energy, but unfortunately people love it.

Other projects like the ones that aim to discourage the use of highly polluting fuels for domestic use in India or Africa, are even more difficult to realize because they require the cooperation of the locals. From what I have seen so far, I do not believe that we can trust private companies with offsetting our CO2 and I agree with those who compare it with the medieval practice of buying indulgences in order to keep on sinning with a clear conscience, (see Denis Hays in The New York Times). You can call me Eco-vandal, but until the subject won't be regulated by law and managed by a government, until the cost of CO2 won't be shared proportionally between who causes it and who makes money on it (in 2005 when the scheme was launched BA bought credits for the year that didn't even cover their London-NY routes in a day), I won't feel like punishing myself for the next 8 months.

Porquè quieres aprender l'espanol? Porquè el chino no me gusta.

2007-11-19T12:48:00.000Z

I can't remember if the egg came first or the chicken did: if Brendan started to learn Chinese because he wanted to go to China or if he wants to go to China because he is learning Chinese. Trouble is he can't remember himself. About two years ago he started a course in the local school. After the first term, the course was cancelled because the subject was too difficult. In a class of 20 people, only 3 were disappointed, Brendan among them. He convinced the other two and the teacher, LiPing, to keep up the lessons privately and meet up in each other's houses. Since then, Tuesday became Chinese night, a much more sociable affair now that the lessons are held at home, involving great amounts of green tea and fortune cookies, (or scones, depending on the mood), and occasionally even music.

At the end of the first year one of the students gave up and Brendan said he only then realized 'how much he didn't know'. Finally learned the characters and the tones, (the same word has 5 different meanings depending on intonation going up, down, flat or no intonation at all: "Ma1 ma4 ma3 ma", meaning: "mother, to curse, horse, question mark"= Did mother curse the horse?), now he could start learning Chinese.

As well as the lessons with LiPing and Ian, the other brave scholar, Brendan used a Chinese course online for grinds: http://chinesepod.com.
level or like In the beginning he just used the free dialogues, then he subscribed for the script of the dialogues and the grammar. Last summer he used their premium package with one to one conversations over skype with a teacher. At present he has reached an intermediate level, or as LiPing more beautifully put it: "If you compare learning Chinese with climbing a mountain, you are halfway up." The experience is so intense anyway that to get it out of his system Brendan has started to blog about how difficult it is to climb that particular mountain: http://peelingmandarin.blogspot.com

As with English we'll get by in Oz and NZ (or will we?? See Glossary), and my esposo covers China, I was left with South America and Spanish. I have started a beginners course in the local school and then with the few braves that wanted to keep going we have continued with private lessons in each otter's houses. The class is a bit larger than the Chinese one, but not by much: Cheryl, Gillian, Sean, Mark, Jez, I, y Maria, nuestra profesora. I do my grinds through http://spanishsense.com. It's not like climbing the Kilimajaro, I'd rather compare it to the Inca Trail...

Listening to: Asian Dub Foundation, 1000 Mirrors

Visas

2007-11-17T11:43:00.000Z

Just a few pictures to show the starting point. Taken a few days ago in Drake's Pool, on the road between Carrigaline and Crosshaven where I go walking almost every morning.

The only countries for which we need VISAS beforehand are Australia and China. For all the others it is a case of a stamp on arrival. From other people's experience we have learned that the only difficulties could arise in Bolivia, especially crossing the border by land. It is not unheard of having to discretely slip a few dollars inside the passport to gain access to the country.

For the Australian VISA we simply got it through the travel agency. Once again it was one of those virtual goods: you pay 20e and get a receipt, but the real thing is registered with the Australian authorities that will stamp the passport on entering the country. China was, is, much more complicated. They don't accept applications by post, but insist on bringing the passports to the embassy. It takes up to 5 working days to complete the procedure and given that the embassy is in Dublin, it is all in all a big headache. They want details such flights details, itinerary, hotel bookings and the likes. At present we are putting everything together and next week we'll send a courier to Dublin with the passports, at least they do not insist on doing it in person.

