The people you meet

Traveling is about many things. Experiencing the country you are visiting, exploring the sights and culture, and sampling local cuisine. And it is also very much about the people you meet along the way. Whether locals or fellow travelers, they very much help to shape your experience. Here are some of the people we met along the way and how they are very much a part of our memories.

Steve and Lily. What can I say? We met them early on in our trip in Chiang Mai. We were fast friends with these belated honeymooers and enjoyed hanging out in the evenings after Simon was asleep. Lily was high energy and very outgoing, and Steve was all about the subtle wit. We also went to the very memorable Ying Pi lantern festival together. We only wished they could have traveled with us longer!

Don't they just look like fun?

In Chiang Mai we met up with an entire group of traveling families, many of whom have already been on the road for years! It was fascinating to see how and why other families travel the globe. We were even able to meet up with the Lybbert family again more than a month later in Vietnam. We also virtually connected with loads of traveling families through a Families on the Move Facebook page that was incredibly helpful and supportive. Inspirational!

Thanksgiving in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

An ordinary boat ride to check out the Pak Ou caves two hours upstream from Luang Prabang in Laos turned into a very memorable journey with a very friendly family from NYC. The parents were visiting their son and girlfriend who were traveling more extensively around SE Asia. Simon drew pictures and sang songs with the mom on they way there, and pretend fished with the son and girlfriend on the way home. It was just a few hours, but it was memorable. (Plus, we kind of got a break!) We talked about raising families, traveling, raising families and traveling (which they did extensively). I don't know their names and will probably never see them again, but they have a permanent place in our vault of memories.

Boat ride along the mighty Mekong.

Three days on a boat with just 17 people, you are bound to make some new friends. Simon was happy that there were two other young boys on board. A family from Seattle, Washington, they pulled their kids from school a few weeks every year to travel and see the world. Their dad, an app developer, created this very cool app for kids learning to tell time, with lots of different languages.

Cruising Halong Bay

We found Christmas spirit after spending some time with the fabulous Felix, a young German boy who spoke English and knew his Christmas carols in English! He could also carry a tune, so he really helped bring the Christmas spirit to Vietnam, where it was hard to remember that Christmas was just around the corner.

At Paradise Cave, Phong Nha National Park, Vietnam.

Mike was a really special find. A true local who showed us the ins and outs of not just Georgetown, but the entire island of Penang in Malaysia. We saw, tasted, and experienced this scrumptious island much differently thanks to his kindness.

Penang, Malaysia

When traveling with kids, it's great to meet other families traveling with kids of at least somewhat similar ages. We hit jackpot on Koh Lanta in Thailand when we landed at a budget resort with 3 other families with small kids. Two of the families were from Amsterdam, which was an added bonus as we could pepper them with questions regarding our upcoming move AND we now have someone to grab a beer with when we get there!

Little ones occupied during our seafood BBQ.

We enjoyed a night of grilling fresh seafood picked up at the local market and watching the sunset from the each in front our temporary home. When we parted ways Simon begged to go with them (I thought it sounded great - we could just meet in Amsterdam in a month), but was comforted knowing that this goodbye was not forever! In fact, we met Sabine, Sander, and Malin again just a week later on Koh Mook. I look forward to hanging out with Sabine in Amsterdam and she has promised to show me her favorite yoga studio - in English nonetheless!

(Update: As I am posting this weeks after our return to Europe, Simon and I are already regulars at Sabine's twice-weekly play group and we are planning a spring "garage sale" of sorts for kids stuff in the spring! Life has a funny way of just working out...)

And we were so fortunate to hijack the Danielsen's family vacation and spend a very memorable week with them in Khao Sok National Park and at the jungle island of Koh Ra. Simon was is absolutely enamored with Hannah and Rebecca, and we hope that our paths cross again some time soon.

These are just some of the wonderful people we met along the way who helped make our journey extra special. Hope to see you all again some time soon, somewhere in this crazy world!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Belgium - Bruges - Beer - Brydens

We took advantage of a Tuesday holiday and made a long weekend of it in Brugge, Belgium with the Bryden family. Martin and I had only been to Brussels for a night in November, and we were really excited to see and experience more of Belgium. My Lonely Planet guidebook describes it as "Tourist, overcrowded, and a tad fake" so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But for our good friend, travel companion, and Belgian beer connoisseur Todd Bryden this would be his 6th visit to this beer-boasting city. He couldn't be wrong.

The boys reveling in their beer wisdom.

We were not disappointed. Lunch and dinner at lovely bistros or cafes with scrumptious Belgian beers, carefully selected with Todd's gentle guidance. On several occasions our beer selection even received compliments from the servers or restaurant owners, as they didn't get many tourists with clearly cultured Belgian beer knowledge. It is amazing that we live in a country where the beer flows like water, yet I had to cross the border to really enjoy a beer for the first time in a long while. Belgian beer is not widely available in Germany, even though it's so close. But since we drove we just packed our trunks with beer on the way home.

