And Last but Not Least. My still beloved Valle
And so it is our last but Not least stop, my beloved Valle, a place we used to spend many many weekends and holidays, with friends, riding in the hills, ambling the cobbled snaking streets up and down the village, walking and swimming in the lake of this charming old Indian village. There was…
Mexico City – The Big Smoke
I spite of being with my children 24/7 x 52, I am not feeling too crazed. I have dreaded arriving in Mexico City, from the day we left the UK almost a year ago, in a way in which a Capital city after the provinces seem unbearably noisy, smoggy, dirty, large, impenetrable, and exhausting. I…
Mexico- A life more rural
Maria is Marillee’s maid at the house in Oaxaca and she will cook and clean for us twice a week, as part of this Mexican house exchange It is a real treat to come down to breakfast, to chilaquiles, crispy tortillas with spicy tomato sauce, fried eggs, cheese and frijoles on the side, hot cinnamon…
Mexico – Oaxaca – in the Dead of Night
We return from an evening in Oaxaca by taxi and stop for a few seconds at the gate of Marilee’s house where we are doing our house exchange. It’s 10 pm and it’s a silent warm night. Something doesn’t seem quite right and we sit in the cab in silence, staring ahead. The taxi driver…
Mexico – Oaxaca – It’s Fiesta Time
The girls are all ready Frolics in the pool Beautiful hair adornments This feels like a holiday, no more Spanish school. Our routine has gone out the window and we can stay out later at night. We were tempted to hire a car to explore the area surrounding Oaxaca, the villages, the countryside, the lovely…
Mexico – San Cristobal – Cowboy Sam
The relief of being back at the ranch on terra firma, playing with the puppies again! We will be sad to leave San Cristobal. It has been the perfect place to pitch ourselves for a few months. The children have lost sight of back home and Jemima even asked if we could come and live…
Mexico 6 – San Cristobal de Las Casas. Developing Daily Patterns
Our lovely house no 2 Our three with Lula on the steps of Guadalupe Church Lula and Millie Llolisa teaches Jemima and Gabriel some aerial dance moves We’ve moved house, to a beautiful sublime, adobe house full of character, set on a steep hill in the town up a cobbled road, with great views in…
Mexico 5 – San Cristobal de Las Casas – The Church at San Juan Chamula – a different sort of service
Beautiful embroidery, identical to Otovalo. So where does it come from? Rumours here is that embroidery takes place in China Sunday is the day of markets in all the local villages and we head to Chamula, on horseback. When I last came here, as a 12 year old, Chamula was a beautiful white church surrounded…
Mexico 4 – San Cristobal – Pinatas and Pizza
It’s Gabriel’s birthday today. Although Janet’s house is less than perfect, I am getting used to it, It helps knowing that we can move to somewhere better in a few weeks time. Anyway in the meantime, we are making full use of her fabulous garden. Combining forces with our Michigan friends, who are here also…
Mexico 3 – Land of the Zappatistas
The lovely vibrant colours of Mexico Vendor sells bundles of fresh garlic, wearing his San Cristobal hat With the Zappatistas, came dignity and equal rights for women, no wonder Commandante Marco is considered such a hero, at least by some The pedestrian street Guadalupe with it’s church high up on the hill We are on…
Mexico 2. – Onwards to Palenque
The Astonishing Mayan Palenque Ruins. Only 3% of these ruins have actually been uncovered from the jungle mass under which they are buried. Our Mexico plan at the moment is to head north to Palenque, San Cristobal for a month, Oaxaca for two weeks and then DF, from where our flights heads back home. Palenque is…
Mexico 1. Tulum….. And the Memories come flooding back……
It’s a long journey from Quito to Mexico, particularly as the cheapest flights take us via Miami and back down to Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsular. With only 3 hours sleep In a Miami hotel. We really do need a few days to recover. I have a natural aversion to Cancun, this man made sea…
Ecuador – The Power of Paint