Booking China

2007-11-15T12:08:00.000Z

In the last few days we have started to look at hotels in China. There is a huge choice for all kinds of budgets and in Beijing and Shanghai prices are average lower of 1/3 compared to Europe, in Chengdu less than half. The bases for our research were once again the Rough Guide and the WEB.

In Beijing we booked the Novhotel. As a first stop, just arrived and jet lagged, we picked something not very adventurous: 3 stars, near Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. It will help us settle in, even if it doesn't look very exciting. On the other end though, booking the hotel was an adventure in itself. All their rooms seemed to offer accommodation for just one child and we travel with two. It took at least 6 emails to reach an agreement. Whatever way we formulated our request for a double room with 2 extra single beds, the first answer was always "Yes", followed by a complicated song and dance that meant no. In the end we got what we wanted (I think!), but we have probably been very rude in forcing out such a direct answer.

The next stop will be in Xi'an, to see the terracotta warriors. We haven't booked anything yet, but we know we want to stay inside the walls as the city is worth visiting.

The best discovery was the one for our third stop, a guesthouse in Chengdu that Brendan found in a blog. It's called Sim's Cozy Guesthouse, owned by a Japanese-Korean couple, Sim and Maki. Of all the places we'll be in this is the one we are most excited about as it looks like a place where you can meet people and have fun. They organize Sichuanese cooking courses, ping pong contests, and they even have a library for the guests, with "all kind of novels and lomance books"! It looks like the perfect place to free some of ours and start traveling a bit lighter.

Next we'll spend three days on a cruise on the Yangtze from Chongqing to Ychang. Once again, we found a deal on the WEB: a local tour operator called Yatour.
Up until now, we haven't been asked any deposit or credit card number to guarantee our bookings. It will be interesting to discover if it is due to a grater trust on humankind or if there is some trick behind it, (like pre-payed discounted rates...), it's all part of the fun.

8 Months of Suitcases

2007-11-13T16:40:00.000Z

One of the most frequent questions we are asked when we talk about the trip is: what kind of luggage will you bring for eight months?! We are allowed the traditional, as in pre-Ryanair, 20kg per person, so that's the max. We have to take into account though that we can't expect the girls to drag their own 2okg share, so Brendan and I will be the Sherpas. We have therefore decreased the allowance to two 20kg suitcases and two rucksacks, by definition lighter than the first, at least mine for sure!How to fill them up? There are things that we just have to bring with us: medicines, travel guides for all the places we'll visit and the girl's schoolbooks. Already 6kg gone, maybe even more.

We had to get into a particular frame of mind: for the next eight months clothes will be something we'll use to cover ourselves, not to dress, which for an Italian girl is particularly hard to accept, but there are no alternatives. Once accepted that we realized that we didn't need much, just a couple of changes for winter and something more for summer. In the end we always tend to use always the same things even with a full wardrobe, the rest becomes just a frame for our favourite items of clothing, a reserve that gives a sense of security but is for the biggest part useless. In our case we'll just have to identify very carefully our favourite bits, the most useful, and do the laundry often.

For the winter we have invested in trekking gear: fleeces, waterproof trousers with fleece lining and thermal vests, two changes each. We'll then pack one, maybe two changes of normal clothes. For the summer it's easier, less bulky: swimming suit, T-shirts, shorts and two pairs of trousers. As soon as we finish with something, like the summer stuff and the school books some time in NZ, we'll send it back home. It will make space for whatever we'll inevitably acquire along the way.

As fare as reading books is concerned, we'll just have to get used to read one a t the time rather than having a pile on the bedside table and once finished we'll have to "free" them into the wild, something that hopefully will help my Bookcrossing stats.

Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka Ora! Ka Ora!

2007-11-12T16:08:00.000Z

Lately, one of the best things is to check our email in the morning and almost every day find a message from Down Under. Leah asking us if we need help to find a school for the girls in Brisbane, Francesca wanting to know when we'll get to Melbourne, Ludi and Gary who are waiting for us with 'gallons' of Australian wine on their sailing boat, Duncan warning us not to book anything else without consulting him first, but then admits that even left to our own device we didn't do too bad (G'day mate! How come you leave comments on the hubby's blog and not mine??).

