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OUR TRAVELS

Adventures outside our borders
Dec 30
1
Happy New Year - 2013 / 2014

 Reflecting on What has Past 

By | Musings, Our Travels | One Comment

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

― Neil Gaiman

I love this, and I wish this for all of you. My only addition would be, do it with positive intention and grace.

2013 has been a truly eventful year, in so many ways, not least of which has been our epic US travels. We did it this year, we did what scared us, what we’ve dreamed of for so many years. We hopped the pond, we swallowed the currency exchange, and we arrived without much of a plan, just 4 bags full of hope. But I know that had we not done it, we would sit for the rest of our lives saying “Imagine we had done those travels we always dreamed of?” Now we have done it, well started anyway, and don’t kid yourselves, we have made our fair share of mistakes in the process, but I don’t for one minute regret the adventure we have begun. Some days have been hard, and we have shed our fair share of tears, but what we have seen and what we have learned has more than made up for it.

Beginning the year we had 2 children in nappies. We are ending the year in a foreign country, alive, happy, blessed, countless adventures under our belt, with 2 children capable of hiking a mountain on their own, skiing through a forest and most exciting of all, not wearing nappies! If nothing else, it makes us realize how quickly things change and how important it is to take charge of where you want to be. There is a time and a place for sitting back and enjoying the ride, and hopefully we will allow ourselves to do that in 2014, but there is also a time to push yourself, to challenge what you think is possible, to stretch your limits. For everyone it is different, and so is the balance. We will strive to get our balance right next year.

3 months away from South Africa has taught us more about our country than we could have learned being there. Watching from a distance has allowed us to see how unified our country actually is, how it pulls together at a time of nationwide mourning in a way that we could never have imagined. The coverage our country received after the passing of our beloved leader showed just how much he meant to the rest of the world too. It was both a heartwarming, but also tragically sad time to not be amongst our own people, to join in the memorials and moving tributes. It was hard to not be there. The sheer number of people we have met from other countries who know what amazing places lie within our borders, and the friendliness our countrymen are renowned for is a real tribute to our land. Seeing the awesome landscape in another country really brings home the amazing natural wonder we have in our own backyard, there is not a lot that comes close to African beauty.

What I can say for sure; is that making mistakes isn’t as scary in hindsight as it is before you make them, and nothing will help you grow faster. Don’t be too scared to act. Live what you dream. Happy 2014, mistakes and all!

Dec 27
1
The 'state' of Nevada

Bullets and Burgers

By | Our Travels | No Comments

There is a certain kind of people, a very special kind, that dwell in the State of Nevada. Phrases like “great mullet” are normal and highly regarded, as are signs reading “All you can eat!” and “Machine guns ready to fire!”. Honestly, I wish I had made up the title ‘Bullets and Burgers’, but the credit goes to some hillbilly in the middle of nowhere who actually owns a joint by that name.

After a day at the Grand Canyon, we felt we had seen it all. The views are amazing, no doubt, but after our previous National Parks, it lacked a little of the a-w-e-some-ness. It is super touristy, and by that I mean, SUPER touristy! It is swarming with cameras, screaming children and high heel toting women with sequins all over their shirts. Not that I have anything against screaming children or dressed up women, but when in the midst of being floored by the incredible spectacle nature has put on for us, I prefer to be surrounded with more appreciation for the earths grandeur, and less for Gucci and Prada’s. So after some pretty great views of the canyon, and a short hike down a cold gorge, we threw in the towel and headed off to Vegas.

 

A very ‘interesting’ drive, took us past sign after sign of shooting ranges and dilapidated hillbilly ‘mobile home towns’. It was actually a good warm up for Vegas. Driving into the city we were blown away by the amount of smog, and struck but how much it felt like we were driving into Joburg. It was dry and dusty, and didn’t have much going for it in any way, other than the surprisingly large and beautiful mountains surrounding the city – when you catch a glimpse of them through the smog that is. And then of course there is the strip – 4km’s of some of the most interesting hotels you are likely to see, all squeezed up alongside each other, and each vying for your attention in its own way. Innocent and naive little me however, was not prepared for the higher-grade-sneaky-corporate-hotel-money-making-scheme that awaited us.

