Xanthe - my trip so far..

So far I'm enjoying the trip alot. Singapore was nice but far too hot! Sentosa Island was even hotter but the aquarium was really awesome. There was a Dugong! The long flight to Germany was not so awesome though, at least I got some sleep. Germany was hot too, also quite old and historical. We drove to Strasbourg in our new rented campervan and then took a long drive to Paris. Paris was really cool. The Arc de Triomphe wsa big and Eiffel Tower was crowded but they were both really interesting. I bought an Eiffel Tower necklace and some souvenirs. The campground we are staying in now is extremely awesome, there is an outside pool with islands and water slides and a steamy inside pool with warm water and lots of space. I'm loving the trip and can't wait for Spain.



Me standing by the Eiffel Tower


Feeding the cows at the campground near Gunzburg Germany

Lucas: my trip so far

So far I have enjoyed the trip especially in Paris but we haven't had internet. I got a photo with me in front of a Lamborghini. And I got a Liverpool t-shirt and new sunglasses, and a new watch. We went past millions of souvenir shops. We went to the Eiffel Tower, although we didn't get to go up because the queue was too big. We got our campervan and its cool but mum and dad sleep in the best bed and never let us go in it. Our first campground was cool, the rest were boring but the one we are staying in now is awesome! But not good weather. We went to a museum and it was all about planes and vehicles and science and you could go in them and I got to control a plane.

this is me next to a real lamborghini


Watching surfers on the river in Munich

Only one week so far?

Well we're certainly packing a lot into our travels so far as we rush to get to my Valencia conference; already we've clocked up over 1000km on the ground. Meanwhile, through a mix of bad locations and late arrivals, we have experienced a bit of an internet drought over the past few days - bad for you guys waiting to hear our latest missives and frustrating for me trying to do work and for everyone else trying to connect to the rest of the world. Thank God at least on a few occasions for my Nokia phone to be able to access data via the local phone company but, given the international rates I wouldn't want to make a habit of that (still trying to find someone who will sell me a pan-European sim card!)

We've mainly been very lucky with the weather so far when checking out the various cities (despite some dire forecasts); generally the crappy stuff has been while we're driving. As we head into Spain in a day or so, it looks even better for a while, with lots of sunshine and 30 deg temps! But right now it's bucketing down on our little mobile home...

Coping with a world of German and French hasn't been too bad. It helps that most Europeans speak English far better than I speak their language but, even when that hasn't been the case, my schoolboy French/German and the context of the situation has generally been enough to work out what's going on.

From a transport perspective, I'm seeing and experiencing a lot of interesting things across a range of modes and making lots of notes and taking lots of pictures (or when driving, asking my trusty navigator to snap a pic as we whiz past...). From a NZ context there's an interesting mix of good things we could learn from and bizarre ideas we should steer clear of! And navigationally speaking we've had relatively few hiccups in finding our way around (lesson 1: don't believe Google maps every time; lesson 2: avoid most historic CBDs...).

We still need to upload some pics to the web, now that internet has returned. But for now, here are a few more picture highlights:

Travelling in style in our motorhome...

Flying a plane at Deutsches Museum, Munich

 The boys at Strasbourg's Notre Dame cathedral

Arc de Triomphe

Reflection time at the Louvre

Bonjour!

Well, we left Paris this morning and took most of the day to drive only a few hundred km's down the road. We have driven along many of the backroads through lots of villages, which are absolutley stunning. And we finally saw some castles, which I have really been looking forward to. Tonight we are staying in a small village called Mesland, which is just north of Tours, and the campground is like some sort of children's wonderland. They have an amazing leisure pool with hydroslides, an indoor heated pool, playgrounds, sports equipment, minigolf, etc etc, only its raining here so the only thing they've enjoyed is the indoor heated pool! Which leaves me the challenge of trying to wash and dry clothes, togs, towels when we are only here for one night and its pouring down with rain! Here's hoping for sunshine tomorrow.