A few days ago we had a surprise: finally living things to fate started to pay up and luck came our way. A couple from Christchurch contacted us for a house-swap, starting to make our staying in New Zealand more real. The website they used is Home4exchange. Louise and Ray are interested in spending a few months in Europe and include this part of Ireland in their tour. After having swapped a few emails we agreed on the details of the exchange and from April the 12th, our arrival date in NZ and Sara's birthday, we'll be using their house as a base for the lentgh of our staying on the South Island, until the beginning of June. They'll do the same with our place in Cork.

After we introduced ourselves and we agreed on the exchange, we both offered our availability to help the other discover the area. At present we are swapping notes on bridge clubs, restaurants, pubs and stone circles (stuff they're into), and what interests us in their area. We have learned that there is a swimming pool near their house, as well as basketball and tennis court (Nina will be happy), a playground and lots of lovely walks. We've heard that ChCh has an important art gallery and that the Anthartic Centre is worth seeing. There is also an ice skating rink nearby, which both girls are delighted with, and Arthur's Pass and the skiing slopes are only a day trip. The house is big, on three levels, with a stunning view of the Alps. With the house come 2 cats, that for my daughters deprived of the joy of a pet by cruel parents who drag them around the world instead, is a welcome surprise.

We would have liked a swap with Sidney, in January, but honestly, nobody in their right mind would swap the Australian summer with the worst of the Irish winter! We didn't stand a chance!!

The Chinese Eiffel Tower

2007-11-06T13:42:00.000Z

Yesterday we finally collected the plane tickets that for best part of a year have seen us in close contact with Sinead, our exceptionally patient travel agent. Like many other things these days, (like the money we used to pay for them for example!), even these are virtual. They are called E-tickets, meaning that we won't have any coupons to bring with us and guard with our lives because the tickets are registered in the airline system. Despite the lack of physical token, the moment was quite exciting, at least for Brendan and me.

While we were finalizing the last details with Sinead, our daughters completely ignored us, Nina playing with her Nintendo and Sara going through all the brochures she could lay hands on. After having studied them all, discarded safari in Kenya, skiing in Austria and city-breaks in Europe, she came to show me a brochure on Dubai with fairy tale hotels and ads for shops that sell diamonds by the kilo: "Look mummy, it's lovely! Can we go there?"
"Maybe another time", says I.
"Why?"
I decide to ignore the question and the impulse to strangle her, how can she be so ungrateful?

Walking back to the car, Nina always without raising her eyes from the Nintendo and Sara with the Dubai brochure under her arm, I ask them: "Aren't you excited about the trip? It won't be long now?" Silence, sideways glances and then "NO! I don't wanna go where there are crocodiles and poisonous spiders, I like Dubai, and Spain where my friend Alex says you can buy cool things!" Only six years of age and yet such a well defined personality, a real Bond-girl, Dry Martini, shopping and swimming pool. One of her favourite things to do at the moment is to go shopping with her Italian grand-mother and stop for coffee and cake, or an aperitif, depending on the time of the day. I already feel sorry for the poor unaware six-year-something-old who one day will lose his head for her.

I ignore the little pest and turn to my eldest: "How about you Nina, are you happy about the trip?"
"No. I like staying in the same place, not moving all the time. I'll just get used to a place and we'll have to leave again! And anyway, HOW DO YOU THINK TO MANAGE TO TEACH ME WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO LEARN IN SCHOOL??"
A bit deeper concerns the ones of my eldest, but concerns nonetheless. Revelation struck: my children don't trust us neither to keep them away from crocodiles or with their education! So much for the unforgettable experience.

Appealing to all my superhuman motherly love I tried to put myself in their shoes and see things from their perspective. It's true, at that age they like routine and stability. They are not in that almost autistic phase anymore, where everything must be done ALWAYS in the same way and if you try to put their jackets on before tying the shoelaces the go berserk. But they are attached to their friends, the Simpsons at 6 o'clock, the school and all the little things that make their world. Nonetheless, with the family divided among Ireland, Sardinia and France they are used to travel. We have also taken them hillwalking in the Rockies, to Stuttgart for the Weinachtsmarkt and to Scotland looking for Nessie. 8 months on the road though are admittedly something else.

