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travellarge

~ After two years of turmoil, a homeschooling family embarks on a big adventure

travellarge

Category Archives: Siblings

Memories of Family

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by travellarge in Advice, Budget travel, Experiential Travel, Family, Hands-on Learning, Homeschool, Siblings, Teenagers, Travel, Unschooling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Dave Nichols, family memories, large families, Long term budget travel, Long term family travel, Memories Of, President’s Choice

If you’re a kinda old Canadian you will remember our famous president.  I see citizens of other countries reading this in consternation.  Canada?  A president?  I thought they had a prime minister?

Our president in 1977.

Our president in 1977, popular but not yet almighty.

The prime minister is in charge of the government, it’s true, but once we had a president in charge of the way we lived.  His name was Dave Nichol and he was the president of the grocery chain, Loblaws.  He came to power in the 1980s as a marketing genius whose fame grew and grew.  I guess he ran out of regular groceries to sell so he had to start travelling the world looking for unusual stuff that most Canadians had never heard of, much less tasted (like Passion Fruit Sorbet – 1983).  Like Szechuan Spicy Peanut Satay.  Then he would tinker with the recipe until it was a gloopy, sweet, not spicy former shadow of itself and bingo “Memories of Szechuan Sauce” would be born.  There were zillions of Memories Of products in the 80s and 90s and everyone was talking about them.  I kid you not.

Memories of Alabama?!  Photo from  presidentschoice.ca

Memories of Alabama?! Photo from
presidentschoice.ca

But this post is not about memories of delicious exotic fare turned into preservative laden crap, it is about the real memories that come out of family (budget) travel.

For most of 2014, our family travelled far and wide, visiting 21 countries.  There were a few moments of tears and frustration, but for the most part, it was a blissful time.  For the parents and the young children.  For the teens, not so much.  In early July, after five solid months of eating, sleeping, flying/training/boating/driving, wifi-ing and breathing with her family, Firstborn gritted her teeth and declared, “I am SO done with this trip.”

It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.  It was Wales for our teens.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was Wales for our teens.

Which makes what happened on December 5, 2014 all the more significant.  On that fateful day, the kids and I sat down as usual to have elevenses (tea and cookies at 11 am).  Normally, this is the time I read a history book and novel aloud.  Today though, we got to talking about our big trip.  The kids rehashed all the crazy things we did and argued about where what took place.

In our family, to accurately pinpoint which place is what, we describe the wifi: Remember the place with the lousy wifi where the code was “real ales”; remember the motel in France where Firstborn wrapped herself in her sleeping bag and went to sit outside on the cold metal staircase because it had the best reception.  That kinda thing.  Once we’ve established the wifi situation in our heads, we can then broaden out from there: Okay well at “real ales”, remember the walk we took and then the people we met when we were at the charity shop?  Thank goodness for the invention of internet or we wouldn’t have any way to position our walks down memory lane ;-)

Our home for the next fortnight

A hop, skip and a jump from the pub with bad wifi (password real ales)!

After reviewing our adventures through rose-coloured glasses, Firstborn declared that we should go on another backpacking trip (!).  Onlyboy and Paris were aghast and chimed in, “Eight months is WAY too long.”  Okay – here comes the punchline.  Firstborn says, “Well, we wouldn’t want to only go for 6 weeks because that wouldn’t be worth it!”  She said that.  I pinky-swear.  After debate back and forth, the kids decided that four months would be the perfect amount of time for such a trip and that they would be ready to leave as soon as Early Spring 2015.  I would like to point out that we have been home now for less than two months.

This may not seem that amazing to you but it was one of the best gifts I have ever received.  To hear that all my children from the five year old to the seventeen year old would willingly hit the road with us again was like manna from heaven.  When you have a larger family, there comes a point when you realize that although you have very young children, the time remaining for family adventures and holidays is drawing to a close because you also have older children.  This is a bittersweet time for the larger family.  Everyone in the family is proud of the older children and excited at their upcoming romances and adventures.  But they know there will be a huge hole in the family when they leave.  When my older children leave home, we will be bereft, parents as well as siblings.

Our kids don’t remember this.  Tant pis!  (For long time followers, this is the really dumb Montenegrin waterside I’ve blogged about in the past, here in off season).