We were pleasantly surprised at the incredible suite we were able to stay in for a relatively affordable amount of money. I spent a lot of time that evening trying to figure out how on earth a hotel that size can kit each room out with Miele kitchen appliances, 2 bathrooms complete with a bath that is the size of (and functions like) a jacuzzi, 2 massive flat screen tv’s, one of which magically rises out the top of the solid wood Edwardian desk, floor to ceiling windows and every luxury you could expect in a 5 star hotel. It confounded me… until we tried to leave the hotel the next morning. It took us a good half an hour to walk to the hotel next door. There is no easy path to leave the hotel, only a convoluted passage along the casino floor, leading you past what felt like mile after mile of slot machines and hotel owned restaurants and shopping mall, or, a walk down the long driveway which is largely reserved for all the valet parked vehicles, and definitely not pedestrian friendly.
I moan, but I suppose Vegas wasn’t designed for people who have a negative physical reaction to the thought of throwing money into a machine. Nor was it designed for children. This point may just be what sank the ship for us. All shows have an age limit of 5 and above, so we couldn’t even take the kids to watch a Cirque du Soleil performance. Disappointing, but digestible. What gave us indigestion was the cost of hiring a babysitter, roughly R2000 for 4 hours – minimum! Shaun’s face went visibly grey and I think I did a pretty good impression of someone with Tourette’s. So instead, we walked the strip with the kids in tow, and realised what a bad idea it was. The first night we tried it, the kids were so tired they ended up falling asleep in our arms just as we got out on the strip, a largely painful process when you have a 30 min walk back to your hotel room through the maze of a casino and sprawling hotel. Shaun had Lola snoring on his back while he did a ‘Hunchback of Notre dame’ walk, to try and keep her from falling off. I had Lincoln doing his ‘curl into a ball’ trick as he falls asleep, trying desperately to get his legs tucked right under my chin, while I struggled to keep all his limbs on board and keep my shaky arm muscles from showing their exhaustion on my face. Shaun took this rather amusing picture of us in the lift as a memento…

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The Signature Hotel .. in the lift .. sigh ..

 

Brave parents that we were, we tried again the next night. For the first time on our trip, we actually felt judged. There are almost no kids in Vegas, and definitely none out after dark. People were a little harassing, a little too ‘in your face’ and the kids didn’t respond well to it. We ended up carrying them to see the fountain show at the Bellagio, which was beautiful, and to the ‘aquarium’ at the Mirage. We walked through a couple of other hotels but found the same annoying problem of getting lost in the casino maze, being surrounded by smokers, and being blinded by the headlights that most woman had masquerading as breasts. I definitely didn’t look the part, I had a 4 year old live doll on my hip, my dress was too long, my heels to low, and my assets looked like I had been backed over by a truck in comparison to all the other women walking around.  We saw all the lights and splendor that goes with Las Vegas at night, but unless I get heaped with a truck load of money I don’t need, I don’t think Vegas is somewhere I would go back to, especially not with kids, and more for their sake than ours.

 

We were happy to leave the next day, and make our way to Death Valley. As it turned out, there was a little less death, and a little more snow. The barren landscape we had prepared ourselves for was covered in beautiful white powder, and what is considered the hottest place on earth was a chilly -4. It was an amazing place to drive through, but nothing like it is renowned for. Quite frankly, I think I preferred it this way, but Shaun was a little sad to miss the vast expanse of desert and Namibia-like scenery.

 

I think we were both quite relieved to reach the Sierra Nevada foothills and the end of what felt like hundreds of miles of barren lands and busy days. Not only was a snowy Christmas awaiting us, but also 3 weeks of real relaxation and family time. Aaaaaaah… finally.

Dec 22
1
Standing underneath Corona Arch - Arches National Park, Utah

Our Frozen Potatoes

By | Hikes, Our Travels, Parks | No Comments

It is hard to describe the magnificence of a national park – photos don’t come close. There is a reason a piece of earth has been cordoned off and declared exceptional. Imagine a blazing red sand dusted with the whitest snow, valleys where mountains of rock stretch straight up towards the sky, and waterfalls frozen in time with only cracking icicles hinting at their movement, and you will have an idea of the incredible views we had driving through Arches, Canyon Lands and Zion national parks – sites that easily feature on our list of most phenomenal places to see.

As Shaun so succinctly put, Arches National Park looks as though God has been practicing building castles. There are towers of rock scattered randomly across the plains, and towering arches of rock that defy gravity. By my understanding they should by lying in a neat pile of rubble on the floor.
We hiked with the kids to one of the biggest arches, and it was extraordinary. Through snow for most of the hike, we were then rewarded with a bright red arch of rock that spanned 140 feet.Several arches required walking to from the parking areas, a hike in the children’s case, and this necessitated getting out of a 22 degree car and into -9 degree fresh mountain air. Awesome you might say, well the children thought not! By the end of the day they were fed up, tired, and totally disinterested in our starry-eyed gazing at the rock formations. We ended up running back to the car as the sun was setting and it was nearing -15, carrying the kids on our backs wrapped in our coats so they wouldn’t be mentally scarred from the cold. The last thing we needed was to have them blatantly refuse to go outside the next day!