In the end we understood that there'll be 4 of us in the party and we can't drag the children around like a piece of luggage. They should have their saying, within reason! We said to ourselves that maybe the solution was to involve them more in the planning, ask them what they want from the experience, what THEY want to see. At that point Nina finally raised her gaze from the video game and told me: "You know when people go to Paris go to see the Eiffel Tower? I want to see the Chinese Eiffel Tower!"

I saw the light! We opened up the guidebook together and decided that the Chinese Eiffel Tower are the Great Wall and the Giant Buddha in Leshan! For Sara we are still working on it, given the type it will be harder, but at least we managed to get her to admit that she wouldn't mind to see the Pandas in Chengdu and swim with dolphins in Australia...so good of her.

Listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers: Round the world, Nina's choice!

Homeschooling our children

2007-11-05T16:03:00.000Z

As parents, the best part of this trip is to give our children a unique, unforgettable experience. At the ages of nearly nine and nearly seven, they are at a great stage from a parenting point of view. At the other end of nappies and sleepless nights, they are now independent children that make a pleasant company. We know it won't last forever and hormones will soon kick in, they won't be so enthusiastic about spending time with us anymore, so we enjoy the phase while it lasts.

The trip will be for them an introduction to Planet Earth, a live geography lesson to show them different ways of living and teach them to appreciate differences. We believe that with the continuous increase of fuel costs, the era of cheap travel won't last much longer and probably in another ten years a trip like this won't be possible anymore, at least for the likes of us.

Even from a schooling point of view it seems to be the ideal time. With Nina in third class and Sara in first, they are still at an age where they can skip six months of school without consequences for their education. The choice to leave at the end of the year was strongly influenced by the fact that like this the kids will have by then completed the first term in their classes and covered the biggest part of the program. The teachers will have set the path that then us parents will have to continue. The months spent standing still Oz and NZ will be school months when a few hours a day will be dedicated to studying.

The school was extremely cooperative in our plans. The principal gave us enthusiastically thumbs up and assured us that the school will help the children to reintegrate after we get back. This month we'll have a meeting with the teachers where they'll explain to us exactly what part of the program we'll have to cover. They want the kids to keep contact with their classes by email, to tell their school mates about the things they'll see in their time away. Their Daddy had to take it a bit further though and as soon as we'll be on the road even Nina and Sara will start writing their own blog!

Of course school doesn't only mean curriculum, being in contact with other children is as important for their development. We don't know how they'll react to eight months spent almost exclusively in our company. They'll come in contact with other kids for sure, we hope to put them in a school in Brisbane for a few days, but they'll have to get used to making friends and leaving them behind. From other parent's experience, the experience of people who did similar trips, some adopting this lifestyle for a number of years, living on a sailing boat and changing mooring every few months, we have heard that kids who live this kind of experience learn to choose their friends more carefully. And that is an ability they acquire for a lifetime. Once back to a stable lifestyle, with this newly acquired skill they learn how to think more independently, they're less susceptible to the peer pressure of the group and become more selective in choosing their friends. At least, that's the theory.

650g of Gadgets

2007-11-03T20:58:00.000Z

The first and most important part of our luggage after passports and credit cards is our little technology park. Over the last few months we have invested in a few items that will allow us to stay connected with the rest of the world anywhere there is a Wifi or GSM signal. Weight is going to be a main issue in our moving around so bringing a computer was going to be a problem. Therefore we have acquired a reduced version of a laptop, a Nokia N800 internet tablet that will allow us to go online, do text editing, skyping, transferring images and last but not least blogging! To go along with it we bought a Freedom Universal Keyboard (bluetooth), to make it easier to do the text based things.

As a camera, we went for a Sony Cybershot DSC-W50. No bigger than a credit card, it has a long battery life. Not the latest in the series so the price was reasonable as well.