Our kids don’t remember this (2005). Tant pis! For long time followers, this is the really dumb Montenegrin waterside I’ve blogged about in the past, here in off season.

I am the last person to recommend going into debt to finance a holiday.  I believe we live in a culture where instant gratification is the norm and where people are living beyond their means.  I would say though, that your window for family holidays is probably a lot smaller than you think.  Most people want to wait until their children are older, both for ease of travel and so that the children remember the trip.  If you factor in that your children might have jobs or competitive hobbies or sweethearts or grumpy dispositions when they are teens, you might only have three or four years.  If an international family holiday is a dream of yours, remember that your biological clock is ticking.

Paris doesn’t remember living in the Balkans with a boat in her garden (2006).  No problem!

Paris doesn’t remember having short hair (after a traumatic lice episode) or living in the Balkans with a boat in her garden (2006). No problem!

We’re definitely NOT most people so we have been travelling far and wide since Firstborn was 8 weeks old.  When we only had little kids and people would comment on how the tots wouldn’t remember the trip, Fahbio and I would retort, “We’re not travelling for them, we’re travelling for us and we can’t leave them home alone.”  Badass to the core, I know but you get the point.  It’s true that they don’t remember those trips but the journeys are woven into our family history.  They have heard their parents reminisce, they see the photos displayed around our home, they’ve sometimes returned to the same place years later, they’ve often met the people we encountered.

Only SWMBO remembers eating civapi at a restaurant where the waiter jerked his thumb to this sad specimen when a young daughter needed the loo!

Thankfully, only SWMBO remembers eating ćevapčići at a restaurant where the waiter jerked his thumb to this sad specimen out back when a young daughter needed the loo! Sudden loss of appetite, fer sher.

Most importantly, those early trips with young children allowed their parents to be the people they wanted to be and that made them better parents.  And believe me, they needed all the help they could get in that area ;-)  Fahbio and I have always lived to travel.  If we had decided to put that aside until our children were 10 years old, we would have stifled an integral part of ourselves.  Not everyone feels this way about travel, but for us, it be so.

The kids don’t remember that this is where they used to play while Fahbio and SWMBO enjoyed a coffee at one of the beachside cafés right in front (Budva 2006)

The kids don’t remember that this is where they used to play while Fahbio and SWMBO enjoyed a coffee at one of the beachside cafés right in front (Budva 2006)

Today’s Quote of the Day comes from The Tale of a Town, a Community Theatre project.  A small team is travelling across the country gathering stories which they then transform into a multi-media theatre piece about a particular neighbourhood.  Pretty cool stuff.

tale of a town

To get local people thinking and talking, they prompt them with a few questions.  In Ottawa, people gave their stories in either English or French and then a wonderful bilingual play was put on in early December based on the community input.

Tale of a Town: What is no longer in your neighbourhood that you miss?

Anonymous: Mes enfants.

My friend, if that doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, nothing could.

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There’s No Tear in Sight

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by travellarge in Adventure, Budget travel, Education, Experiential Travel, Family, France, Hands-on Learning, Homeschool, Humour, Siblings, Teenagers, Travel, Unschooling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Balagny sur Therain, cave climbing, cave exploration, children's blogs, kids' blogs, speleology

Hello,

Venice (9 yo) is writing to you – 9 more days ‘til we go back home!!!-

Sorry, that was random.

On September 27th, we went CouchSurfing. We were staying there for two nights.

On the second day we were there, our host said she was going to have a picnic with one of her friends and thought it would be nice if we went to a cave activity. Since it was the day of speleology, it would be free! It was only really 10 minutes to get there!     WOOHOO!   Sorry, I get carsick really easily. :-(

It was the day of speleology - free visits!

It was the day of speleology – free visits!

When we got there, we had a picnic ourselves!  (Seaweed with lemon and avocado)

Our last picnic in our car...

Our last picnic in our car…

Then we followed the arrows to the “cave”.

We entered a very interesting “cave” but in a short while we came out the other side!?   There were some people there having a picnic, too!

Entrance to the “cave"

Entrance to the “cave”

They were cave lovers! And they were there to teach us how to cave climb.

Paris said her leg hurt + her wrist… Lastborn was too scared and Fahbio didn’t want to… So that left S.W.M.B.O., OnlyBoy and I, Venice.

OnlyBoy went first, only because he wanted to, and S.W.M.B.O. wanted to watch him before she went. But I would’ve totally gone first :-) . There were other people, though going on the ropes.

