November 2011 Blog Posts (49)

I'm definitely a TCK (Third Culture Kid). In fact, by now, I would be considered a 4th or 5th culture kid. I have nomadic parents and I am a product of their itchy feet/wanderlust/bedouinism (choose whichever trendy word you're enjoying at the moment).

I was born in Karachi, Pakistan where my parents were both raised. I was almost immediately taken to Muscat, Oman where my father had been sent by work. Soon, I had 2 new sisters - twins! - and we were then moved to Dubai, UAE.…

How do you pack fishing gear for a trip spanning 15 months and 14 countries? According to Jessica, you don't. According to me, you cram as much stuff into the biggest bag you can convince Jessica to let you bring.

I may have overdone it, but it fits (mostly) and it should provide Kobus and I with plenty of fishing stories to tell once we get home. Most of the fly fishing gear we bought for this trip was ordered from Orvis.…

Since I wanted now to maximize the features of my cameras, I forced myself to shoot videos while my son and I toured Camarines Sur and Albay in the Bicol Region.

Shooting was a breeze, editing it was not. UGH!

I started…

Have you ever boarded an aircraft to find that you were assigned the last row of coach? Many of us have been there and although there are the many well known questions and annoyances: “Will I hear the toilet flush the entire flight? Will people be standing with their backside in my face? Will my seat recline?” Despite these concerns, there…

Only it wasn’t really a picnic. It was a star trail photo shoot.

I initially attempted to shoot star trails during a recent trip to Caramoan Island, Camarines Sur. Unfortunately, my camera settings were all wrong and I failed miserably and pathetically.

So, when our photography mentor,…

A three and a half hour evening dinner cruise on the Seine is condensed into three minutes. View the delights of Paris by night from the level of this iconic river. Awesome!

While not a total victory, this is good news for those of us who oppose governments conducting a virtual strip search of our person just to board an airplane.

The European Union issued …

Start: October 6 - University Place, Washington

Finish: October 10 - Crescent City, California

Miles Driven: 506

Number of Fish Caught and Eaten: 3

Days Camping: 6

Days of Rain: 6



It has begun. Six days down, 450ish to go. In that time we've traveled from our home state of Washington to northern California. It hasn't stopped raining since we arrived in Oregon, Jessica and Kobus spent last night sleeping in a pond now known as Lake LifeRemotely. Our gear…

The start of the 2011 Christmas season is well under way and soon it will be the time to do that last minute shopping. Christmas markets are famous throughout Europe and you can usually pick up something different. Today I want to give you some of my favorite markets to visit throughout Europe this festive…

Here is the KinderJet Channel Feature Video of the Week.

We took our older boys to Las Vegas when they were almost four years old. There's not tons for families in Vegas, but we still managed to find a bit of fun for the kids.

For more on Vegas with kids, check out this post. Las Vegas with Kids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-cnFiAvlzc

November 11th is St Martin's day, and is eagerly awaited by many Portuguese people, especially those who make their own wine as this is the first day that the new batch of wine is ready for tasting. Happily, it coincides with the chestnut harvest and the date conjures up images of hot, roasted chestnuts with a glass of wine in many a mind.

In Lousã, there's an extra ingredient thrown into the mix; the locally produced honey. Take a walk through the forested mountains that loom over…

When Jace accidentally let it slip a week before we left that we were going to Jordan at Korban Bayram, I was thrilled. My money had been on Cyprus (the Turkish side, of course), so the fact that we were (a) getting out of Turkey and (b) going to one of my top must-see countries made me extremely happy.

In the week before we left, there was a lot of discussion with Jace's work colleagues who had also bought the flights+hotel special deal as to plans and tours. One guy,…

I try not to set my expectations too high about anything lest my expectations get crushed to bits and pieces.  That didn’t really work out well for me when I headed out to Turkey.  There were so many people singing the praises of the food, the people, and the sights that it was impossible not to have heightened expectations.…

Travel bloggers in the San Francisco Bay Area -

Join the Bay Area Travel Writer's Champagne Reception and Trade Show on November 19. Meet and network with BATW travel media members and the PR professionals who represent tourism clients from near and far. Hosted at the beautiful Hyatt at Embarcadero - there'll be the annual snowfall in the lobby and ice skating next door. Let me if you're interested in attending and I'll get you on the list!

When in Beijing, China, one of the places that any kind of traveler MUST visit is the Great Wall of China. So, naturally, we included that in our very tight itinerary.

Unfortunately, we woke up on such a gloomy and rainy day. We wanted to interchange our itineraries and go to the Great Wall instead after three days in the hope that the weather will be better by then. But since our itineraries have been fixed and transports have been booked by our host, we had no choice but to…

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

John Lennon, Imagine



An experience I have had several times while living in Istanbul that I have never previously had is being asked what religion I belong to. Because I don't have a religion, I am then labelled a non-practising Christian. This is annoying. I am not a non-practising Christian.

The average Turkish person…