Speaking of rain, yes we have been reading on the internet about the rain in Christchurch. Sounds awful! And snow too apparently! The kids will be devastated if we miss a good snowfall!

Thank you all for your posts. To answer some questions, yes that IS a real snake Stefan is holding in Singapore. Its a python, and he had a choice of 2 that he could hold.
Yes, I have bought myself a new watch, one with a clasp that won't undo so easily! I have also had to buy yet another pair of new sunglasses! I brought a new pair with me, and spent the first few days wearing them all the time as it was so sunny. However the metal "decoration" on the side of the glasses reacted with my skin and left big sores on the sides of my face where it had been touching my skin! Healed quickly though!

And living in a campervan is having its challenges! 6 of us in here, and only one person at a time can move through the passage! Its modern and comfortable enough - just no where near big enough for 6 people! I miss my 190 sqm house!

Tomorrow we are off to Bordeaux, then Zaragoza the following day, and Valencia the day after that. We are looking forward to Valencia as we will be there for 5 days and able to have some "down" time, which the kids really need at the moment. They are all a bit tired and grumpy! And yes, now that we have internet access, they can email their friends in the next day or so!

The latest from Stefan

(Munich) Yeah, great Dad, now where's McDonalds?

So far the trip hasn't been bad. I've seen and done some cool things like holding a Python and trying some new and interesting foods.

The motorhome is alright but has such a small area and we are always frying our meals which doesn't always make dinner taste as nice. It is REALLY annoying having brothers and sisters on this trip especially at the fact that the motorhome is small and my whole family has to fit into it. So far I've enjoyed Singapore the most. I wish we had more than a day there. The campgrounds haven't been that great either. I've seen a lot of historical buildings in Europe which look cool. Really miss my friends though. It's gonna be great to see them after the trip. Can't believe 1/10th of the trip is already over. I have seen and heard some funny things during this trip. peace out.


(Chateau Chambord) Oh God Mum, do we have to see another castle??!!

Nicolette in Paris

Guess where I am...

Well so far we have had a big journey travelling from Munich to Strasbourg and now Paris (which we are leaving tomorrow =[ ). So far I've seen so many different sites, places and buildings.Today in Paris we went to see the Arc De Triomphe, The Louvre, Notre Dame and of course the all famous Eiffel Tower which was absolutely stunning. Its a shame we only got to spend one night in Paris but I guess we have more travelling to do if we want to get this trip going. Tomorrow we are heading to the Loire Valley which is famous for its wine and chateaus. I'm feeling a little tired after the first week of travelling but at least getting used to European time and not getting so much jetlag. I can't believe it is only at least a 1/10 of this trip and we still have so much to do in the next nine weeks, that includes going around the rest of western Europe and flying over to America for atlest two weeks. Oh well, this trip is going to be something I remember for a long time. Anyway for those at home I hope this week has been good for you if it hasn't well yeah and I hope to see you in nine weeks. Au Revoir


Some painting by some Italian...

Munich to Paris

Well, Munich left us with a bitter taste unfortunately! We thought we'd take the kids to the Deutsches Museum of Science and Technology in the morning, before picking up our campervan and heading out of town. We jumped on the train thinking we would buy our tickets from the on-board ticket machine, only we got on and found that you couldn't use notes to pay for your tickets, only coins! This was odd, because you could use notes from all other ticket machines, but anyway, when the conductor came along checking tickets, we asked if we could buy them from her as the machine wouldn't take our notes, and she got really grumpy and started treating us like we were criminals! She insisted that we put coins into the machine, which we couldn't as we didn't have enough - we had notes - so we were "escorted" off the train at the next stop, by a team of rail employees and given an 80 euro instant fine, and if we didn't pay immediately she would call the police! She even asked how long we'd been in town, and we said that we had only arrived the previous day, but according to her, this was long enough for us to have known better! Anyway, I was tempted to try my luck with the police, in the hope that they might show some "understanding" for the fact that we didn't know we needed coins, and the fact that we had every intention of paying (after all, we did have enough money), but looking at the kids horrified faces when they heard the word "police" we paid up and moved on quickly! Maybe we were a bit ignorant on this one, but we certainly left feeling quite disheartened as this woman was very rude and abrupt and not prepared to listen to what we had to say.

