Megamind's inspiration

We went to the Griffith Observatory and immediately after I saw I thought “ it looks like the one on Megamind” here are two pictures to compare them. At least the tower on the right of the Griffith observatory looks like the picture.

Griffith Observatory

Megamind Observatory

The observatory was very interesting, but we didn't stay long. They had a clock that proved the earth rotated, almost all the elements in little cages, a sundial, and a giant telescope. I wanted to stay longer, but we only stayed for about 30-40 minutes. It was a great place even if you had to be really lucky to find parking within a mile of the observatory.

Duffle Bags or Backpacks?

We followed a recommendation we read online to get duffle bags to cover our backpacks during air travel.  The intent of using a duffle bag is to protect the backpack and its straps from damage and to make the backpack and its contents less interesting to anyone who otherwise might be interested in our backpacks.  The duffle bags served their purposes perfectly.  The backpacks were undamaged and their contents safe.  However, and this is the lesson learned, duffle bags are not backpacks.

After we collected our bags from the luggage carousel there was a short walk to the rental car shuttle bus.  Once at the rental car facility there was a short walk to the rental car.  We estimated that it would take more energy and time to take the duffle bags off of the backpacks than it would save for the short walk.  We were wrong.  It was painful and difficult.

A loaded backpack is difficult to carry unless it is on your back, even for short distances.  From now on we will remove the duffle bags even for short distances.

Hotel Pillows

The pillows at one of the hotels we stayed in.... Scary? And we haven't even left the USA yet!

Word of Advice: don't go to Days Inns.

Trial Runs Can Be Good

One fringe benefit of our year-long travel plan is that we had multiple "trial runs" built-in without knowing it.  Trial runs provide ways to evaluate preparation without the expense of the full experience.

For instance, after we got a new, highly recommended suitcase/bag I took it on a business trip to evaluate if a bag like that would work for each of us on our big trip.  It is a great bag and worked wonderfully for my business trip but it wasn't going to be just right for each of us on our trip.  Having a chance to try it out first taught us a couple things.  First, we learned that it is a great bag.  Second, we learned that it would not work for long-term travel and consequently that we would not need to purchase more of these bags for the family.  We'll keep the bag for future, shorter trips but for our big trip we'd need something else.  We ended up deciding on backpacking backpacks.  I'll write more about them later.

On our trial run in California

Our itinerary has always included Southern California.  My parents live there and it has been almost a year since our last visit.  Mom and dad have an extra covered parking spot and offered to garage our car while we are gone.  Besides the benefit of seeing family and being able to drop off our car, this trip to California gave us a chance to try out our new gear and travel routine--and here is the important part--in a familiar setting.  We've been to California to visit my parents many times.  We feel somewhat comfortable on the roads.  Everyone speaks English.  We know where the grocery store and church are.  But it isn't home.  We got a chance to get used to living with and working with backpacks in a familiar setting.  We got a chance to establish/maintain some family routines despite being in different (non-home) locations and circumstances.

Our next stop is the Washington DC area.  We've never been there as a family.  Elaine and I have been there but not together.  Getting there and living there will take us one more step into the full-blown travel routine.  We will be able to "practice" airline travel while still in the US with our full compliment of backpacks.  It is still the US and people still speak English but it is not as familiar for us as California.  If we discover some deficiency in our plans or equipment arrangements we will be able to take care of it relatively easily.

After Washington DC we travel to Europe where things will be more difficult but because of our "trial runs" in California and DC I am confident that we will be OK.  My business trip helped us prepare for California which helped prepare us for DC which will help prepare us for Europe which will help prepare us for Asia.  At least that is the plan.

Hollywood

 We went to Hollywood in the last week, we got some cool pictures (Sonja) and saw some weird stuff.

Jack Sparrow, and some pirate girl, maybe Elizabeth Swan.

Bumblebee from Transformers.

Ironman, it was probably the best costume we saw there, he looked super good.









We saw some strange things too, we saw a bald guy combing his. . scalp? Our dad then told us to get out our cameras because we were going to see some pretty weird stuff, and the words had scarcely left his mouth when we see this guy only wearing whitey-tighties. The really weird part was that they were sparkly, like some glitter had been dumped all over them. I don't think it gets too much weirder than that.

I went to Sonja's House - BY JENNA

I went to my Aunt Sonja's house in Long Beach, California.  They have a dog named Muffin.  I learned how to walk Muffin and to feed her.  We went to a big park and played tag and road scooters.  We took their dog to the park with us.

Every day we went swimming because they have a pool in their back yard.  We went to the beach the first day we got there.

Oh, the Places We'll Go

When we first decided to do an around the world trip for a year we thought we could go everywhere we wanted in that amount of time.  We asked each of the kids for their input and told them we would try to work in a place they wanted to visit.   Their first choices were China, Egypt, Italy and  the Philippines.  We used those 4 locations as a starting point and started to fill in the rest of the itinerary from there.

