Archive | June, 2009
This amazing family of four is traveling from Alaska to Argentina…on their bikes! Yes, their bikes! Family on Bikes is the website that they are maintaining while they take their trip. Right now, they are in Costa Rica. When they reach Argentina, their two sons will become the new Guiness Book of World Records holders as the youngest people to cycle the Pan-American highway. This is not the first biking trip this family has taken…check out their slideshows to see pictures from all of their other trips. Be sure to read their entertaining blog. It is written by all four members of the household! To see pictures from their trip, go here. I wonder if they will try to get to Antarctica once they make it to the end of Argentina!
This is the eighth part of a series of posts in which I am sharing pictures and thoughts from my first major trip with children. You can read the first seven posts here: Trier, Germany; Kelty Convertible Backpack; American Cemetery and Memorial; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Zermatt, Switzerland and the Matterhorn, Brussels, Belgium, and Stuck in Bed.
London was a last minute addition to our itinerary (along with Zermatt) because of where we were going to be for most of trip. Logistically, we were not sure if we could fit London in to our three week whirlwind tour and see what we wanted to see. That being said, one of our travel motto’s is “We might never make it back to THIS spot, so let’s find a way” so we squeezed it in at the last minute. We took the Chunnel train from Brussels to London in the morning. This was possibly one of the biggest pains on the entire trip. It isn’t like traveling from Brussels to Amsterdam where you just hop on the train and the conductor checks your ticket at some point. You had to go through a customs setup which was miserable for us with a little guy…not only a little guy, but one wearing a helmet for brachycephaly. Apparently the border patrol had never seen a child in a helmet and thought we were trying to smuggle something in our kid’s head. They made us take the helmet off, they then ran it through the x-ray and continued to evaluate the helmet. Mind you, coming back into Brussels was much easier! Once we made it through, we were able to relax for a few minutes before it was time to get on the train.
The train ride was very short and the only sign that you are in the tunnel is the fact that you slow down considerably to enter and exit the tunnel and the windows were dark, as opposed to full of rolling countryside. We arrived in London, took the tube (in the middle of rush hour) to our hotel stop (King’s Cross) and dropped off our luggage. We immediately headed to the London Eye. I must admit that this was one of the highlight of my London adventure. I love a good tourist trap just about as much as I love the off the beat stuff! We got the last ticket for the London Eye and if you are going to check this out, I recommend you take the ride in the evening. It was absolutely amazing to see the city during the sunset and then all lit up at night!
Check out other Photo Friday posts at DeliciousBaby!
I am a huge fan of travel of all kinds. When the budget gets tight, we still travel. We choose to use our towels a little while longer before we replace them with new ones. We choose to eat spaghetti instead of steak. We choose to travel a little closer to home by taking little three or four hour roadtrips while we save up for flights across the Atlantic. I also think it is so important to travel in and around your own city. Tonight, we had the pleasure of attending a party at the beach. My husband and I are trying to make more of a point to travel the thirty minutes to the beach at least once every week or two. We take for granted that we live on this beautiful Gulf Coast. The sandy white beaches and the beautiful sunsets make the trip worth it! This is why we live here:
Going…
Going…
Gone…
I rarely post things on this blog that have nothing to do with travel. I have a family blog that I post my family stuff on, although I am sad to say that I have not been keeping that updated as I have been concentrating on this blog and my city blog. I decided to post these pictures as part of Delicious Baby’s Photo Friday because they are just too terribly cute not to! And then, I started thinking…these pictures and the fact that my oldest is graduating from PreK has nothing AND everything to do with travel. On August 24, Big S will start Kindergarten at the “Big School”. As I plan our trips in the fall, I need to remember that I can’t just jump in the car with my kids at a moment’s notice. A teacher by trade, I hated when kids would get pulled out of class for a ski trip two weeks after Christmas break. I know that it is unavoidable sometimes, but I am going to try to plan around holidays. This means that now, I am traveling with everyone else…it means no more week long trips in the fall or the spring just because we feel like it. I know that there is a happy medium here somewhere, but it will take me awhile to figure it out. For now, I will enjoy our summer road trips (separate trips to Jacksonville, FL and Washington DC and who knows what else!) and try to stall time from passing as much as I can…
Sandra Friend and I both have the same sunny love for the state of Florida. I love visiting her blogs about the many hiking trips that she has taken. Sandra has inspired me to pay more attention to our state parks and to get out and walk! She has written several books and maintains several blogs. Her blogs include: Florida Hikes!, Candid Florida, Genuiune Florida, and several others! Be sure to check out Candid Florida as that is my favorite one! You can also follow Sandra on Twitter. She is a great resource to exploring Florida’s outdoors. I have asked her several questions over the past few months and she has always written me back right away with helpful information.
Mara, at Mother of All Trips, does a great article series where she writes about her travel dreams. Sometimes she is dreaming of a place that she has never been and other times she is dreaming of places that she remembers and wishes to return! Since she moved to her new site, she has opened up her dreaming posts for everyone else. You write a post about what you are dreaming about and then you link to it from her post. Today, I must admit that the only thing I am dreaming of is a nap for my children (they haven’t taken one in 9 days…count em…9 days) and a working website template for me.
This is my new website…minus the green and brown background. I have been paying for this domain name and webhosting for about 4 months now but I haven’t been able to get it together for one reason or another. I decided that if I just move to the new site, it will force me to bite the bullet and get what I want done! Nothing like knowing people are checking out the site to get you to finally fix the “About” page! I have someone working on a template for my blog but I am not sure when it will be finished so for now I am attempting to find a free template that will be a placeholder until the official Two Kids and a Map template is finished. I chose this template for now because it is what I use on my other site, Pensacola with Kids. Please pardon our dust as we continue to remodel. I will be reworking the category section and page section as well.
In the meantime, if you have bookmarked my site or have subscribed, I would appreciate it if you updated your info with this new site…www.twokidsandamap.com.
I will continue to work!
I have missed Travel Blogger Tuesday for a few weeks but school is out and I am ready to blog. I am anxious to introduce you to this great blogger! Peace with the Cairns Family Holidays really knows how to get out there and explore with kids. She does some of the coolest things with her family! Every time I read her blog, I want to move a trip to Australia higher on my list! The website is awesome and covers everything you could imagine if you were traveling to Australia with your kids. Her blog covers all of her personal adventures. Some of my favorite articles include:
Photo Friday: Quoll — Had no idea what this was until I read this article!
Clifton Beach — My kids would love this playground and beach area. One of the best parts about traveling with kids is that you get to add all those great playgrounds on your must see list!
Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walk — This is something my entire family would enjoy!
My last post was on Thursday night of last week! YIKES!!! I would like to take a moment to say thanks to all of my loyal readers. I appreciate you all continuing to visit the site. Things have been crazy here! I am finishing up the school year and as a teacher that entails a LOT of work! We are finished on Monday and although I am sad to say goodbye for a summer, I am so excited about spending the summer traveling with my family! At the same time, I have been working on migrating this site and creating a new site!
Lately, I have been reading Mother of All Trips as she writes her “Mondays are for Dreaming” and I know it isn’t Monday, but I am going to leave you with a picture that shows you what I am dreaming about…this dessert in Garmisch, Germany!