One last week in Quito and now I am beginning to regret that we didn’t have just another 10 days here. Friendly taxi drivers are in disbelief when we tell them we haven’t been to Banos or even seen the volcanoes, and there’s so much to do just in Quito – wonderful museums, streets to…
A Tribute to Nepal – in memory of Shafru
Our last glimpse back on Shrafu 2014 Karma – one very special man – The Langtang range in the background. It’s not until we return from the Jungle, that we realise the significance of the earthquake in Nepal. We are completely stunned, as we watch the footage on the BBC and the full story emerges. Kathmandu…
Ecuador – The Amazon
Nicky Lodge A few precious moments in a hammock, Jemima is reading The Witche to M and G The Amazon is the antithesis of the Galapagos, it’s imposdible to see anything. ( unless you are Diego)he creature I am most afriad of is the bullet ant. Diego has been bitten twice, once it fell…
Ecuador – The Galapagos – a wonderful symbiotic relationship
The second week we stay in a B& B come hostel called the Galeta Iguana, with a kitchen where we can prepare picnic meals. Carlos greets us warmly when we arrive. It’s close proximity to the sea and the beach, which means that at high tide, the sea ferociously laps the wall sides of the…
Ecuador 10 – All very Spoiling
Not bothered that I am in the way The heat hits you as you get off the plane on to the melting tarmac as though a hair dryer has been blasted in your face. Hot sea air. It puts a smile on our faces. We have been following the rains throughout Ecuador and it feels…
Ecuador 9- Time glides by in Shangri la
We while away quite a bit of time, in one of the numerous cafes in Vilcabamba. Pen and paper always to hand… We leave the lovely town of Cuenca and head South to Vilcabamba, the last town on the Ecuador border before Peru. This place is famous for its purported longevity. It’s a five hour…
Ecuador 8- A little out of his depth
Jemima’s Birthday We head to a different hacienda for a horse trek. Jemima has for many years gone pony trekking on Mull for her birthday, and she is keen to continue this tradition as her birthday treat. We pick up the phone and call Carlos, who has been recommended to us. He pops by on…
Ecuador 7 – It’s April Fools Day in Our House
Cuenca A lovely cuenca facade It’s April 1st. The children wake with giggles of excitement and lots of shushing and whispers. It’s April Fools Day, at least in this house in this little pocket of Ecuador. Jemima has been cutting up lots of tiny squares of polystyrene and putting them in the Frosties packet. Meanwhile,…
Ecuador 6 – Cuenca – Why do we have to go for another walk?
We spend three weeks in Cuenca, which is a large Colonial city, though it feels more like a small town. Four rivers converge here, and split the city between the old town, high up on the hill and the new town on the other side of this fast flowing gushing river down in the Barranco.…
Ecuador 5 – A visit to the doctor
An art exhibition at the modern art museum in Cuenca Cuenca still – A visit to the doctor Methinks I have done something to my shoulder – this pain isn’t going way and I now can’t lift my left arm in any direction and it’s stopping me from doing all sorts of things and it…
Ecuador 4 – Otavalan Idyll
Las Palmeras …….this lovely bit of class in rural paradise in Pichincha I am sorry to say goodbye to Otavalo. We have so enjoyed staying put, living in a home, and establishing a bit of a routine. We are enjoying exploring local ingredients, in the local Indian market. There seems to be such an abundance…
Ecuador 3 – Las Palmeras
Adela and all her family come and spend Sunday with us, the children all play inside this tent in the garden We are installed in a heavenly casita on the road leading out of Otavalo, 2hrs from Quito. It’s in the grounds of a beautiful hacienda, the back drop is rural, beautiful mountains, volcanoes,and small…
Ecuador 2 – El Reunion
Adela and me or Chulita as she calls me When mum and dad lived here, They hired a local Ecuadorian Indian girl, who at 17, came to look after me when I was born to help mum with her three children. Then along came Marcus and a move to Argentina and Adela decided to come…
Ecuador 1 -La Mitad Del Mundo
My Millie Moo in her Ecuadorian hat Our trip from NZ is long and on our way to Ecuador, we stop in Santiago crossing the date line as we go. We leave Auckland at 4pm on the 19th Feb, arriving in Santiago at 11 am on the 19 th Feb, that’s 5 hrs before we…