Other people climbing

Other people climbing

When one of the ladies came over to get OnlyBoy all suited up, a guy that was working there said, “I bet when he gets off the ground he’ll be crying for his Mommy!!!”

Onlyboy gets the equipment

Onlyboy gets the equipment

Ahhhh, I can picture that!   OnlyBoy, age 14, crying for his mother…!

Sadly, there was no tear in sight. :-(

Then it was my turn. It wasn’t scary, so I see why OnlyBoy didn’t cry.

Once you get the hang of it, well, you get the hang of it!

SWMBO and I climb

SWMBO and I climb

Even SheWhoMustBeObeyed got the hang of it!!! Shocking!

(A.K.A. Super-Chicken)

– Venice

A dragon carved in stone

A dragon carved in stone

P.S.   When S.W.M.B.O. had to get all her gear on, it was a little harder than we thought…!

She umm, couldn’t really get it on…

It was umm, a little to tight,

And she umm, made a joke saying she had to stop eating so much baguette!

Too much baguette...

Too much baguette…

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Legoland

29 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by travellarge in Architecture, Austria, Experiential Travel, Family, Siblings, Unschooling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Germany, Gunzburg, Legoland, Legoland Deutschland

Here’s what we thought about Legoland Deutschland:

FAHBIO:

I can’t believe all the bonsai plants.  If you have any interest in bonsai, it is worth a visit to Legoland just to see how they are used.

Effective use of bonsai plants in Legoland

Creative use of bonsai plants in Legoland

Swiss chalet

Swiss chalet

VENICE (9 year old):

The rides were fun.  The lego was too fascinating.  A soccer stadium full of 30,000 lego fans!  The flying ride was quite fun.  Paris said it was peaceful but I didn’t know that it would go faster on the second round.  There was a park that was full of nets and covered slides.  It was almost like a McDonald’s playplace but 10 times bigger.

Venice in venice

Venice in Venice

Great photo taken by Venice

Great photo taken by Venice

SWMBO

It was great!!  I don’t like scary rides and there were still a lot of fun rides for me.  I loved the one where you boarded a pirate ship with some friends and then you sailed the seas trying to spray people with water and of course trying not to get sprayed.  What a hoot! We all had so much fun.  There was definitely something for all age groups.  Be forewarned, though – If you are an adult, prepare to wake up the next morning feeling like you have been clubbing all night.

Berlin, Legoland

All made out of lego…

Shark!  The Legoland aquarium was a wonderful surprise.

Shark! The Legoland aquarium was a wonderful surprise.

PARIS (12 year old)

My favourite ride would be the flying dragons.  I thought it was pretty insane how they built the whole Munich Stadium out of lego.  And there were no line-ups!  School was in and it was an overcast day, mid-week so for the older kid rides there were no line-ups and I could get on right away.  If I liked a ride, most times I could just stay on and do it again.  They have really good tea.

ONLYBOY (14 year old)

The lego parts were very impressive.  Lego Einstein blew me away.  The roller coasters were fun and you could turn even the calmest rides scary simply by flipping yourself upside down.

Lego Einstein

Lego Einstein

First roller coaster we went on (even Lastborn)!  But not SWMBO...

First roller coaster we went on (even Lastborn)! But not SWMBO…

LASTBORN (5 year old)

It was good.  I liked the spinning thing.  Paris kept saying could you scooch over but it was spinning so much I couldn’t!  I also loved the scrambler.  It was also a spinning ride.    I didn’t really like the lego people talking during the horsey ride.  And the horsey ride was so short that I went on it three times.  The driving wasn’t really fun.  I really loved the water ride.

This is not the pirate ship - it is the other fun water ride.

This is not the pirate ship – it is the other fun water ride.

Paris looked like she was having fun but apparently not...

Paris looked like she was having fun but apparently not…

THE DETAILS

Legoland Deutschland is located in Günzburg, about 90 minutes from Munich.

Tickets:  Offseason, we were able to get a special rate: 103 euros/$150 for a family of four or only 1 euro more for a family of five.  We then had to buy an extra child ticket: 27 euros/$40.  To get these prices, you have to prebook online and print your tickets.  You have to commit to a particular day no matter what.

The aquarium was outstanding.

