T-Minus One Month

Things are coming together for our trip. The list of things that should be done hasn't diminished much, but our expectations of what realistically can be done certainly has. This has been a huge week for us, though. We have rented our house. This will go a long way towards financing the trip, and it also means we cannot come home early, at least not without finding somewhere else to stay.
Today, I booked us on a tour of Norway. In between exploring Oslo and Stockholm, we are taking 4 trains, 2 boats and 2 buses to see as much of this gorgeous part of the world as we can. We have family meeting us for this segment of the trip, which makes the logistics a bit harder. Only one more train trip to book and we are set for all transportation and lodging (for these two countries--the rest of the world is largely still uncharted and unreserved for us). The pictures are of the fjords and the interesting hotel where we are staying in Stockholm. The picture on the top is the hotel--not a traveling boat.
We also booked Ross, our eldest son, tickets to meet us in Tanzania over his Christmas break from college. Thank goodness for frequent flyer miles! Of course, the reality is that we've been spending so much on this trip and on preparation for the trip that our frequent flyer (spender) miles have accrued rather rapidly. Ross is traveling with us for the summer, then meeting up with us on the next continent. We planned the trip to be in Tanzania for his break so that he can go on safari and climb Kilimanjaro with us. For those unaware, Kilimanjaro is a strenuous hike, but not a technical climb like Everest or McKinley. Hey, if I'm going with my elderly husband, 11 and 13 year olds, how bad can it be?? ; - )
Any of you interested in meeting us there?

Siena's First Posting

Next year I will do more than leave the school. I will be leaving the country for a whole year! My brother, Ethan, my mom, my dad and I will pack up our bags and leave July 1st. You might ask how we will manage all of this. We are going carry-on. I have my backpack that will hold the clothing I will wear for a year—only about 3 pairs of pants, 5 shirts, 2 short sleeve and 3 long sleeve, hiking boots sandals, and a bathing suit! The hard part is we need to take no cotton because it takes too long to dry. And, it all needs to be light-weight so I can carry it.
Instead of attending school, I will be home schooled by my family. I am taking 6th grade math right now, so I don’t need to worry about math next year. For social studies, we will be doing projects on the countries that we visit. For language arts, I will keep a journal, and write short stories and poems about the places we go. As for gym, we will be hiking around cities and climbing mountains!

We will start in England. My first project will be about the history of England. I am reading novels about British history. I am looking forward to visiting Oxford, where some of Harry Potter movies were filmed and where the Golden Compass starts out. Then, we travel to Scotland. My brother wants to hike along Hadrian’s Wall, a wall that was the northern most border of the Roman Empire.

We are traveling around Europe for 5 months. I am most looking forward to Italy, because I love the food and I have heard only wonderful things about it. Another reason I am excited about visiting Italy is because I was named after a town in Tuscany and want to see what it’s like.

Then, we will be going to Africa. We are going to Egypt to see the pyramids and the sphinx. Next, we go to Tanzania, where we are going to climb Mt Kilimanjaro and go on a safari. In South Africa, we will be celebrating my birthday riding ostriches! From Africa, we fly to India. After that, we have no plans yet. But we want to visit China, Japan, Nepal, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. We may stop at an island in the pacific on the way home. You can follow us on our journey on this blog. Wish us luck!