The most innovative gadgets though are the ones related to the indispensable mobile phone. First the phone itself: a Cubic Telecom Wifi phone that allows us to use both VoIP calls which work out about 1c per minute world wide (if we are in an open Wifi zone), and normal GSM calls.
Second, the sim inside the phone is a MaxRoam sim. MaxRoam is a product of Cubic Telecom, which as it happens is based here in Cork. With this sim we can make much cheaper calls than if we were roaming with our own local provider, Vodafone (See Brendan's blog entry for a comparison between the two). Moreover we can associate both Irish and Italian number with a single sim which means that not only do we save money but so do our friends and families.
All the gadgets fit comfortably into our pockets without the need of a special piece of luggage and their total weight amount to 650g.

2007-11-03T15:01:00.000Z

Calculating our expenses for three months in Australia and three in New Zealand was, still is, much more complicated. The first thing we had to decide was: what do we want from the experience? Seeing as much as possible for sure, but not only. Above all we want to experience everyday life Down Under to see if it suits us, in case one day we came across the right opportunity to move over there. With this in mind, we have divided our staying both in Oz and NZ in three parts, 2 standing still in one place and 1 traveling around.

In Australia we'll be spending 5 weeks in Sidney, 3 on the road and 4 in Brisbane. Once again we started form the Rough Guide and budgeted the 3 weeks on the road as tourists. After that we had to look into cost of living in the cities we picked as bases for the first and the last month. Thanks to the guides, internet and above all our Ozzies friends we came up with an australian budget of 15 thousandE. Thanks to Simon and Leah who generously offered to us the use of a granny flat in their house, Brisbane was the easy part (Thank You guys, I'll never say it enough :-)

For Sidney, we had hoped to organize a house-swap by joining two sites that specialize in these kind of holidays: Homelink and Home4exchange. We came close a few times but in the end we never found an ideal partner. Part of the problem is the precise idea of what we want from Sidney: a real city experience. We want to enjoy the place fully with all that has to offer, with the possibility of spending a few days on the beach but not forced to do so by an accommodation too far out. Time was running out, so after some research on the internet we booked a place (Take a look!) in Randwick, 20 minutes from the center and 10 minutes from Cogee Beach. It will become home for 5 weeks where we hope to mingle with the locals and live like real Ozzies, barbecue and all.

New Zealand is still in the planning stages. We know that our bases will be Queenstown in the South Island and Wellington in the North Island. For the moment we trust the guides and the fact that the NZ dollar is cheaper than the Australian one. Our budget for NZ is 13 thousandE, we can only hope!

At the end of the trip I will publish a spreadsheet with a detailed account of our expenses, divided in categories and countries, only then we'll be able to see how accurate (or not!) our forecasts were. To the travel expenses we'll have to add our fixed costs back home, chiefly the mortgage and car insurances, considering also that we won't have an income until the end of September. We are going to cancel phone, broadband, gas and electricity. Our total budget, considering even a contingency fund, is 60 thousandE. On top of it, we'll add a safety net of another 20 thousand, thanks to a special loan for emergency available through AIB Bank that doesn't charge interest until the money is drawn. If in the end of the trip we won't have touched it, we'll be able to give the money back the way we got it. We both agree that when we'll start dipping into this fund, it will be time to turn back (or rather keep going as you can back track!). We hope our budget will hold so as to arrive to Buenos Aires in the end of August, but if it won't never mind. Even if we had made a gross mistake and were to run out of money halfway, we'll have always seen China and Australia, there are worse calamities. Sure what else would we be doing?

Listening to The Killers: Bones

2007-11-02T14:53:00.000Z

Pricing the plane tickets was the easy part, the safest part for sure, no surprises there. Costing all the rest was more difficult and no matter how many calculations and research we have done, the truth is that we won't know for sure until we get back. Obviously we have a figure in mind, we can make a reasonably educated guess, add contingency, but until August the 20Th when we'll be back on Irish soil we can't give a definite answer.