 

With a warmer high of -9 the following day, we managed to coax them down to the car with promises of hot chocolate and blankets, promising them they didn’t have to hike that day. On opening the car door, our potatoes that we had in our ‘grocery cupboard’ fell out the car with a very loud crack. We Africans still have to get used to the idea that anything left outside, even in the car, freezes over night! 1 bag of potatoes down, we are now learning. With the kids being thankful that they weren’t left in the car over night, they climbed in hastily and began nestling in for warmth. Being the trustworthy parents that we are, we left the kids to fall asleep in the car (on the way) to Canyon Lands, and let them lie in blissful slumber while we climbed out to take photos and gape at the absolutely astonishing vistas. These views could make you believe you are on another planet – they are eerie, and breathtaking.

 

Obviously giving the kids a day off worked in our favour. Arriving at Zion National Park the following day, we managed to have the kids sufficiently psyched to attempt another snow hike, this time with more thermals! All was going swimmingly, until we reached this sign…

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The picture says it all doesn’t it?! So we followed our eyelash-batting- clan-leader over the no entry sign! This of course was after I had told Lola how naughty the other men were for crossing over it just as we got there – so she blatantly refused, saying we were not allowed. In the mean time Shaun headed off with Lincoln in tow, slipping and sliding with glee, and I carried rule-abiding Lola while almost landing on my rump as we negotiated our way over the treacherous ice, keeping a beady eye upwards to make sure a somewhat large and pointy icicle didn’t come crashing down on top of us!  The boys of course didn’t even consider this as an option and had a ball laughing their way underneath the frozen waterfall. Dramatics aside, it was incredible once we were able to continue our hike up the gorge. There was plenty of snow and we were yet again amazed at the hiking ability of our 3 and 4 year old when given half a chance. We have had it proven to us time and again that if you give the rope some slack and put a little faith in them (obviously within reason) they blow you away with their capabilities. Our hike in Zion was no exception.

 

Back at the ranch (I believe the town we stayed in was called Springdale) we enjoyed a bubbly hot tub experience, while the town folk were getting ready for the evenings Christmas parade. It was shiny in a way that only an American Christmas can be. So with stars in our eyes, and Christmas jingles in our heads, we hit the hay for a much needed nights rest.

Dec 20
1
Our journey thus far. New York to Las Vegas, a quiet 8000km's travelled!

Rewards of Spontaneity

By | Our Travels | No Comments

The lack of decent internet is becoming a rather exhausting problem. Couple that with being hosted by amazing, warm, hospitable, very distracting, ex-LA-current-Texans, and finding time to write and blog has blown away like a paper plane in a tornado. I always seem to be 2 steps behind. Shaun and I seem to lack the forward planning gene – one of the few things we actually have in common. This is the only reason a trip of this magnitude was possible for us. ‘On a wing and a prayer’ seems to be our unspoken, yet shared motto.

Recently we found out how well spontaneity can work out, after Erin and Marty (Lincolns angels from Mexico) invited us to stay with them in Dallas. Not only did they welcome us, relative strangers, into their home, but they first hooked us up with their good friends Erik and Judy in Austin. We couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome anywhere, let alone from people we hardly knew. We were taken in, fed, given beds, shown around, and entertained, with not a whisper of how we might have put them out. It’s the kind of hospitality I would hope to find from close friends and family, it was both heart warming and humbling to find from busy strangers in a foreign country.

Included in our personal tour guides, excellent cuisine, local hangouts and private winter-wonderland-packed weekend, was a Phillip Phillips and John Meyer concert! Having always lived in South Africa, I cannot explain the excitement at finding out last minute that not 1, but 2 artists of this magnitude are playing 20 minutes down the road!.. and there were still tickets!!! 🙂 This is an experience that will be hard to beat – it is soundly etched in our memories!

 

Following that unforgettable experience, were then several more. On advice from our new American friends, we decided to squeeze in 3 extra National Parks on our way from Texas to the Grand Canyon. I use the term ‘on our way’ loosely. Not an impossible feat, but one which required much shuffling of our itinerary, and an extra 1300 km of driving. It was worth it! Thank you unspoken motto.