But after all that, the Deutsches museum was really good. The kids were fascinated with the aviation section which was quite funny as they have all developed a dislike for flying, after 2 long haul flights! They also really enjoyed the space exploration section - except when Xanthe found out that the first living creature sent to space was a dog, and it didn't survive! She brightened up a bit when she read that the next 2 dogs sent up to space DID survive! After the museum, we went into town again, had some lunch, picked up our luggage and headed off to collect our campervan. The kids were really excited to see it, however now after a few days of living in it, personal space is becoming an issue!!


Our new home...

We drove out to a little village called Leipheim, near Gunzburg for the night, which was a pretty wee place, and we stayed on a farm, which has camping facilities attached. This was fantastic, so peaceful and beautiful, with lots of farm animals, including a few baby animals, a man made lake full of fish, and lots of green areas for the kids to stretch their legs. The second floor of the barn had been turned into a great big rustic looking adventure playground, including a flying fox running the length of the building, trampoline, soccer table, ping pong table, fort, slide, etc - it was just huge inside! Before we knew it, it was 10pm when we were eating dinner - but it was warm, light, and we were all having fun. We could easily have stayed there alot longer!

The following morning we headed off for Strasbourg, and got there just after lunchtime. We immediately got caught up in a traffic jam and couldn't make sense of the directions we had in front of us, to find the campground. Anyway, somehow we fluked it and managed to take the most direct route there and found it no problem! After we settled in, we took the train into town centre for the afternoon. My first impressions weren't that great, as we had been stuck in traffic, then on an overcrowded train, and we got to the city centre feeling rushed, tired and hungry. We found a cafe for a late lunch and then as we started looking round, we really fell in love with this city. The people were generally really friendly, and it has some stunning old architecture. The Cathedral Notre Dame was spectacular, and the inside didn't disappoint either! Unfortunately it started raining so we didn't hang around in town too late into the evening.

The following morning (Thursday)we were up early, to make the long drive to Paris. We stopped in Nancy for a short while, but it rained most of the journey, so we didn't stop really unless we needed to. We got to Paris around 5pm and immediately into rush-hour traffic! Having seen Paris rush hour traffic, I don't think I'll ever complain about Christchurch traffic again! We crawled along the motorway at the pace of a snail, along with 5 other lanes of traffic all wanting to go the same way, somehow lost our turn-off, and ended up on the other side of Paris! At this stage I insisted that Glen pull over and pull out the GPS!! So anyway, 2 1/2 hours after arriving in Paris, we found our campground! Its actually quite a pretty place, very green and leafy and right beside the River Seine, and really good facilities here.

It continued to rain all night, and its really loud rain in a campervan! Thankfully when we woke up, it was beautiful blue sky, so we had a slow morning, and then headed into town on the bus just before lunchtime. Lucas left his sweatshirt on the bus, and believe it or not, 9 hours later when we got back on the bus, it was the same bus, and Lucas was handed his sweatshirt back! We couldn't believe our luck! Neither can Lucas, cause when the wind came up and he got cold, we replaced it for him while we were out! Anyway, we went to the Arc de Triomphe, followed by Musee du Louvre which was just breath-taking. The building was as beautiful as the artworks inside! Every room was just a treat to walk into. Nicolette headed straight for the Mona Lisa, and we all found the sculptures really cool, as well as the incredible works on the ceilings. Glen and I could have spent many more hours inside there, but the kids got bored and hungry so we moved on. We walked along the River Seine and found a really nice place for a really late lunch/early dinner, and then moved onto the Cathedral Notre Dame Paris. Unfortunately the queue to go inside was horrendously long, so we moved on to the Eiffel Tower. The kids were all speechless when it first came into view. Again, ridiculous queues so we didn't go up, instead just found a nice spot to admire it, and of course fight off all the street merchants, and people begging for money!