Once again the key to tackle the problem was dividing the eight months into smaller segments and start budgeting for the shortest ones: the first 3 weeks in China and the last 5 in South America. Up until now we have always used the 'Rough Guides' every time we traveled and were never disappointed. We'll trust them even this time :
China 70$ pp a day
Chile 350$ pp a week
Bolivia 40$ pp a day
Peru 60$ pp a day
The figures refer to food, accommodation and transport. All touristy stuff is extra, at least the big ones like a trip to Machu Pichu or a cruise on the Yangtze river. For the children we have budgeted half quote.

The guides always provide three budgets: economic (for backpackers using exclusively hostels and sometimes not even those), moderate (B&B or Hotel and a bit more comfort) and luxury (for who travels 4 stars all the time). At this stage of our life we fall into the second category. Adding the tourist's bits and contingency, the budget for the holidays within the holiday is as follows:

China 4000e
Chile 1700e
Bolivia 1000e
Peru 1300e

We still have to add 5 days in Buenos Aires for which we haven't a figure yet but we assume a cost of living similar to the one in Chile rather than Peru or Bolivia where it is definitely lower.

The next segment to be quoted was the week in Fiji. Even there no surprises because it will be a week in the sun staying put in a resort, getting ready for 5 weeks in South America where we'll be constantly on the move, covering the distance between Santiago and Lima by land. We'll then jump on a plane to Buenos Aires where we'll spend the last few days before getting back to Europe. Prices in Fiji vary greatly. For now we stuck to the middle range and budgeted 2500e for the week, but we won't book anything until much closer to the date.

Costs

2007-11-01T15:55:00.000Z

Once made the decision and overcome the initial euphoric feeling that came with it, the first reality check were the costs. Can we afford it? Or rather, WHAT can we afford? We realized straight away that a full year like it was in our original plans, it is too hard both financially and school-wise. By reducing the time from 12 to 8 months though everything looked much more doable.

The first step in deciding the itinerary was to exclude any stop in Europe (we live in the middle of it, we can see it whenever we want) and North America, (we'll leave Christmas shopping in NY for when we'll be older and calmer). As cost of living, these are the most expensive parts of the planet hence we eliminated them completely. The next bit to be chopped off our map was Africa, only because we both see it as a place of its own, deserving a greater attention than the one we could give it in only a few weeks.

At that point we were left with Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. We both came up with our preferences: for me NZ, South America and South East Asia, in the order. For Brendan China, OZ and NZ. We both agreed that it made sense to spend as long as possible in the countries furthest away where we don't know if we'll ever have the chance to go back. We often talked about moving to Oz if the right opportunity arose, so this is our chance to try what it's like to live Down Under and see if it suits us.

Now we had a clearer idea of what we wanted to do: 3 months in Oz, 3 in NZ, partly staying put in one place and partly moving around, with a month holiday in Asia at the beginning and one in South America at the end. By simply putting things that way already made it more possible!

The next step was to talk with the local travel agency, Foreign AFares (thank you Sinead!) to organize the plane tickets. Always travel in one direction, back tracking not permitted, number of stops and restricted mileage, the rules were too many for us so we decided to look for the expert's advice. Once cleared our minds on these rules we understood very quickly that it wasn't possible to see everything, despite actually going around the globe. This was the second reality check and made another casualty: South East Asia will have to wait another trip.

The tickets we finally booked are called World Discovery Plus and allow 29000 air miles with the possibility to buy an extra 3000 for 150E per person. The airlines we'll be using are British Airways and Qantas, all the seats were booked in Y class as soon as they appeared on the system, some 330 days before departure. The final itinerary is as follows:

29Dec Cork-Heathrow-Beijing
surface to Shanghai
20Jan Shanghai-Sidney
07March Sidney-Cairns
surface to Brisbane
12Apr Brisbane-Christchurch
surface to Auckland
05Jul Auckland-Nadi (Fiji)
12Jul Nadi-Auckland
13Jul Auckland-Santiago
surface to Buenos Aires
19Aug Buenos Aires-Heathrow-Cork

Full cost, for 2 adults and 2 children 10400E, (2220+tax pp adults, 1690+tax pp child)