I’m beginning to think that for once the kids read the memo, their cooperation at our travelling distances and recent spate of moving every 2 days is mind blowing. The fact that they haven’t turned into belligerent little gremlins who refuse to sit in their seats or be buckled in defies my logic. That’s not to say that they aren’t tired of moving, God knows I need a break from all the driving, packing and eating out. We have been willing the 20th on so we can give work the old boot for a few weeks. ‘We’ is a bit of a strong word however. I will be catching up on the very ramshackle inner workings of our companies accounting system, while simultaneously continuing to furnish you all with stories of our adventures. Shaun and the kids will, however, have a much needed break from both work and tiring travel. My break will be in not having to pack our suitcases every few days, squeeze us and the average sized luggage store into the car, navigate our way through Hicksville to our next adventuresome town, and the real bonus, having an extra pair of eyes to watch the kids! They have both grown about a foot since we arrived, and with that has come the speed of a hundred horses – they are so quick we can’t seem to keep up anymore.

I look forward to regaling tails of national parks and gambling lands, and with the sun shining down on the glistening snow, I promise to not get too distracted, even though I know our next spontaneous adventure is lurking around the corner. Peace Y’all!

Dec 14
1

Third World America

By | Our Travels | No Comments

ealisation hit home as we arrived in New Orleans, that it’s not just Americans that live in a bubble. Yes, I just swallowed my pride. Many are quick to criticise Americans for not knowing what goes on in the rest of the world (and boy have we seen a lot of that on this trip) but New Orleans showed us how little we knew of what went on after hurricane Katrina.

Now don’t get me wrong, I loved New Orleans. It is one of the quirkiest, most eclectic, bohemian cities I have seen. It is truly unique, a real mix of 19th century French and English rivaling architecture. But as we walked through the city, chatted to the locals and drove out to the most affected areas, we were blown away by the devastation the city sustained. We couldn’t believe how much of the ‘Katrina story’ we were unaware of. The fact that 90% of the city and surrounds were under water, and the average height of that water was 6 feet, was a crushing visual. The heartbreak though, was in learning that the less affluent areas had up to 22 feet of water for miles in every direction! The locals spoke of how the government failed them and the city was left to right itself. Support was minimal and the aftermath sounds like they were describing poverty ridden countries at war, every man for himself, with no possessions left to lose or moral code for human behaviour. It was a true eye opener to hear any part of the States described in this way, let alone the jazz capital of the US. That’s just not supposed to happen in America.

Many driveways, no homes. The flood took them all.

Many driveways, no homes. The flood took them all.

A lonely, worse-for-wear home, that withstood the flood.

A lonely, worse-for-wear home, that withstood the flood.

One of Brad Pitt's 'Make it Right' foundation houses.

One of Brad Pitt’s ‘Make it Right’ foundation houses.

Thankfully, with time and hard work the city has righted itself, much to the delight of music and bohemian lovers everywhere. Downtown, the French Quarter and the Garden District are beautiful, even though the outer areas still show much of the carnage of 2005. Despite being ‘off season’, the streets were bustling and the music was exceptional. We obviously couldn’t go into the bars with the kids, even though Lincoln stood outside one of them crying because he wanted a beer (he calls everything that’s not water or fruit juice, beer)! The doorman gave us a very disapproving look and shook his head. Needless to say we did our best to hurry the children on and we found an incredible outdoor venue where we all sat back and reveled in the New Orleans culture and timeless music. I’m pleased to say the kids seemed to enjoy the jazz as much as we did!

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We rode in ‘street cars’, ate ‘gumbo’, got draped in beads by both our concierge and festive people on the street, had a tour of one of the most famous cemeteries in America, and had both the worst coffee and most incredibly delicious beignets at the legendary Cafe du Monde. To complete our New Orleans experience, we headed into alligator country for another hairy adventure… a tour on the swamps, also somewhat ‘third-worldish’ and not smelling of ‘typical America’. It was incredible! Less hairy than we had hoped, the cold had snuck in the week before and all the big alligators had gone into hibernation for the winter. But, we did see a couple of small alligators and lots of the cutest turtles, and get to experience what the swamps are really like out in the middle of nowhere. They are incredibly beautiful and deathly still. An experience I would recommend everyone has if the opportunity presents itself.

As we left New Orleans and headed for Austin, we stopped over for a night in a house boat… on the swamps. It was interesting. Wobbly, but kinda cool. Not sure I’d do it again. New Orleans on the other hand, I’d do that again and again.