It all starts with U-Haul

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Once we had decided to make the move, our task list suddenly became massive. So following the advice of ol' Lau Tsu, we just got started. First thing was the sell or rent decision on our Falls Church home. This was harder than it seemed, but ultimately calmer, pragmatic heads prevailed and we decided to rent on both coasts. To find a property we first turned to Zillow because of its ease of use and it's price. Zillow works well, but we ultimately downloaded our own copy of the Realtor.com app based on the recommendation of our friend and national real estate trends guru Jonathan Smoke. Shameless plugs aside, we used the inter webs to find our new pad in 4S Ranch San Diego and by all appearances it worked! I say by all appearances because even though we've signed on the dotted line, dolled out some serious cash and shipped all our worldly belongings to California, we've never actually seen the place, much less set foot in it! What could go wrong? But I'm getting ahead of myself, because as usual, it started with U-haul. 

Neighbors and friends know that I'm a big fan of the u-haul trailer. In fact, my buddy Chris and I rent trailers from FC U-Haul so often they're considering a frequent renters program for the two of us! Anyway, last trip we used the U-Box pods to pack up and store our "essential" items, so naturally I turned to them again. This time the goal was to box up everything we own, stuff it into pods, ship it west and then unpack what we need when we find a place. That's the key, U-Box is a moving and storage solution wrapped into one, or in our case, eight manageable pods.

Our timing was such that  had to decide on a moving/shipping/storage solution before we knew exactly where we were moving to. U-Box proved to be perfect for us because we ultimately had the boxes shipped to the local U-box facility in our part of San Diego where they sit, securely waiting for our arrival. We could use them like storage units out there, but now that we have an address, we'll unpack the lot when we get there.

Our next adventure begins - San Diego or Bust!

Head West Young Man is a phrase I've heard and planned to live by most of my adult life. I always intended to follow that advise and explore the western US, but somehow life got in the way.

Returning to the DC area in 1989 after a year abroad I had no idea I'd stay for more than two decades, find my love, raise a family and build a career. But that is exactly what happened and I had no plans to uproot the family to pursue that fading dream. We were so happy in Falls Church City...our roots were growing deep.

But then life got in the way again. Amelia's migraines had gotten so bad over the past few years that she was missing so much school and life that we had to try something. Drugs, diet change and other protocols weren't working. And then my company opened a new office in San Diego and my boss was supportive of the idea of trying a change of environment. So here we go! We've bit the bullet, packed our gear and are headed west.

Coming Home and Catching Up

March 25, 2011

Hi All,

We've been at home - with little time for reflection jumped right back in to our lives.  Why didn't we write earlier - when we first got back to the country we didn't have internet access and as days slipped by so many day to day things seemed to take priority - moving back in - dealing with tons of boxes (we got rid of stuff when we moved out and got rid of even more when we came back!), registering for school, turning on utilities, catching up with friends and traveling within the US to catch up with relatives.  Then on to fall sports, scouts, homework, work - time just flew by and it seemed like every day was too late to catch up on our blog but I finally decided it's never too late! Hence the new posts.

We wrote a Christmas letter this year with a summary of our trip and what we've done since coming home.

Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByPdTtRnNAM6NWQxOGEzMjUtMTUzYS00ODcxLWI0MTQtZTM5YmYwNTY0NGZl&hl=en&authkey=CJ_Eu-IP

Wishing you all well,

Jackie

Laundry Around the World

March 24, 2011

Laundry around the world

How did we do laundry people have asked.  

In New Zealand we rented an RV and stayed in campgrounds which all had washing facilities.  New Zealand has beautiful campgrounds close to wonderful sites, complete with shared kitchens, bathrooms, hot showers, playground equipment, some with beautiful swimming pools and of course, washers and dryers or lines to dry your things.  Doing laundry in New Zealand was easy.

In Australia we did laundry at Youth Hostels (where you can be any age to stay by the way - we stayed with other families and also met traveling retirees). All the Youth Hostels we stayed at had washers and dryers where you put in tokens or change.