At Notre Dame

In the morning, we are leaving Paris and heading through the chateaux region. I'm really looking forward to this drive.

Munich

Wow, what a city. We all love it here! We've had a great day out exploring Munich and the weather has been perfect! So much history here, and incredible architecture, and even though all the shops are shut for the public holiday, the kids have really loved looking round. We went into the gardens also and watched the really funny surfers in the river! Apparently its on youtube, but very funny to watch. However, we then wandered further into the gardens, and the kids had an eye-opening experience! Yes, amongst the hundreds of people playing and picnicking in the park on this beautiful warm sunny day, were a significant number of naturists confidently strutting their stuff! This has had quite an effect on Lucas who has been parading naked round the hotel room waiting for his turn in the shower, and upsetting his siblings!

Speaking of Lucas, I'm waiting for him to crash! We are all quite shattered after 2 long flights, with 2 action packed days and no quality sleep since we left home, with the exception of Lucas, who is like the energiser bunny, and just keeps going and going and going ......

However, the room we are staying in tonight, is a significant step up from what we had in Singapore, and we are all looking forward to some quality sleep tonight.

Tomorrow we pick up the campervan and start making our way to Paris. We are taking a few days to get there, stopping at Stuttgart and Strausbourg and don't yet know whether we'll have internet access along the way.

Oh, and for those of you I left my mobile number with - (not that you'd want to call it overseas), I can't use my phone! A bit annoyed as I bought it a few weeks ago and specifically asked Telecom for a phone I could use overseas, and the sales lady went through the list of countries we are visiting, assured me it would do the job, advised me to put heaps of credit on my phone which I did, and now I cant use it here! Apparently I need global roaming set up, which I thought she had done for me - but not? So Scott, if you are reading this, can you help me out here?

First Few Days . . . .

Me in Singapore

Well for a 10hr flight to Singapore it wasn't all that bad. I got to watch at least 2 movies, a couple of new CD albums and eat nice Asian styled food for lunch. But once I actually got to the airport and took my first step in Singapore it was awesome, the airport was huge at least 3 times the size of Christchurchs airport and at least 10 times better. There was plants and trees inside the buildings everywhere, at least 2 or 3 malls in it and amazing sculptures and fountains.
Our first day in Singapore was cool we wandered around the city, looked at some really cool buildings, statues and surroundings, and went to Sentosa Island. Also if you've ever been to Singapore or want to know what the place is like ...well it is covered in heaps of tropical plants and flowers and is very, very, VERY green, also it is extremely hot like 30 degrees every day, it is boiling!
And speaking of boiling at one point my body like took shock of like some heat stroke or something and I felt sick for ages, which absolutely sucked but I guess I'm not used to that sort of heat everyday. Anyway so thats how the first day and night went on our trip for me so far, but apart from that right now I am in Munich, Germany which is covered in lots of old historic buildings and is very cool.

OMG - we made it to Europe!

We have arrived safely in Europe! We're all feeling a bit tired, and for some odd reason the kids are quite "wired" at the moment, but hopefully things will settle soon.

Good flight to Singapore. Singapore airlines were absolutely amazing with the kids, so friendly and helpful, and gave Lucas a birthday cake. However his face dropped a mile when we discovered it was a rich fruit cake, and not chocolate!

Was not impressed though before we left Chch, as I thought I was very clever having travel size toiletries in my day pack, but putting a brand new tub of hand cream in there, which I can't live without, and having to surrender it going through customs as it was a 200ml tub! I was ready to launch into an argument about how much I need it, but looking at his face, I thought it would be wise to move on quickly!

Anyway, Singapore was lovely - very hot, but we all thought the city was beautiful. We had a full day there yesterday and met up with Kieron (brother-in-law on business there) in the morning, and spent the day sightseeing with him. Kieron gave Stefan a challenge, which Stefan nervously accepted and left Kieron gobsmacked, and now uncle Kieron is short 5 euro! Sorry Leonie! The photo of his challenge is attached.