NZ – Having a Pepsi Moment
the tree house at Grandi and Gray’s – barely space for the three of them , somehow they make space. The kids are over the moon to see us. Five days has been a good break away for all of us. Hilary, who has been looking after them while we have been away, has indulged…
New Zealand 8 – Precious time alone
When I called Heather and Toby in May last year to tell them we were coming to NZ, Heather said, ” You and Mark will have spent 24/7 with your kids for 6 months and will need some time alone. We will look after the kids, while you go off and spend some time alone together. Why…
New Zealand 7 – The Glorious South
Dynamite needs a new cam belt and a new water pump… This really is getting expensive, on the other hand Heather and Toby did pick it up for a complete bargain, so maybe now that we have virtually reconstructed it, it will be worth a whole lot more when we sell it. We are forced to…
New Zealand 6 – The Wild West
We arrive in Pukekara, and stop when we see a cabin and rooms to rent sign. We stay the next 2 days in this unusual place. The cabin is huge, in fact it’s a house, larger than any cabin we’ve stayed in and dates back to the 1800s (that’s old here). There’s more room here…
New Zealand 5 – From The Skies Above
We have the mountain to ourselves from Snow to Sea – Fox Glacier in the back ground. The view from our garden -Moeraki On a very wet rainy atmospheric in Milford Dound We stop at Te Anau for the rainiest wettest days we have had so far. What a shame, though when we get to…
New Zealand 4- Meg Hut awaits us
The Meg Hut awaits us Loma We arrive in Wannaka at Heather’s aunt’s house. Hmmm, not sure this is good idea. Joss’ children are grown up, ours are small and noisy. Methinks there are too many of us, we will have to stay out of the house as much as possible. Jemima, Gabriel and Zebedee…
New Zealand 3 – Dynamite lets us down
The remote spot of Ohau Lodge – Heather the solitary figure. takes a walk A picnic at Lake Ohau So we are now on the road in our black Mitsubishi “Dynamite.” (not) with The Gee Family. Toby, Heather, Zebedee, Loma and Thalia, and our lot in tow. We we have between us, 6 small children. …
New Zealand 2 – Au Revoir 2014 Bonjour 2015
We say our Goodbyes to the Waller-Yates, and the lovely handsome three boys and head off from The Bay of Islands, via Keri Keri to a camp site cabin, in Opononi (for a fun morning of sand dune surfing) and then onwards to Tinopai, not somewhere we intended to go but that road looked beautiful…
New Zealand 1 – The Lands Down Under
We make a quick change of plan to travel to Bangkok, where we are getting our outward bound flight to NZ, via Koh Chang and the Southern coast of Cambodia rather than the night bus to Bangkok from Phnom Penn, which would be far too long and uncomfortable. However this means that I have to return to…
Cambodia 2 – Salt and Pepper
We spend our last 10 days in Kampot on the Southern coast of Cambodia, where the wide Kampot River meets the sea. It’s a river place, not a seaside place, a sleepy laid back, once old and French, now old and quite dilapidated back-packery place. We settle into a lovely Eco Lodge, The Ganesha, out…
Cambodia 1 – The Jungle takes Over
Squeezing only a brief 2 weeks to see Cambodia has been mistake, as I am discovering now. We land in Siem Reap for 3 days. Angkor Wat is part of our reason to be here, the other part, is to catch up with my lovely friend and Millie’s godmother Shunmay. She lives part of her…
Laos 3 – Bombs, Bamboo and Bicycles
We drive from Vang Vieng up to Luang Prabang. It’s a 6-hr dramatic journey in a neat little mini bus, through some magnificent scenery, more of the same, these incredible karsts, the river and thick impenetrable looking jungle lining the sides. We stop for a loo break at a roadside village, where the market is…
Laos 2- Slowly and dreamily runs the River
We get the 8 hr bus to Luang Prabang, stopping in Vang Vieng to halve the journey. Mark and I think a 2 day stop to break the journey might be a good idea, so we book into a little Traditional Lao guest house. As we arrive by night and it’s dark we have no…
Laos 1 – Limes, Coconuts, Lemongrass and baguettes are back on the menu.