Listening to Red Hot Cili Peppers, Snow

2007-10-31T16:39:00.000Z

I think the idea was always there. We always fantasized about leaving our lives behind and go on an adventure discovering new worlds and different ways of living, not as tourists but as travelers, owners of our time and free to change plan at the last minute, even leaving some things to chance. We didn't do it at the right moment, when there were just two of us and we had more money, because we were trying to be sensible. We had to buy a house, choose a place where to put down roots, secure a pension. Then Nina and Sara came along and at that point the idea was put aside as a dream to pursue maybe in years to come when the children left home and there would be just the two of us once again, maybe with nothing left to say to each other.
For years I convinced myself that the house was the key: after ten years renting other people's places it had become impossible to feel at home anywhere. If we only were able to tie ourselves to a place, then peace of mind would follow as a natural consequence. Many times we got close, but always pulled back at the last minute, unable to make the step for fear of what? Closing some doors forever, feeling trapped, bind our lives to one place despite the world being such a big place, something along these lines. Home were all our things, our books, music, the Sardinian rug in front of the fireplace, my friend's Turkish mirror and all the things that for years we dragged along to every place we have lived in. The four walls arrived much later, only three years ago when we stumbled across an occasion that couldn't be missed.
Once owners of our not so little square of land, after painting the dining room orange, the bookshelves green and arranged all our things, one day I sat on the bottom step to admire my work with a cup of coffee in my hand and asked myself: "Now what?" The restlessness was still there, the house just confined it to a smaller space making it all the more suffocating.
I turned on the radio and came across an interview to Christine Breen who was presenting her book "So many miles to paradise" where she described her experience of a trip around the world with her husband and kids. That's how the idea came back. In one of those rare and precious moments in life where you know with all your being to be doing the right thing, I picked up the phone and told Brendan: "Let's go!" I would have happily sold the house and gone there and then, but my half is more rational than me and convinced me to wait a while so as to organize our finances and keep the recently acquired four walls, to have something to go back to.
We sat down with the atlas open in front of us and a very long wish list. When we finally dealt with reality the list was shortened to three continents and a budget of 60 thousand euro, with a safety net of another 20 thousand. Will we be able to do it? We don't know but it's all part of the game.

Listening to Noir Désir: Le Vent Nous Portera

2007-10-31T11:44:00.000Z

"If you don't have peace of mind you have nothing, you know what I mean?" It's one of those chocolate box kind of truths borrowed from Alfie, when after two hours of full-on life always pursuing his selfish needs, he weighs things up and the revelation strikes him: no matter how much you got in life, without peace of mind you have nothing.

It was the beginning of '95, sitting on my suitcase filled with few clothes, lots of books and a some familiar items from home, I was reading Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. In Rome's International Airport people went by, all rushing, all looking like they knew where they were heading, all with a place to go. Every so often I raised my eyes from the book and fixed some of them, asking myself what their story was and why they were taking a plane that day. With a one-way ticket to Dublin as the only travel companion I had never felt more lonely. But in the end loneliness was good, it was what I wanted, what I had looked for and finally found the courage to grab: detach myself form everything and everyone to see if I could make it on my own. It was the challenge I had set myself to. The interesting part was how long I would last.

Twelve years, 8 addresses, 4 countries, 2 daughters and 1 husband later I am back at the starting point. This time the ticket is 'circular', it goes around the planet and gets back, in theory, to the starting point. The tickets are also 4, but the spirit is the same: eight months around China, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina to stretch the limits, to challenge ourselves, to see if we can make it. No matter how we claim to be fond of security and stability in the end the human condition is one of perpetual restlessness and without a daily challenge we have no peace. Some less so than others.

Our lives need a shake, we have settled too much in the last few years and we need a wake up call to start living actively again instead of enduring what the routine brings us everyday. At the end of this trek around the world we hope to change perspective, change our look on life and its daily struggles and go back to being able to make decisions without fear of loosing some comfort.'Cause in the end without peace of mind you have nothing, you know what I mean now?

Listening to Mick Jagger, 'The blind leading the blind'