So anyway, we had a look round downtown, through the gardens, and then out to Sentosa Island. Nicolette unfortunately got a bit of heat stroke so we had to stop for a while. But she soon got some colour back in her face. The hostel we stayed in was rather basic, noisy and a bit uncomfortable, thankfully it was only one night, but the staff were very friendly and helpful and bent over backwards to help us out. In fact when our taxi van was running late to take us back to the airport he phoned them and had 2 regular taxis sent promptly to us and he negotiated a good price too. 2 cabs at less than half the cost of the taxi van.

Long flight to Munich last night - none of us really get alot of sleep on the plane. Its hard to believe its only 11am. Feels like it should be teatime! We took the train into town from the airport, and the silly man at the airport told us to get off at the wrong station in town, leaving us with a long walk with all our luggage, to get to our hotel! And somewhere along the way I dropped my watch! Now I'm driving Glen mad asking what the time is all the time! Its a public holiday in Germany today, so nothing is open, so I guess I'll be out shopping for a new watch tomorrow!

So, what I've learnt so far, none of the kids are good travellers so far (yes, we've had vomit), Singapore is uncomfortably hot, and jetlag is a killer! I'm sure things will get better from here!

My thoughts under duress!

Well I've been told I have to contribute my thoughts about this impending trip, but really my mind is focused on the endless list of things I still need to do between now and our departure... dealing with a stroppy child, kicking myself for delivering our dog to a friends house and FORGETTING the dog food (!) and really I would just like to go to sleep now!

However, my thoughts:
I am spending the next 10 weeks travelling with one teenager (I need not say more), a child whose anxiety has taken over, one surprisingly calm child, and one who thinks he's the spawn of the devil! Oh, and then there's the husband who I will have to smile patiently at while we stop, so he can comment on and photograph every bridge, stop sign, bend, curve, overpass, underpass, roundabout, on-ramp, off-ramp, motorway, highway, footpath, cycle-lane, road-marking, throughout Europe and the State of Oregon. hahahaha - I'm gonna have my credit card confiscated for a comment like that!

Selina - I expect that when I get home, you will be waiting on my doorstep with a case of Mud House Sav Blanc!

Seriously though, this is an amazing trip and I'm really looking forward to it. Especially the history in Europe, and the lovely old architecture.

Bye.

Xanthe: Thoughts before the trip

Its so sad to leave my best friends, at the end of school today we were hugging for ages and wouldn't let go! I'm also very excited, I'm really looking forward to going to Spain, it looks so pretty over there. Lego land looks cool- my class all want to go to Lego land and since I'm going there they are all so jealous. Going around the world will be a huge step for me and I will definitely learn a lot. I don't think being away from school will change my education, dad said he would teach us a few things and I'm sure we are going to some museums and libraries. I'm going to miss my dog and cats a lot, they mean everything to me and not being able to see them for nearly 3 months will be a bit upsetting and saddening!

I really enjoy learning and my teacher is ever so lovely so I will miss school A LOT! and also to think I wont be able to see my best friends for so long will be so sad! ho well at least I can e-mail them.

While i'm overseas i hope to learn a lot, see a lot and have a safe and happy adventure!

Nicolette: Thoughts before the trip

My thoughts before the trip are mainly OMG I'm going overseas tomorrow and YAY! but yeah I guess I'm a bit nervous as well since its going to be a new experience for me as well as my family. It definitely feels a bit weird thinking that tomorrow is the big day because it all seems to have gone so fast. Things I'm really looking forward to about the trip are going to Singapore, France, Italy, Spain,Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada and just travelling to different places around the world. Things I'm not looking forward to are getting up tomorrow at six and jumping on a 10 hour flight to Singapore, lots of long hour flights, having to stay in a camper van with five other people and the dreaded jet lag. So it all seems huge and exciting for all of us in my family but for those who are here at home in NZ especially family and friends you are sure going to be missed for 10 weeks and hope you have a good winter without me.