(Our camera is broken so it’s on way its’ back on a plane to John Lewis to be fixed! The phone camera will have to do from now on…. AHHHH Asia ! It’s great to be back in SE Asia. We make a quick 24 hr stop in KL. It was bad planning stopping here,…
Nepal 4 – Village Life
Karma’s mother weaves a belt On completing the Tamang Heritage trek we join the more popular Langtang trek as the valley creeps up the mountains and we get quite a shock as we are now suddenly without any warning on a mainstream trek, following large groups of tourists. The high-tech Japanese in droves, with multi…
Nepal 3 -In the shadow of Everest
We take the 7.30 am bus to Pokhara. Karma and his wife Karmu accompany us there, his guiding duties are over, but they decide to take a few days holiday with us. Karma is a delightful man, with a fun sense of humour and we all enjoy his company. It’s a lovely bus journey, easy,…
Nepal 2 – Tamang Heritage trek
This is the starting point of our trek There are not many places in the world where you can walk in the stunning mountains, stopping frequently in local villages, bursting with culture and interest, and enormous hospitality, to be fed cardamom chais and soups by day and suppers with a glass of beer by night,…
Nepal 1 – Festival of Light in Kathmandu
Karma’s daughters, Jemima and Millie set to work on decorating the entrance to their house Divali in Kathmandu We had been introduced to Karma Lama by Toby and Heather, our most intrepid/mountain climbing friends who have kids the same age as ours. We called them up in New Zealand in May to ask their advice…
India 8- Coonoor to Chennai
Prompted by Jemima having a toothache, we check out a recommended local dentist in Coonoor, and on discovering how cheap the prices are, we take full advantage, and within half half an hour of meeting Titus and his partner wife Ruby, Mark is also sitting in the dentist’s chair, and initial work starts on a…
India 7 – Tea and Cakes in Snooty Ooty
Tea, tea and tea Onwards to Coonoor, which is a 2-hour drive straight up 32 hair pin bends, away from the wild jungle, elephant, tiger landscape till you reach the top of what feels like a massive precipice, And suddenly we are in sweetie land – all the houses are pastel coloured, soft pinks, sickly…
India 6- Masanagudi National Park
We drive for 2 hours out of Mysore and within a short time, the landscape has completely changed. We are now in a tiger reserve, where wild elephants and tigers roam though. There are now only 50 in a National Park the size of 320 square km, so you have to be pretty lucky to…
India 5- Feast to the Eyes
Highlights of our time in Mysore: Driving out to Dubare to an elephant camp to feed the elephants was a highlight for the children and Mark and me too really. How can you not be pleased and delighted to come across 22 elephants, munching on straw, drinking from the river and a baby elephant sucking…
India 4 – An Elephant Spectacle
Onwards to Mysore on the overnight train From Hospet… Mysore. 6:30 am final terminal (this is a relief as we can’t quickly get off trains – we discovered this in Hospet on our way to Hampi! Little people laden down with rucksacks don’t move very fast.) Our pre arranged taxi driver is waiting for us…
India 3 – Hampi – A Ride in a Coracle
From Goa to Hampi – 320 South East of Goa, State of Tamil Nadu. Our itinerary in India has changed somewhat. Our original intention was to to go to Kerala, I’ve travelled in the north of India which I loved, but we wanted to take the hassle factor that I had previously experienced, particularly now…
India 2 – Hot and Bothered
So we set off from Casa Susegad reluctantly… the onward journey will take us 300 Km south and east of Goa to the state of Karnataka, it’s been a lovely most relaxing and indulging place to stay, stopping off at the STM en route to get some money out of the machine – nothing ,…