We tried lots of options and quickly found out that we couldn't go everywhere.  It was hard to eliminate places, but we just couldn't fit them all in.   We worked on the itinerary for several weeks until we came on one that works for us.   And that is the key, it works for us.  Sure there are other places that we would love to visits, but for some reason it wasn't right for this trip.   That just leaves places for us to go on future adventures!

I spent many hours researching costs in the various countries and while we don't know all the expenses in each area, I am certain that we can make this all work.  We will try to balance out the costs by staying in more expensive countries for shorter periods of time, and less expensive countries for longer stays.

As we begin our trip we plan to  visit  California, Washington DC, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, China, and Japan.

We have some flexibility in our itinerary.  We have purchased the major airfare in and out of a region, but have flexibility in between.  We plan to use buses, trains, and regional flights to travel around.  If we really like an area, we can stay a little longer, if somewhere isn't right for us, we can move along and find a new location.   Hopefully we have done the right amount of planning.  The idea was to plan enough that we knew where we were going, but not so much that we didn't have flexibility along the way.

Is Around the World Travel Right for Everyone?

At the Redlands Bowl watching the "California Guitar Trio"

A unique set of circumstances has led us to be on this amazing trip.  Elaine and I feel like it is going to be good for our family.  Since we first started contemplating this trip we agreed that we would pursue it until we hit a red light.  A red light could come in the form of an insurmountable obstacle or a feeling.  If an obstacle were insurmountable we would know by the accompanying feeling.  We've had no insurmountable obstacles or feelings that we should stop pursuing this.  In fact, things have come together so smoothly and we've felt so good about it that we grow daily more confident in our decision.

One thing I've asked myself repeatedly is, "If this is good and right for our family does that mean it would be good and right for every family?"  And conversely, "If this is NOT good and right for every family does that mean that it is NOT good and right for our family?"  To me the answer to both questions is "NO".  For me there are two factors and both need to line up:  timing and circumstances.  The right timing with the wrong circumstances or wrong timing with the right circumstances will affect the goodness and rightness of such a decision.  Our kids are of ages that make a trip like this easier without disrupting present or future schooling too dramatically.  Our circumstances are such that my employer and business partner are both supportive of me working from the road.  Doing things as a family will not be a new experience for us. Timing and circumstances are both on our side.

For Elaine and me, "rightness" has always been determined by paying attention to our feelings.  For us, "wrongness" is associated with feelings of being unsettled, doubt, or confusion.  For us "wrongness" is not the same as being undecided.  The kind of unsettled I'm talking about comes after making a decision and is only related to the decision itself and not to the ramifications of the decision.  If at that point we feel unsettled, doubtful, or confused then we know something is not right.  On the other hand "rightness" is associated with feelings of peace, confidence, and love.  If we feel peace about a decision it does NOT mean that we have all the answers and have worked out all of the details.  For us feeling peace only means that that decision, and nothing else, is right.  I must note that for us these feelings are different from our intellect and our emotions, both of which can sway us if we are not careful.

I can't say if what we are doing for our family is good and right for anyone else.  I can only say what is good and right for my family at this time and that this method of making decisions has served us well for a long time.  Things might be different in a different time and with a different set of circumstances.

The Golden Gate Bridge - BY JENNA

TYPED BY RICH AS DICTATED BY JENNA

This is my first blog post.  I saw the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was big and red.  We saw boats under it.  We drove on the bridge three times.  It was really really cool to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was windy and cloudy and foggy.  We had to dig out our rain jackets but it was not raining.  They kept us warm from the wind and fog.  We were going to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge but it was too windy and there were no parking spots.  I thought there would be a golden gate but I couldn't see any gates.

I love to be on a trip but it is hard to not be with my friends.

Goodbye random citizens.

Disneyland Flashback

About 10 years ago we decided to take our kids to Disneyland.  At the time we had three children ages 6, 3, and 1.  We left Grandma's house early in the morning, parked, and purchased tickets and were ready for a fun day at the “happiest place on earth.”  A few hours later, our oldest child announced he was bored and wanted to go back to grandma's house. We brushed him off and took him on more rides only to hear him say again that he just wanted to go back to Grandma's house.  After quite some time of listening to him whine about having to be at Disneyland, I kind of lost it.  In not the nicest voice, I told him that we had paid a lot of money to get in, we were staying until the end of the day, this was the happiest place on earth so he better stop whining about Grandma's house and just enjoy the day.  We did stay to the end of the day and had a good time, but we haven't returned to Disneyland since.

Donner State Park

For the first part of our big trip we are doing a road trip to Grandma's house.  Instead of driving the usual I-15 south to Southern California, we drove over to Reno, on to San Francisco and down the California coast.  The first few days went well, but shortly after crossing the California border I suggested we stop at Donner State Park and I heard, “do we have to stop?  Can't we just drive to  Grandma's house”.  I ignored the plea and we stopped at Donner State Park for a few hours.  Later when we were nearing San Francisco someone asked how long it would take because he just wanted to get to Grandma's house.  The kids did think the Golden Gate Bridge was pretty cool (and it was literally cold there).  But that was all the patience they had for San Francisco.  After telling them of other things we could do there, they decided they would rather start driving to Grandma's house.