The aquarium was outstanding

Hours:  It is important to note the hours before buying the tickets.  Legoland is not like many other amusement parks – it opens late and closes early.  I love this because it means that you are forced to arrive at a decent time and then just when you are hitting your limit, you are forced to leave.  Mid-week, in September, Legoland opens at 10 am.  The rides close at 5 pm and the park closes at 6 pm.

A perfect maple leaf to give us a feeling of home...

A perfect maple leaf to give us a feeling of home…

Parking:  Even though you are in the middle of nowhere and you are clearly going to Legoland where you will spend hundreds of dollars, they will charge you for parking.  This is a cash grab, pure and simple, and it really miffs me.  We “saved money” on this robbery by buying a parking ticket online.  The discounted online price was 6 euros/$9!

Holland

Holland

Food:  The food/drink in Legoland is outrageously expensive.  I would recommend bringing your own food and drink (you are allowed to bring in bags).  If you want to splurge and make things easy on yourself, buy the meal voucher.  The meal voucher for 4 people costs 153 euros/$230 and for 5 people, 166 euros/$249.  A 5 person voucher is easily enough food for 6/7 people.  It includes 5 main courses, five cold drinks, five ice cream cones, two candy floss and three hot beverages.  Portions are huge and you select whatever you want, whenever you want.  The food quality is high and sometimes it’s nice to sit inside and take a break from the madness.

XXL burger, Legoland

XXL burger, Legoland

Extras:  Not everything is included in Legoland.  You have to pay to play carnival games and you can pay to pan for gold.  But there is so much to do in Legoland that there is no need to do this extra stuff.  You also have to pay 5 euros/$7.50 if are between 7-13 and you want to take a driving lesson and then drive around a simulated town in a little car.  My kids really wanted to do this but it is expensive and it takes about an hour.  That’s an hour that you have already paid $200 to do other stuff so we ditched the driving school idea pretty quickly.  Oh ya, they will also try to sell you photos of yourselves screaming on roller coasters.

Merch:  Lots of it.  Everywhere.  Expensive.

 

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Intercontinental Connection

19 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by travellarge in Accommodation, Architecture, Austria, Budget travel, Conservation, Dining, Education, Experiential Travel, Family, Farming, Handmade, Hands-on Learning, Heritage, Homeschool, Siblings, Street food, Teenagers, Travel, Unschooling

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Almdudler, Freilichtmuseum Stehrerhof, Krapfen, Neukirchen and der Vöckla, Oberösterreich, steam threshing machine, Temperance Movement, Upper Austria, Upper Canada Village, Vöcklabruck

SWMBO realizes only 21 days remain in this 8-month journey.  Maybe it’s the kids chanting a countdown just about every 20 minutes?

As we get closer and closer to our return date, our Canada lives insinuate themselves in our travel lives.  We start getting news from home and arrangements have to be made for airport pick-ups.  Two strange things also happened that made us feel that a gossamer thread was spanning the Atlantic, connecting us to those we cherish back home.

Bed in “Upper Austria Village"

Bed in “Upper Austria Village”

First, we all became sick after getting soaking wet and then touring a 8 degree Celsius salt mine for over an hour.  The very next day we got an email for Firstborn, back in Canada, who wrote that she had worked a double shift volunteering at a music festival – she stood in the cold and rain for hours and now she was sick!!!  As a result, all seven people in our family were sick in bed – so what if we were on different continents?!

Lederhose, "Upper Austria Village"

Lederhose, “Upper Austria Village”

Second, every year our kids embark on a three-day homeschooling trip to Upper Canada Village with all their friends.  Upper Canada Village is an open air museum in rural Ontario on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, a stone’s throw from the United States.  It depicts life in the year 1866.  While there, the kids get to dress in pioneer costumes and live the life of an 1866 boy or girl.  They milk cows, work with the blacksmith, play Massachusetts Baseball, bake Grandmother’s Sugar Biscuits and yes – they even sweep dead flies from the window sills.  Believe me, I hear a lot about those dead flies.

Traditional music, “Upper Austria Village"

Traditional music, “Upper Austria Village”

They also go to school (remember this is a group of kids that has never been to school!) and they stand outside the tavern singing a Temperance Movement song.  UCV is full of tourists and day visitors who get a kick out of coming out of the tavern after lunch and being serenaded with, “Throw down the bottle and never drink again.  Your wife will smile with gladness…”

Pretty much everyone enjoys a beer at Upper Austria Village.