In terms of the rest of the world we stayed in short term apartments with washer/dryers; friends homes (thank you for everything - including sharing your washers :o)); in Rome Paul took the laundry on the subway to a laundromat; in the Czech Republic the owner of the short term apartment did our laundry for free (!) in their brand new machines; and a few places we hand washed things in sinks and dried them overnight. In China and in Thailand we brought our things to full service laundry places to be washed as it was so inexpensive.   In Australia the detergents are all environmentally sound  and while our clothes did get clean when we had them washed in China, not sure what they used, but our whites were really white!!!    

In terms of doing our own laundry we packed clothes that were fast drying so you could wash them and they would dry overnight.  We sometimes did a little hand washing and would hang things out to dry.   In countries with warm weather and low humidity things dried easily overnight - all but China where it was winter - everywhere else it was essentially summer due to the time of year we traveled.  Both children did insist on  bringing jeans, and, as it was very important to them to bring their jeans and feel comfortable in something they were used to wearing let them bring one pair of jeans each. We all also had one pair of light packing travel pants.  It all worked out fine as we could find places to wash clothes often enough and things would dry really fast in the low humidity (unlike the East Coast of the US with its high humidity in the summer).   (The one pair of technical fabric pants we each brought could zip-off and become shorts - the technical fabric was great for washing and drying fast and the zip-off portion great for traveling to places where you might be in hot weather and want to wear shorts but then need pants to enter a Church or Temple, for example.)

I brought along a 'Rick Steves' laundry line that we could use to hang up to dry clothes.  It has a twisted rubber line so you don't need clothes pins you just pull apart the rubber line and push the clothes in and the lines pop back together to hold the clothes  The laundry line we got has Velcro on either end to tie it up - you could wrap it around a tree, a bathroom facet, a balcony railing, etc..   It worked very well and was very handy for bathing suits.  (Here's a link to a picture of the laundry line http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B00332F1WY/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0)

Happy laundry,

Jackie

Traveling with Food Allergies

March 24, 2011

You can travel with food allergies.  I'm allergic to shellfish and nuts so traveling with a food allergy on a trip around the world seemed a little daunting but with a little work our six month trip around the world went by without me having any reactions.   

We started our trip by leaving the US and going to New Zealand.  In New Zealand, as in the USA, they label their packaged foods with the top allergens. Since everyone spoke English and I could read food packages - well labeled with allergens and menus were clear it was a easy country to travel in.

I'd still suggest paying attention and telling people about the allergy.  One day we went to a Thai restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand and ordered one chicken dish to share.  As the menu was in English and everyone spoke English I didn't even mention my allergies.  But when the meal came they had thrown shrimp on top of the chicken dish with peanuts placed around the sides (!) - neither of which were mentioned on the menu.  As Paul and the kids were trying to get to an early showing of the movie, 'Avatar'  instead of ordering more food I just had one cup of steamed rice for dinner.  From then on I mentioned my allergies while ordering and everyone in New Zealand took it very seriously and understood about allergies.

On a food related note - In New Zealand I ate the best creamiest, tastiest yogurt of my life - a boysenberry yogurt that was sooo yummy - as we traveled the world and when we got home I tried all different kinds of yogurt to try to duplicate that delicious taste.  Finally a friend shared Chobani Greek Yogurt with me and that was it - love as first taste.  I've been buying the raspberry and plain yogurt - but they have all kinds of great flavors.   If you are not in New Zealand it's the yogurt to get.

Australia also does a great job of labeling allergens on packaged food and helping out with allergy restrictions in restaurants.  If you are trying to eat gluten-free this is the country to go to.  Everywhere you go they label things gluten-free - they label gluten-free muffins in coffee shops and even have gluten-free ice cream labeled in ice cream shops.  Australia seems like a great country to go to for those paying attention to gluten issues.

New Zealand and Australia were easy places to travel with food allergies - it got more complicated in countries where they spoke other languages but it all worked out.

In Thailand I had a card, written in Thai for me by her mom who was born in Thailand, saying I had nut and shellfish allergies that I would show waiters before ordering.

As we traveled we carried with us a Kwikpoint translation card.  This card folds up to fit in a purse or pocket and is covered with common pictures - airplanes, numbers, different kinds of foods (pictures chickens, pigs, and cows for example) and much more.  I could point to a picture of a nut and then point to a 'no' symbol (or point o the nut and pretend to choke) and people got it!   