Redwood State Park

We forced them to stop a few more times to see Redwood State Park (and yes they liked it), the Santa Barbara Mission (they thought it was boring) and to see some relatives.  But the the prevailing theme through it all was “when can we get to Grandma's house”.  I felt like it  was Disneyland all over again!  Here we are trying to take our kids to new places to experience new things and they just want to go to Grandma's house.  It is going to be a long year if anytime we want to do anything we hear, “let's just go to Grandma's house.”

 

Santa Barbara Mission

Prologue

Just like every good book, every good trip has a prologue, a little backstory before the actual thing, this is ours.

For the last week, we have been eating corn dogs and sitting on the floor. At the yard sale a few weeks ago we sold most of our furniture, and this last Thursday we got rid of the rest of it. Then we really got to sit on the floor, and eat off the counter.

Every time we go on a vacation, our mom goes into vacation mode and doesn't shop for groceries for a week at least beforehand. This time was a little different. She didn't shop for nearly a month, by the end we were really down to the last crumbs in the pantry.

As of Saturday, this trip kinda stinks. We had to work a ton to get everything packed and the house cleaned. But this Saturday (today) things are looking a lot better. We are at our Grandparents house in California, with plans for the beach, swimming, and playing with our cousins during the week!

Uggh. Cleaning.

We cleaned a lot before this trip. Everything had to be absolutely perfect for my mom.  We had to scrub all the walls in the whole house, vacuum everything at least 10 times, mop the floors, go without the Wii for 2 days :(, sleep on the ground for 2 nights, and shove everything we owned into our two cars. It stank!

Terri's House

Starting out we had a nine hour drive to Reno, Nevada to my dad's birth mom's house. We arrived just before dinner. We had some turkey sloppy Joes for dinner and for dessert we had a cold chocolate cake with a creamy chocolate frosting all over it. It was super delicious. For breakfast the next day we had waffles with some homemade syrup. We had some blueberry, blackberry, strawberry syrup and a regular flavor. They were both good.

Terri had a nice old black Labrador Retriever named Reno who died the day after we left.  We are sad that he is gone.

Technology is great...

Huawei Mobile Hotspot - MiFi

One of the things I like about technology is when it works.  There is nothing better than technology that works.  Last week I picked up a MiFi device, the last piece in our technology arsenal for this trip.

A MiFi talks cellular data on one side and WiFi on the other.  The other day while Elaine was driving on the freeway I was online and working on my laptop using the MiFi.  Isn't that amazing?!?  We were going 65 miles per hour on a freeway and I had speedy Internet access.  On another occasion we needed to research hotels so we pulled into a parking lot, fired up the MiFi and laptops and had a reservation in a matter of minutes.  Isn't technology great?

There were a few other times, however, while driving through a valley or remote area that the MiFi became unusable.  I can easily overlook this shortcoming of the cellular networks because the technology is just so cool when it DOES work.

Of course, MiFi access isn't free and we won't use it when free WiFi is available but it is definitely good to have as an option.

Away we go!

Wow! After the crazy and hectic pace of the last few weeks we are on our way.  This is a family picture on our last Sunday in Utah.  We left shortly after this picture was taken (and after changing our clothes).  It is hard to believe that we are on our way but it feels good.  We've assembled and packed most of the gear we'll need for the next 11 months.  We've sold, given away, or trashed everything we don't need.  We've packed and/or stored the rest.  With much help from family and friends we've cleaned our house.  According to our kids the house is the cleanest it has been in years.

Especially in the last few days before we left people asked, "Are you excited?"  My honest response was, "I feel no emotion except stress."  Now that we are past that and actually on our way I am starting to feel the excitement.  I feel anticipation.  I feel a little anxiety.  I am pleased with my family that we have worked together to get this far.  I feel large amounts of gratitude for many reasons, not the least of which is the great support we feel from family and friends.  I feel some sense of simplicity due to the fact that we have less stuff at the moment.  I have also become unhappily aware that the clock is ticking on our adventure and that each day that passes brings us closer to the other end.  We'll have to enjoy each day as it happens.

Thank you to everyone for the love and support in helping us get to this point!

Garbage bags rip

While cleaning and organizing for our trip one of the children had the assignment to help throw away a bunch of trash and then haul the garbage bag out to the garbage can.  He was tired and was resisting everything that morning.

Eventually the trash bag was full and he dragged it from the basement, up and out to the garbage can.  Elaine and I both mentioned separately that it would be better if he didn't drag the bag.  He resisted these suggestions and continued dragging the bag.

Later, I found a trail of trash going from the front door to the garbage can.  It puzzled me at first but then I remembered seeing the plastic trash bag being dragged across the tile and cement.  The trail of trash led to the torn garbage bag.

My son didn't deny that the bag had torn while he dragged it.  He and I worked together to re-bag the trash.  Some times when we resist doing what's right or in the right way we make a bigger mess.  I hope he learned that.