May 20, 2007 by Rick.

We are starting with two weeks of Spanish lessons for the entire family in Costa Rica at:

http://www.cosi.co.cr/

Then we have a Gap Adventures family tour booked for Peru & Ecuador (the Galapagos Islands):

http://www.gapadventures.com/tour/PF07F

For Australia we Have a camper van booked for six weeks starting in Sydney and finishing in Brisbane. We have no idea of a route and are still toying with the possibility of a super long (and straight & boring) drive to iconic Ayers Rock. Any suggestions or comments of worthwhile sights in Australia are heartily welcomed. Please send any comments to: travel (at) noe.ca The Toyota van we are renting is from:

http://www.britz.com.au/campervan-hire-australia

After that we have no major tours or “equipment” bookings. We’d like to have one through Egypt & Jordan but no tour companies that we have found on the net are interested in taking bookings from families this far in advance for the time frame we will be there. Other than that we’ll probably rent a small car from Rome through Europe until Paris. We’re still looking into the possibility of some helpX or woofing farm stays depending upon how our money is holding out by the time we get to Europe. After the grand old Chunnel ride we’ll rent another small car in the UK to tour around there until we hit Dublin and then fly back to Halifax in Canada.

There are an abundance of travel reference websites (commercial & private) which Claudette & I have devoured. The most recent one I stumbled upon is from a family that most closely seems to resemble ours & our situation & goals than most others that we have encountered. They traveled for ten months back in 2001 & 2002. The main difference is that they schooled their three kids for the duration and with their comments it strongly solidified our feelings of not wanting to bother with “official” curriculum while we’re traveling. Too funny that the wife/mother’s maiden name is also James…

http://www.alljames.com

Posted in 2007-07 to 2007-08, Pre-Trip and Travel | 2 Comments »

May 7, 2007 by Rick.

And we all can’t wait! A couple entries of our previous BLOG I had set up were reanrranged when I transfered over to wordpress. At least we weren’t part way into the trip when it happened.

We don’t have renters for the house yet, but there are a couple of good prospects. We do however have our plane tickets for the first half (time wise) in hand though, and all of our passports! We have the Spanish school in Costa Rica booked and are pretty excited about the beach school being our first stop. Rick is going to take scuba lessons in Edmonton first and Claudette, Alex & Luke will be taking snorkeling lessons as well.

Claudette & I have decided to not bother with taking a laptop computer. instead we’ll buy a PDA with a fold out full-sized keyboard. This will easily suffice for blog entries and our individual daily logs. Every week or two when we get handy to an internet computer we’ll publish the blog entries and backup picture and journal files.

Several friends and family members have made plans to meet up at various spots along our rough route as well. There’s always room for more though! The latest addition to this list is Rick’s Dad & his wife Dianne who have secured a friends villa in Greece for us to share for a couple weeks in the Spring of 2008.

So plans and bookings are progressing well. Our itinerary is at the list page, (link available from the main http://www.jamesworld.ca website). Any suggestions or comments anyone has for spots to see or places to stay along our route are welcomed by way of the comments section or by email.

Posted in 2007-07 to 2007-08, Pre-Trip and Travel | No Comments »

May 7, 2007 by Claudette.

Originally Posted by Claudette: Thursday, March 29, 2007

Welcome and hello to all our family and friends!

This is my first entry to our family travel blog!

We have started to get down to the little details for our up and coming trip. I can’t believe that it’s also time. The 4 years of talking about it has just flown by, as I’m sure the next few months will as well.

I hope that you will enjoy following our travels starting in early August 2007.

Take care for now, Claudette

Posted in 2005 to 2007, North America on..., Planning up to Depar | No Comments »

May 7, 2007 by Rick.

Originally Posted: Thursday, April 27, 2006

Wow! We finally came up with a first draft of our 50 week trip with dates & countries, and even a hokey bit of a budget… Wow! It’s a wee bit more than I had thought, but what the heck! It’ll still be the trip of a lifetime and after we get back we should still only be about ten to fifteen thousand in debt, (after Claudette’s deferred salary, ING savings and cashing in some of Rick’s RRSP’s). We might change Africa a bit if we can find some politically stable countries to actually visit.

Revision ONE of the list has two sheets (tabs). The first is the original list of countries that all four family members initially wrote down about a year ago. The second is a roughly week by week itinerary of countries, accomodation budget, food budget and any special side trips (and their associated expenses).

Only 14 months away now! I can’t wait!!!

Posted in 2005 to 2007, North America on..., Planning up to Depar | No Comments »

May 7, 2007 by Rick.

Originally Posted: Monday, April 04, 2005

We are currently in the very early stages of trip planning. Compiling a list of places that the four family members want to visit. Over the next few months we will finalize a preliminary list, start working out directions of travel, and begin more formalized planning. Obviously the the most important stage has begun several months ago. (SAVING MONEY ! ! !)

Posted in 2005 to 2007, North America on..., Planning up to Depar | No Comments »