Odds & Ends - January 31, 2005
Well, we have been on our trip now for almost one month, more if you count the time since we left Kona. We have decided to make our official monthly anniversary January 6th though; since this is the day we left the US for our first official overseas destination, Peru.
thus far, the Cheryl’s Journal part of the website has been blank, and many friends have written wondering what I have been doing with my time. Aside from the usual laundry, school work for the kids, online bill paying, reading novels, and scouting out the best coffee shops, I have been in charge of logistics since we agreed on this trip almost two years ago. That means, when we arrive in a new place, I have to make sure we know how to get from the airport, have the local currency to do so, and have a bed waiting at the end of the taxi ride. The first part of our trip we moved every few nights, so it was a bit nerve wracking, but fun to finally see the places I had arranged months ago. The Internet has made international travel as easy as visiting a mainland city from Hawaii. Expedia has some great deals on international hotels, but I learned the hard way to check the details. There were only three twin beds in our room in Rio, and only one room had been reserved, although we had requested two.
As we figured out a way to sleep, we did get to hear some great stories about Todd having to sleep on the crack between two twin beds that had been pushed together when he traveled with his brothers, who were older, and therefore never had to sleep in the crack. He said by morning the beds had moved apart and he would be on the floor, or in a hammock of blankets between the two beds. Needless to say, we felt so sorry for him, we gave him his own bed the entire time. All in all Rio felt like a slumber party, and the girls were tired and operating on a different time zone, so they slept until almost noon every day. This gave Todd and I time to work on travel logistics and enjoy the view from our terrace with a cup of café con leite, which is Portuguese for coffee with milk. They heat both the milk and coffee, and bring them in silver pots, even at a budget hotel like ours. The morning we heard rapid gunfire on the street 8 floors below, we moved back inside quickly from the terrace, eyebrows raised asking each other, “Was that gunfire?”
Now that we are settled in Sydney for a few weeks, I have a bit more time to write. We have the girls on a schedule, which still means a struggle to get them up by 10am, since we are all night owls, exploring Sydney until late, or playing cutthroat Scrabble. Even Katie has evolved into quite a savvy Scrabble player on her own. In the beginning she and I were always a team. We have made Scrabble a part of their spelling homework, which helped with their initial lack of enthusiasm.
So, I ‘ll try to keep this updated – but if not just know I am probably at a café sipping a flat white (coffee with milk in NZ and Australia), reading while the girls feed the seagulls and Todd takes photos. We sure miss all of our friends and family in Hawaii and on the mainland. Weaning ourselves from instant access to email and the Internet has been one of our biggest challenges. We try to check email every few days, so drop us a line, and don’t worry, we are safe and having the time of our lives. I already know I will never regret leaving it all to travel.
G’Day Mates….
Cheryl
Sydney, January 31, 2005