The first two days were rainy, but we wandered around the city nonetheless, sampling tasty chocolates and Belgian waffles. The city is extraordinarily beautiful - it really looks like a movie set. It's quaint, clean, and full of beautifully historic architecture. But when the sun finally came out on Monday, I understood what the guidebook was saying, and was actually grateful for our rainy days. The city was packed with tourists, which does indeed take away from the charm. Maneuvering the streets with a stroller requires full concentration, and makes it hard to focus on the beautiful surroundings.

A pub from 1515, where Barbara and I headed for a girls' night out.

But we did take advantage of the sunshine and took a fabulous canal ride. It was a quick (30 minutes) and easy way to see the city, rather than capturing it all on foot. One of my favorite tidbits that I learned was that taxes for properties on the canal used to be based on the number of windows in a dwelling. As people couldn't afford taxes, they boarded up their windows, which we could still see as we cruised the canals.

Before heading back home on Tuesday, we headed to the Belgian coast for lunch. I managed to get a last goat cheese salad in, as well as waffle. And we even took off our shoes and put our feet in the ocean. (Simon's first time, if I am not mistaken!)

This was my third trip with Barbara Bryden in 5 months, so I already knew we are great travel companions. But I wasn't as sure about what to expect traveling with 2 families together. The Bryden kiddos are 4 and 9, while Simon is 2. Maybe we have different interests or ideas of what's fun? Turns out, traveling with another family is really ideal. First of all, the kiddos get attention from each other, so they aren't always bugging you. That means that you have a bit more peace and aren't worrying about the kids as much. It somehow felt more adult to be going out to dinner with other adults, even with kids in tow. And of course, we each got to go out for beers at night while someone stayed home and watched the kids. I can see why people plan vacations with other families - it really has a lot of benefits. I highly recommend it!

Here are all the pics!

Where we stayed: La Home at Bed and Bruges - About a 10 minute walk from the city center, beautiful HUGE garden, lots of space, sand box and toys for kiddos.

Fabulous garden at our rented house.

*Upon returning Martin learned that he had been there in 1994, when he was 14 years old. No recollection. Not surprised.

Boulangerie, Patissierie....Oui, oui!

Hard to believe it's May 1st today and April is already behind us. I was talking to my sister today (Marie) and we agreed it should be March, not May. How time flies!

Anywho, I wish it was March so I could do April all over again. It was that good. It started off with a weekend in Bussum, the Netherlands, where we did a pre-birthday celebration with my cousin whose birthday is a day after mine (April6, April 7). We were supposed to check out the famous tulips, but due to a cold spring they were blooming late. So instead we checked out the crazy Dutch bike culture (ie. Mama bikes) and ate pannekoeken.

Next we headed to Antibes, France (near Nice) to celebrate my mother-in-law's 60th birthday. This meant that we arrived on my birthday, in time to have lunch in the warm sun, eat some delicious French cake, and get some shopping in. :)

The next day was Antonietta's big day - and we celebrated as a family (minus Magnus who is living in NYC) and found a restaurant with 3 highchairs. Needless to say we went back there several times as a place that could guarantee we wouldn't have squirmy, messy kids on our laps and we could maybe even enjoy a glass of wine. The whole weekend was very relaxing, filled with good food and good family. We didn't really do anything, except walk around, make sure our kids napped, and stop at every other patisserie (that was just me though). I did discover a sugar covered donut stuffed with nutella - need I say more? (Pics here).

So the only thing that made leaving Antibes easier was knowing that in just another week and a half we would be heading back to the land of patisseries to join the Stirling Palm's (is there a hyphen or what?) for a long weekend in Reims, the champagne region of France. We really managed to have the perfect weekend, with the SP's arriving early and able to kick the jetlag straight away, perfect weather, amazing food, and a great place to stay (La Parenthese). We toured champagne houses, drove through the vineyard-filled countryside of Champagne country, ate a lot, and had Easter lunch at a chateau with a MOAT! Pretty cool. (Pics here).

Simon enjoyed the late nights, where dinner started at his bed time, and he got to sample seafood risotto, pigeon, chocolate mousse, lamb - or whatever we were eating. He was so smitten with the French lifestyle that he forgot to be cranky - for which we were very greatful!

(Trooper award goes to Hanna - 20 weeks pregnant and she flew all the way over to France for 4 nights. Given her dedication to her friends, she will be a fabulous mother.)

And yes, I know what you're thinking. We are living large over here on the other side of the pond (well - depending where you are reading this from). And I am not going to argue with you on that one. But here's the thing. We don't know what the future holds for us - if we will stay in Europe or end up back in the U.S. I would have to leave a in few years and realize I didn't take advantage of all that is right at my doorstep here (4 hours to Reims, 1.5 hour flight to Nice). And for now, we only have one kiddo, and it's manageable (but not always easy) to travel with him. (Did I mention the 6 weeks of vacation - that helps too!) So we are working hard to see the sights while we can. There's lots more on our list - so stay tuned to see where we end up next. :)