We even used the card in taxis to point out street numbers, when we wanted to order chicken for dinner,   and much more.  It was light and very easy to carry and well worth it.   You can get the card here:  http://www.kwikpoint.com/    

After starting our travels I learned there are companies that specialize in food allergy cards (and now there are some free apps) where you can buy laminated credit card size cards showing a picture of what you are allergic to and a description saying you are allergic in different languages.  If I had learned about this before leaving I imagine I would have gotten a bunch of cards but as we didn't know which languages we would need our Kwickpoint card worked well.  If I were traveling again and going to a few specific countries, where I would know for sure which languages I would need, I think I'd get specific cards for each country with pictures (some people are not literate) and translation as I felt very confident in Thailand with my Thai card. 

Happy traveling,

Jackie

On the Road Again

Cicero, New York

July 10. 2010

On the Road Again

A warm American welcome greeted us when we got home. My sister, Alicia, and nephew, Matthew, cheerfully met us with welcome signs at Dulles International Airport - outside Washington, D.C. in Virginia. As our house is rented out till August 1, we spent three nights in Reston, Virginia with my sister, brother-in-law and two nephews. Along with my mom and dad they treated us to an American BBQ with hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and a finale of fireworks (to make up for missing 4th of July). We all had a great time being with them and squeezing in quick visits with other friends.

Now we are on the road again - in more way than one. We are traveling to visit family - and I'm driving for the first time since we left! This has been the longest I have not driven since I got my driver's licence. In college I did not have a car but I'd go home on breaks and drive. It's been great not having to drive. But in the wonderful, big US I've go to drive to get across these vast spaces. :o)

We knew we'd be traveling a bit in the US in July and in fact today we are in New York where we traveled for a golf tournament in honor of Paul's cousin, Captain Phil Dykeman, a marine killed in Iraq two years ago (TeamDykeman.com). The money raised goes to pay for a college scholarship created in his honor.

Next we are off to Lake Champlain to visit Paul's mom then heading south to a family reunion in the green mountains of North Carolina. Another trip to a family camp on a pristine lake in the Adirondacks, New York, rounds off the month. We expect to be back and done with travels and in our house around mid-August.

We are working on answering questions people have sent us about our trip - from languages to laundry and will be posting those answers soon.

Happy days,

Jackie

Mind the Gap!

London, England

July 5th, 2010

London is the perfect city in which to wrap up our journey. British people are friendly, eager to help without being asked and filled with a healthy sense of humor.


We've really gotten to know the "Tube" as does anyone that stays in this city for very long. My favotite part of the tube system is the warning to "mind the gap" between the train and the platform. Clearly some people have failed to heed that good advice! Paddington station is our home station, but we've managed to hit most of the city on the subway. Today, Amelia decided we'd best stay above ground so we used the double deckers to really see the city. It was a fresh approach to a city that knows how to do public transportation.





It took five months of constant travel for us to find a hotel that we had to walk out of because the conditions were so shabby that we daren't spend the night but we managed to do that in London. Luckily there are hundreds of hotels offering marginly better service (no gas smell/no mice) than the one we left so we found a suitable alternative within a short walk.






There is so much to see in London that we could have spent a month in this city alone, but we only had a few days so we packed in what we could. London Tower was the highlight from our first day. Jackie and I had a blast helping fire siege weapons at the "Tower". We visited the London Eye, which must be the highest "non-ferriswheel" in the world; it shouldn't be missed. The London Museum and the "Royal Mews" gave us a thorough appreciation of British history and it's place in the history of the world. Buckingham palace enchanted us with the changing of the guards and London's parks couldn't be beat on a warm sunny day.

Our dear friend Chloe came down for a visit and to show us a good time. We had a terrific lunch together and did some sight seeing. It was super to have her with us. Thanks Chloe. After lunch we visited the Lady Di Fountain together and we wish we had more time...

...isn't that the truth. We really wish we had more time. Yes, we're excited to return to Virginia tomorrow, but there is so much more adventure ahead. We won't think of Virginia as the end; we'd rather think of our return to Virginia as another part of our journey. We know it will be fun to be home, and to see family and friends, but there is a great big, wild world out there just beconing us to come see it; who knows how long it will be before we cut loose the dock lines and head out again...

Next blog entry we'll answer your questions and do a trip summary.

--Paul