Lucas: Thoughts before the trip

I'm looking forward to going to Legoland and Singapore and tomorrow is my birthday and the planes have tvs and movies, games, cds and if you have a pen drive you can plug it in although i will miss all of you. i am sort of scared a bit that some one will steal something without seeing and i am saying this is because people can steal stuff from you without you seeing in the places I'm staying but apart from that it will be awesome and Europe money is half of new Zealand money and Mrs Hooft if you read this then can you ask the class what is the Europe money called for a class question.

Stefan: Thoughts before the trip

Wow. Cant believe I'm going tomorrow. ummmm.... I'm feeling nervous and excited at the same time. I'm really gonna miss all my friends at school. I just cant believe we'll be in a plane tomorrow on the way to Singapore. There is gonna be so much to see and do there so I'm gonna take lots of photos and get lots of stuff. I really don't know what I'm looking forward to although from what I've heard about Singapore that sounds like it will be fun. It is gonna be a GREAT experience. There is so much I'm gonna miss out on in school though. Wow. It's come really fast. I cant wait to come back and see all my friends again. I will really miss them. OK so this is it I'm going on a plane tomorrow to Singapore then all around western Europe and then To America so yeah.

Where are We Going?

There are two ways to summarise our trip:

• Graphically using a Google Map to show all the places we are travelling to and staying at.
• A simple list of destinations and dates, given below:

Itinerary (still subject to minor tweaks):

• Saturday 22nd May: depart Chch at 10.50am direct to Singapore. Staying in Singapore overnight, look around on Sunday, and leaving at 11pm Sunday 23rd for Munich
• Arrive Munich at some awfully early hour on Monday 24th May. Stay overnight and pick up motorhome on 25th and drive to near Stuttgart for night.
• Wed 26th May:  drive Stuttgart to Strasbourg
• Thurs 27th May:  drive Strasbourg to Paris via Nancy,  2 nights in Paris
• Saturday 29th May:   drive Paris to Tours (Chateau country)
• Sunday 30th May:   drive Tours to Bordeaux, and staying overnight near Dune du Pilat (largest sand dune in Europe)
• Monday 31st May:  drive Bordeaux to Zaragoza (Spain)
• Tuesday 1st June:  drive Zaragoza to Valencia. Staying in Valencia four nights - Glen attending highway geometric design conference.
• Saturday 5th June:  drive Valencia to Barcelona.
• Sun 6th June: drive Barcelona to Perpignan
• Mon 7th June:  drive Perpignon - Avignon (inland route via Millau viaduct and Pont Du Gard )
• Tue 8th June:  drive Avignon to Antibes (near Nice) via Marseille, Toulon
• Wed 9th June:  drive Nice to Italian Riviera (Cinque Terre) via Genoa,  Stay 2 nights at Deiva Marina
• Friday 11th June:  drive Riviera to Pisa
• Saturday 12th June:  drive Pisa to Rome, 4 nights in Rome
• Wednesday 16th June:  drive Rome to Bologna via Florence
• Thu 17th June:  drive Bologna to Lugano/Lake Como on Swiss border via Milan
• Friday 18th June:  drive Lugano to Basel via Zurich
• Sat 19th June:  drive Basel to Lake Konstanz via Freiburg
• Sunday 20th June: drive Konstanz to Munich via Neuschwanstein (Disney) castle
• Monday 21st June:  Drop off motorhome, fly Munich to Copenhagen (Glen cycling conference from 22nd - 25th)
• Saturday 26th June hiring a car and driving to Legoland and returning to Copenhagen on 27th. Stay night in Copenhagen on 27th.
• Monday 28th June:  flying Copenhagen to Amsterdam, staying 4 nights in The Hague with family friend Yolanda
• Friday 2nd July:  flying Amsterdam to London.  Staying in London that night, pick up rental car on Saturday 3rd and driving to Kettering to stay with Aunty Colleen for 2 nights  Visiting Cambridge while staying in Kettering.
• Monday 5th July:   drive  to Leeds/York
• Tuesday 6th July:  drive to Manchester/Bolton
• Wednesday 7th July:   drive to Birmingham
• Thursday 8th July:   drive to Bath/Bristol via Stratford-upon-Avon
• Friday 9th July:  Oxford - back to London for night
• Saturday 10th July:  leave London - fly to Lisbon, 5 nights in Lisbon, Glen conference on transport research
• Thursday 15th July:  fly Lisbon to Frankfurt, arrive Frankfurt 9pm
• Friday 16th July:  fly Frankfurt (depart 10am) to Seattle  (arrive 11am!). 2 nights in Seattle.  Then ferry to Vancouver Island (Victoria, BC, Canada) on Sunday 18th, stay night and return to Seattle on 19th for another 2 nights.
• Wednesday 21st July:  pick up rental car drive Seattle to Portland via Mt St Helens.  3 nights in Portland.
• Saturday 24th July:  drive Portland to  Oregon Coast.  2 nights at Pacific City
• Monday 26th July:  drive Oregon Coast to Eugene
• Tuesday 27th July:   drive Eugene to Crater Lake / Klamath Falls
• Wednesday 28th July:  Klamath Falls - Crescent City
• Thursday 29th July:  drive Crescent City to Laytonville via Redwood Forests
• Friday 30th July:  drive Laytonville to San Francisco (via Sonoma Valley), 2 Nights in San Francisco.
• Di & Kids depart San Francisco for Auckland at 9pm Sunday 1st August, arrive in Auckland on Tuesday 3rd August really early!  Fly Auckland to Christchurch arriving back in Christchurch at 9.15am!
• Glen starts driving back to Seattle visiting universities along the way (Berkeley, Davis, Oregon, Washington). Then train to Portland on 7th August to spend 3 weeks at Portland State University. Glen arrives home in Chch at 9.15am Sunday 29 August

