What We Do For Family!

Set the Alarm

      

        

Trying to make reservations in the only "Lodge" in Yirgalem, Ethiopia, the closest town to Mabret's family village.   I emailed repeated for weeks, with no response . I finally called, made the stilted conversation booking, I think ...?  When I asked how to make payment they said I must call a different phone number in Addis Ababa. The next day I tried to do so.....without much success.  Bad connection, halting English and my Amharic is non-existent, we got nowhere ( not even sure the right "connect" person.  Obviously, I was not able to properly reserve the Tutkil ( Ethiopian bungalow) and was kindly asked to call back at 10am Ethiopian time the following day to make the payment.  Hopefully the connection will be better at that time.  Hence the 4 am alarm set.....lets see if I wake up

TWO STEPS FORWARD....

And none backward.

This week and many before it, I have spent countless hours creating an REI wishlist, researching locations, countries, driving directions, cheap flights, and most importantly attempting to find an automatic Minivan in South Africa to rent.  Some successful, some not.

Success....Flight for Katie (our friend, travel companion, and travel school tutor for the kids).  Katie will be joining us one month into our trip in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania for our 12 day Tanzania Family Safari. She will come complete with a BA in Education and a teaching certificate. She will thankfully take over the kids schooling for the remaining months of our trip.

Success....Backpacks for everyone! After on line research and one test run at Rock & Snow New Paltz NY we meet John at The Consohoken PA REI who was very knowledgable and most importantly patient. We all walked out with appropriate sized bags.

Success.... Safari after much research and then more research, we chose AfricanSafrai.com who had the perfect blend of animals, culture, locations, timing, etc for our travel family. The Tanzania Family Safari  for 12 days in Decemeber 2013.  It should be amazing!

Not yet....still have not finalized our VolunteerTour trip in India. I have narrowed it down to two choices one is 30 days (maybe too long for the kids) the other 14 days and possibly just the right combination or volunteer teaching/playing with children and includes all the Northern Indian highlights...even a camel safari overnight in the desert.

Not yet... Side trip for the extra week we have between South Africa,  Zambia (Victoria Falls) and the start of our safari. Should we take a quick but expensive side trip and out of directional order to Dubai, United Arab Emirates? Kids can ski indoor and visit a few waterparks. I'm trying to see if staying in the world's only 7 star hotel is in the budget.  

Or maybe Lake Malawi National Park in Malawi staying on Mumbo Island a sustainable island lodge with tented camps and Eco friendly bathrooms. We can kayak the 10 kms to the island. Sounds lovely.

Not yet...still haven't booked a rental car in SA.

BIG CHANGE TO TIMELINE!

November 2, 2013 flight booked to Cape Town South Africa !!

Due to a love of coaching both boys in baseball and the kids success therein; finding really inexpensive tickets to SA; as well as Bob's trial schedule, we have moved up the start date and plan on returning in time for the 2014 baseball season.

We leave right after soccer ends and will return before the first baseball game.

My plan is to try to head back out after All-stars baseball to visit China and possibly Japan both of which had to be taken off the itinerary on the shortened time frame.

This is now called the "First Leg" of our RTW trip and on the positive side 5 months seems much more manageable.  At least for now.

Boys found a great group of friends in baseball and on a really hot day after a disappointing loss they all stripped down for a fun and refreshing dip in the creek. July 2013

To Do...

In no particular order,

Vaccinations
Which shots and When
Anti-malaria medication

Travel medical kit

Travel insurance

Travel/Hotel/miles Credit Card?

Air Flights
RTW tickets?

Where to go (biggest Questions)
Countries?
Order?
Cities?
Sites?

Length of Stay

Hotel/hostels/Apartment/guest house

Inter-continental travel
Fly
Train
Other- car (driver) tuk tuk , scooter

Travel-School
Books, computer,
Meet with school counselor

House
Need house sitter / dogs sitter
Advertise

Home Bills
On line/paperless
Pay by credit card
Prepay lawn/snow removal
Dog food and meds

Work ( ask Bob)
Day to day
Bills
Payroll
Problems

Gear
Back packs - one each person different sizes, tech bag, day packs (that's it)
Computers/Ipad
Camera
Batteries
SMS cards
Flash drive?
Storage?
iPods -music, books, travel pods, language lessons
Phones- sims cards?
Cords
Plugs
Adapters
Batteries
Battery back-up
GPS?
Clothes
Quick dry
Undergarments?
Shoes?
Female issues?
Sink stopper
Tennis ball
Laundry detergent

Sleep sacks
Mosquito nets

Luxury items
Toys
Legos
Books

Secure travel documents
Secure money

More to come I'm sure...

Bob - On How It's All Possible

'

I don't completely know how we are doing this but I pride myself on always delivering when it comes to being the CFO of the adventure family. The first step was moving from our house near Philadelphia to the "Adventure House" near Lake Wallenpaupack in the Poconos. The Adventure House was our vacation place that grew over the years to be the favorite place of our boys as well as Kathy and me. When Sundays came around, nobody wanted to leave. The boys made great friends there and we did as well. When we decided to pull the trigger on planning this trip, moving the boys to their favorite place was a difficult but also easy choice. Along with this move meant taking Mabret and Roman out of private school. Step one in the financial overhaul needed to travel for 8 months. Selling the house in Havertown, PA was step 1a. Btw, the boys love the Wallenpaupack Schools and we have been pleased with the education. Shout out to the Wallenpaupack Area School District and specifically Mrs. Strunk, Ms. Valerio and Mr. Kromko.

As I type it dawns on me that the financial planning to do this started long ago as we have discussed this from the time that Roman was born.  While this trip is a gift and we appreciate the good fortune that life has blessed us with, our normal days consist of very little that is extravagant.  Thanks to our boys and their sense of adventure, many a day passes when we don't spend much money.  A family hike and picnic or a day filled with baseball and soccer games is the norm for us.  The boys and their friends often spend most of a day simply playing outside together.  

While planning for our future and that of the boys is important, living in the present and living everyday to the fullest is something that we want our boys to do.  This trip will hopefully teach the boys that we practice what we preach.  In that way, the balance between making the finances work but also knowing that we cannot let this dream get away is difficult.  There is a leap of faith that in the end this will all make sense.

One Year of Planning!

2013

January 5... Start panicking about trip and all the work that needs to get done!

January 16 .... Begin creating and continue working on Blog

January 17... Look at various credits cards for travel points, airlines etc.

January 19... Research vaccinations needed and timing. At least three of us had most necessary vaccinations 5 years ago. Some are still in effect and some will need boosters. Yellow fever may last (depending on the experts)1-2 or 2-3 years. Considering we will be gone at least nine months, when we get that update.

January 20.... Work on Blog. Learn to scann photos (not yet successful... Will keep trying

January 21...Read Africa travel blogs research budget places to stay in. Cape Town, South Africa

January 22.....2 hour school snow delay dream of warm weather spring break trip ( but need to stay on 2014 track) BTW Happy Birthday hubby

January 23... Write TO DO Blog list... Done

January 26..... MD sister says no vaccination expires earlier than 5 years so we can start anytime.

January 28... Another snow day, talk to kids about reading (on Kindle, Ipod etc not books) on RTW trip. Preparing them for food issues, long boring plane, train etc trips. Talk about spending a month on the beach in Thailand!!!

January 29.... Update world map with photos of destinations so kids can learn, anticipate and start to dream

January 29... Research travel insurance, get various quotes