Adventuriety
We went to Copenhagen for Christmas for a lot of reasons but the best reason of all was probably because if you can visit three countries in a trip instead of one, why not? There were other reasons too, like I had wanted to visit Copenhagen in person ever since I visited with Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown a few years ago. Copenhagen is after all, the...
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Adventuriety / Domesticiety
Our year of traveling the world is over and the kids are back in a “brick and mortar” school. We’ve been home for about three months and I just finished the last of the my travel blogs about all of our activities and what I think about them, but Scott has been telling me that I should write about the “other stuff,” the more reflective...
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Adventuriety
We arrived in Xi’an on our seventh day in China. Even if you have no interest in China you’ve probably heard of Xi’an. No? What about the Terra Cotta Warriors? I thought so. Even my kids knew about the Terra Cotta Warriors and listed them as a reason for visiting China. Obviously, Xi’an is very popular on the Chinese tourist circuit because of the Terra Cotta...
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Adventuriety
Two and a half hours out of Beijing on a bullet train and there is still no sky visible. It looks like June gloom in Central California but it is smog, laying on the ground. Scott points outside and says to the kids, “See the pollution?” Grant replies, “I thought it was fog…are you sure?” It took us three and half hours to finally...
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Adventuriety
For me, being in China was like being on another planet, but a vaguely familiar planet. China is a very complicated place; a lot like an episode of Star Trek Voyager where past, present and future are all tangled together in some sort of Delta Quadrant wormhole. For those of you who are not Trekkies, suffice it to say that Beijing was our first taste...
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Adventuriety
I’m just going to start by saying that this blog drove me crazy and took forever to write and rewrite and rewrite. We chose Kyoto for five days because the overwhelming advice from both friends and guidebooks was to spend our time in Kyoto! There seems to be a consensus that Kyoto is the place to visit and when Japan is the topic, the questions range from, “Have...
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Adventuriety / Inspirietry
After the sensory overload of Tokyo, we were all looking forward to a little nature and a slower pace. The charming town of Nikko was recommended both by friends and guidebooks. It is located a little more than two hours north of Tokyo and offers both the UNESCO World Heritage that includes 103 buildings or structures belonging to two Shinto shrines and one Buddhist temple...
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Adventuriety
Traveling can help you get to know yourself for sure. This “last trip” on our year long adventure was a point of contention. I wanted Iceland, Norway and Ireland, places that sounded good in the hot summer months and all places I had been looking forward to visiting. Besides, I am Norwegian on my father’s side and I wanted to visit Norway. Conversely, my family...
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Adventuriety
I have been behind on my blogging more than usual after this past South America jaunt and have spent days at home catching up on Peru, Galapagos Islands and Aruba. It’s not unusual for me to lag behind, but it has been much worse lately and when I finally caught up to our latest adventure I happily reported to Scott who had been asking me on...
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Inspirietry / Recuperiety
One of the benefits of traveling is that one learns geography and in planning our South America jaunt, Scott was thrilled to realize how closely Aruba and Ecuador are positioned on the globe. While Scott is always on the lookout for trekking opportunities, his true love is the sport of windsurfing and a very dry four years has left his beloved local windsurfing spot looking like...
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