Pretty much everyone enjoys a beer at Upper Austria Village.

It is one of the highlights of the year.  That trip is happening this Friday-Sunday (i.e. right now!) and my kids are bummed to be missing it.  Yesterday, Lifelongfriend returned from work and announced that there was an open air museum not far from here that depicts traditional Upper Austria village life!  We’re in!  And yes, I fully expect to hear that it doesn’t hold a candle to UCV from the three experts in our midst.

LATER:

We just returned from Upper Austria Village as we are calling it.  It was so wonderful we never heard a peep about it not comparing to UCV!  We all had an absolutely lovely day.  Unfortunately, we’ve given our cold to Lifelongfriend so she sat this one out.  We got to see and do all kinds of neat stuff.  And we were quite the sensation ourselves – being from away and all.

The kids wanted to take turns riding this broom around the farm but decided that would be showing off.  If you want to read about how they learned to fly at Hogwarts you can do so

The kids wanted to take turns riding this broom around the farm but decided that would be showing off.

If you want to read about how they learned to fly at Hogwarts you can do so here.

Every time I go to UCV, I learn something new.  Same thing happened at UAV.  Today, I learned that in olden times, farmers would brush and groom their cows.  This included washing their tales and cutting the tail hair.  The farm wives would take the cow tail hairs and scrunch them into a ball.  They would use this ball to scrub stains from clothes.  The ball would end up felting itself from the heat and friction.  The women would keep these balls for years and they would become more hard and compact over time.  Fascinating.  I know it is fascinating because Lastborn spent the entire afternoon washing laundry this way.

Cow tail hair: eco-friendly  stain remover

Cow tail hair: eco-friendly stain remover

Lastborn hard at work.  She trades the cow tail hair for the ingenious plunger.

Lastborn hard at work. She trades the cow tail hair for the ingenious plunger.

The plunger.

The plunger.

Some interesting things happened to us:

A fellow approached me and asked me if I lived in Vöcklabruck, which, by the way, is a pretty big town.  I told him that I was from Canada but was staying in Vöcklabruck.  He told  me that he recognized our family from the grocery store.

We buy our tickets for Almdudler and Krapfen (and a coffee for Fahbio)

We buy our tickets for Almdudler and Krapfen (and a coffee for Fahbio)

We cash in our tickets for Almdudler - a beloved Austrian soft drink

We cash in our tickets for Almdudler – a beloved Austrian soft drink

We cash in our tickets for Krapfen - fried dough sprinkled with powder sugar

We cash in our tickets for Krapfen – fried dough sprinkled with powder sugar

We had a great chat with the lady demonstrating spinning.  Before we were leaving, she came to see us and told us that she would like to treat us to Krapfen.  Krapfen are a traditional yeasted fried dough.  It was a kind and touching gesture.  When we said we couldn’t possibly eat any more Krapfen, she told us to take them home.

When we went to get the take-away Krapfen, the lady making them told us that there would be room for one more in the box and snuck an extra one in.

Take-away Krapfen

Take-away Krapfen.  For the eagle eyed among you, yes there are 8.  Six for us, one for Lifelongfriend and the extra one that snuck in.

As we were leaving, the Sauerkraut demonstrating man, approached me and asked if I was Lastborn’s mother.  I said yes.  He asked if they could use a photo of her washing clothes in future promotional materials.  Imagine – Lastborn the Superstar!!!

If you want to visit UAV, here is some handy information:

Cost for a family ticket is 5.50 euros/$8.25 Cdn.

The museum is called Freilichtmuseum Stehrerhof and it is located in Neukirchen an der Vöckla.

The third week of September is a good time to visit.  It is the only time of year that they haul out the steam threshing machine.

Steam thresher at work.

Steam thresher at work.

Price of an Almdudler – 2 euros/$3 Cdn.  Price of a Krapfen – 1.50 euros/$2.25 Cdn.

Everything is in German.  You can see and try just about everything so it is still well worth the visit if you don’t speak German.

Today’s quote of the day is another Temperance Movement song from Upper Canada Village:

 I’ll drink no more gin sling. I’ll drink no sling made of gin, nor rum or whiskey, flip or brandy, wine or any such thing.

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