Travel & Holidays Travel

We can start with the one where my wife and I were almost trampled to death by a herd of elephants in the Okavango Delta ......or where we thought we were about to be taken hostage in East Africa.....but found out the culprit was some goats shagging......long story.

 

The 10-15k I mentioned was for cheap flights. There are 7 of us in total. Which makes it even harder as some airline regulations on how many adults you must have travelling and accompanying children under a certain age. Which means some airlines won't even let us fly with them unless we get another adult or lose a child.
We currently have the money to travel overseas, and have considered it on and off (I have siblings who live abroad whom we would visit). But I just cannot justify the costs at this point. Maybe when they are older.

 

There's a phrase in Mandarin that goes (omitting the accents):

Mama qi ma, ma man, mama ma ma.

which means mother is riding a horse, the horse is slow, mother scolds the horse.

GP

 

The first time I went to China back in the early '80s, the only phrase you really needed to know was "mei you" (literally "don't have"), as that's pretty much all you ever heard.

It wasn't exactly a shopaholic's paradise.

GP

 

Less than once

 

Or a wacky NBA player.
They seem to have a thing for famous Americans over there.

 

Look forward to it DT!

We will start with the "best hotel in bautino" (bed bugs, goats and both TV channels being porn are prominant). Then move onto how I became a qualified Australian plumber and had to show my drivers licence as my official plumbing license at a local hospital in order to fix the shower so my wife (who was pregnant) could have a shower after 6days of being there.

And thats just the start. I dare say this is going to be a long session... might take more than 'a' beer.

Blacky

 

Konichiwa from Japan.
As @geoffw says, I think it's very important and respectful to know at least a few words. I always learn good morning, please, thank you, count to 10 (though up to 5 is essential as we have 5 people), good night etc
Japan eating is remarkably easy. They have fantastic photos and fake meal displays and if it looks good we just point if needed. Lunch today was pork katsu-don, black vinegar chicken and veg, a cute kids meal set (rice, chicken, salad and apple jelly)

Well it snowed overnight in Tokyo sending it into a bit of chaos as it's quite unusual for this part of Japan. We landed at 9am and the airport had snow and it seems trains etc went into chaos. Somehow we managed to miss it but the journey from the airport to hotel was a bit slower. We then saw the news later that the snow had caused commuter chaos. More than 100 injured in heavy snow around Tokyo, eastern Japan | The Japan Times
We of course had to go outside the hotel and go throw some snow around which bemused the locals.

 

I would be jealous but I will be there next week

 

Shall we tell everyone we're having a JV directors meeting in Japan?

 

Sounds like a tax deduction to me

Oh wait... Im not a director any more

Ahh - Share holders meeting!!

If we have the meeting at the top of the slopes, rather than the bottom, is ski hire deductible?

Blacky

 

Used to travel a lot more when younger, several times took 3-4 months off work after pestering the boss then went back to the same job, so it never shows up on the resume.

Then moved overseas 19 years ago to work for a few years, but still overseas and onto living in country number 5... Foreign travel a lot easier here in Europe, used to make at least a dozen trips a year around Europe/North Africa/Mid East. Then had kids, so less travel now, explore Spain instead but still go back to almost Australia every year.

I don't think travel is any more dangerous now.. depends on the country.. plenty of countries are now much safer than they used to be, eg Asia and South America are now much safer, going to Cambodia 25 years ago would be like going to Syria now. Sad what has happened to many middle east countries with the terrorist threat there, they are interesting to visit. Iran is still OK, that is my next preferred destination, tried once before had airline ticket and everything but they knocked the visa back, but with sanctions lifted last week in future might be easier.

 

From Study Chinese in China...
Chinese Tongue Twisters | That's Mandarin
四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十；谁把十四说“十适”，就打他十四；谁把四十说“适十”，就打他四十

sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí; shéi bǎ shísì shuō “shíshì”, jiù dǎ tā shísì, shéi bǎ sìshí shuō “shìshí”, jiù dǎ tā sìshí.

Literally “Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty. If anyone pronounces “shísì” as “shíshì”, hit them fourteen times, if anyone pronounces “sìshí” as “shìshí”, hit them forty times.”

So many “si” and “shi” sounds! If you can manage that one, I’d say you’re doing pretty well…

 

Favourite method of communication would be English maybe repeating oneself only slower and louder... It's amazing how we expect people in their own country to speak a foreign language.
Google translate apps are great.
Learn at least a few phases, greetings etc are important and people will see that you are trying.
If all else fails then resort to high school French.

 

We planned to do the trans mongolian rail slowly as the route home from our year in London, but my wife fell pregnant and it cut our trip short - flew out of London as late as we could (she was 28 weeks by then). If you ever have concerns about travelling with luggage way over the limit, travel with a heavily pregnant woman - they don't even look at the bags! Singapore Airlines supervisor behind the checking staff rushed over "Is there anything we can do for you? Do you need a wheelchair? Would you like someone to meet you at arrivals? Can I carry you carry-on for you?"

I kind of wish we had stayed in London - my work was keen for me to stay, and would have sponsored me, but being close to family with kids is pretty awesome (especially since we subsequently had twins). We are planning our first international family trip for later this year - the only real drama is I don't have much leave and will have to take leave without pay.

cheers,
Inertia

 

LOL. I find just 44 (四十四) is tricky enough.

GP

 

Actually it did the first time I was there. I met a number of foreigners at the language institute and another technology institute, mostly Africans and Europeans, and while most could speak English, they tended to converse in French.

I also went to a party at the British embassy one night and was talking to a woman from the Belgian embassy for a while, all in French - or I should say, she mostly talked to me and I listened and pretended to understand.

GP

 

Part of our previous 5 year plan was to do one international holiday a year for five years. In that time we were able to tick off a few destinations on our bucket lists.

When we were going overseas every year we did a number of short weekend away trips (i.e. Hunter Valley, South Coast etc).

Now, we are not looking at going overseas for the next year or two so are looking at longer, domestic holidays.