India 1- Goa – a much needed holiday
Palolem beach in South Goa A fish stall along the way Casa Susegad, a sublime guest house,with immense hospitality Buying train tickets to Goa from Mumbai is no easy feat when you are in Dubai and a foreigner. The Indian booking system is impossible. So I email Carole from Casa Susegad (the guest house where we…
Ethiopia 9 – Lasting impressions
It’s not till we get to the airport, and move on to Dubai and India that I am able to reflect back on our time in Ethiopia, fraught as much as it was with our frustrations and acclimatising to travelling with 3 young kids, in a country which is little set up for tourism and…
Ethiopia 8 – Lalibela
Holiest of Places – The Jerusalem of Ethiopia There are 11 of these extraordinary churches here in Lalibela – it has been sculpted out of the rock and lies 100 feet underground. Millie and Jemima sitting just in the sunlight on the bottom right. From out of nowhere this extraordinary cafe/ restaurant appears , co…
Ethiopia 8 – An unexpected Bus Ride
A trip to the North Bahrdar -The start of the Nile, and Lake Tana, Gonder and the SImien Mountains, Lalibella and back to Addis – the next ten days. If only we had known we could get half price flights on all internal Ethiopian airlines, if we had flown into the country on Ethiopian airlines.…
Ethiopia 7 – Addis again
Back to Addis to wash our clothes. The children catch up with their friends Natty and Enatta. We get invited to a social Friday evening at the British embassy to join Michelle and Thomas and their kids for G&Ts and have an English supper, and most importantly the children get to play in the lush…
Ethiopia 6 – Africa Juice
This visit is another highlight of our trip. Our lovely Irish friend Dave co-owns a fruit farm near Adamo and we are able to coordinate with him for a visit to his farm (which he does monthly). They have a house on site where the the on-ground managers live and a spare room where we…
Ethiopia 5 – Crocodiles and Footie
Aber Minch This university town is situated high on a hill between 2 very large lakes. The lake on the right is the red lake, where the crocodiles are and we are going to see if we can see any today – so we head off. After a 30 min dusty drive, we arrive at…
Ethiopia 4 – The Omo Valley
It was always a trip Mark wanted to make more than I did, mainly because there’s not much of interest down here in these flat, hot, forbidding lands but fascinating tribal people. Scenery matters to me, but my main objection is the people safari element to it. This is the southern most part of Ethiopia,…
Ethiopia 3 – Onwards to Sodo
Phew, mission over! The brand new hotel we stayed in Misan Tefari 3 years ago is now completely dilapidated – Mark slept with Gabriel in a room down the corridor and I slept in a bed with Jemima and Millie – actually it was more like I was in the middle of the deep valley…
Ethiopia 2 – Mission to Misan Tefari
Trip 1 A 10 day 3000 km driving tour Addis to Jimma to Misan Tefari to Jimma to Sodo Sodo to Arber Minch – Jinka, Turmi and the Omo valley, Lake Langano and then Adama and then back to Addis Mark’s colleagues at the Amref Health Africa offices in Addis have helped to coordinate the first leg…
Hello Ethiopia 1
Our mission and main reason to come to Ethiopia is to revisit Millie’s birth place and her family members and to keep Ethiopian culture alive for Millie as she grows up. Addis Ababa – the Capital Altitude: 2355 m Population: 3.4 million We will be spending a few days in Addis, in Tsebay and Abdi’s…
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Five Go Round The World 