Phew!

So why this Trip?

One of the nice aspects of working at university is that every six years or so, you are allowed to take up to a year's sabbatical or study leave. I hesitate to call it "time off", but it does mean that you can put aside for a while the usual course teaching/marking and admin work (student admissions, Dept committees, etc) and spend a bit of time concentrating on your research, contacts with overseas colleagues, and general self-improvement.

After six years at Canterbury, and with my PhD now out of the way, it's time for my first sabbatical (from March-December 2010). Much of it will be spent in Christchurch trying to work on various "to-do" jobs that have piled up over the years (including numerous journal paper ideas) as well as a bit of consulting work with ViaStrada. But for three-and-a-bit months in May-August, I'll also be heading overseas to visit a few places, people and conferences.

I've had a number of other university trips overseas before on my own (esp. North America) and, invariably while doing a bit of sightseeing, I'm left thinking "I wish the family could see/enjoy this too". So it seemed a golden opportunity to take the whole tribe along this time, especially as the kids are all at an age now where it will be quite memorable and meaningful.

Much of our time will be in Western Europe, a place I haven't really been to. From a professional point of view there's a lot of good transport initiatives to see, especially in terms of sustainable transport (PT, bike, walk). It's hard to talk about these places in class if you don't have the examples and context! We'll be travelling around by road much of the way so I can see things first-hand; call it a "busman's holiday" if you will. And of course there's some amazing history, culture, architecture, and engineering to look over too.

Although my sabbatical funding from uni is quite generous, there's still quite a few costs to cover the balance of our travel expenses (not least of which is $15k just to fly there...). We realised fairly early on that the only way to reasonably afford to travel around Europe with six of us was by motorhome. While that will provide a comforting "home base" for our initial travels, it will present a few extra logistical challenges - neither of us have ever driven one before! Later in the trip we will return to more conventional rental cars, but will still be largely sleeping on the cheap in hostels, campgrounds and with friends/family, with the occasional more "luxurious" hotel.

Then we jump over to the Pacific Northwest of North America; a place I am more familiar with and have enjoyed previously. We'll do the touristy thing down the west coast from Seattle to San Francisco and then the family will head home early while I return to Portland for a few more weeks of "academic liaison".

Should be fun, interesting, challenging, rewarding - all of the above!