Category: Wanderlust

We love to travel and this year we are going big. Throughout 2015 we will be traveling around the world from Fiji to Lisbon and everywhere else we can in between. Use this page to track our itinerary, take walks with us on our hyperlapse video tours and read about our experiences and learnings.

Our visit to the Concentration Camp

In Germany we took a train from Berlin to visit one of the nearby Nazi concentration camps. We have seen quite a few “[lest we forget]” monuments between our visits to France and Germany. It seem appropriate to post one now since, as a world, we seem to be forgetting all too often. You can watch more videos of our tour of Germany here. 
 
It wasn’t the camps that started the tail spin into genocide. It was the devaluing of human life through the separation of general populations. Last week we visited a camp in Cambodia where the Khemr Rouge separated out minority ethnic and social groups as well as enforced repression of Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. All for “the greater good”. This happened in 1975. Lest we forget, right? :-/ There are far too many sites around the world of this nature to list, but the pattern to avoid should be clear.

 

Around the world Part II – What we packed this time

When we left in April for our first around the world trip we assumed we’d follow the sunshine and packed for a year of warm weather. This time we are heading east and starting in Ireland in the fall. As a result we’ve had to pack for colder weather, and hope what we’ve learned for our last packing experience will come in handy.

Aware of underwear

Last time I went light on under garments. Based on how they were advertised I assumed quick-dry and odor fighting under garments would come in handy. They did not. It sucks wearing underwear for more than 24 hours no matter how “antibacterial” they claim to be, and quick drying items don’t dry at jaw dropping speeds. So, this time, I packed 10 days of under garments instead of 3.

For the times we do end up washing clothes, we are packing a few washing machine detergent pods. They came in handy a few times and are pretty small and light weight.

Nix’ing some Knick-knacks

We ditched a lot of knick-knacks and gadgets this time around. The quick-dry towels and specialty water containers never added much value for a hotel hopping couple like us.  After buying one bottle of water we just refilled the bottle and we always had towels in our hotels. We rarely wanted to carried the binoculars with us on our walks, and our bags always weighed the same so the bag scale was useless for 99% of the trip.

Keepers

We doubled up on the vacuum bags. They are awesome. Here is me using one below.

 

 

Driving through Scotland and Ireland.

U dunno have insurance here, pal!

If you plan to drive through Ireland check with your insurance company and/or credit card about what is covered before you visit.

As it turned out, our two auto insurance plans (one with our credit card and one with our regular auto insurance provider) excludes protection specifically in Ireland. Every other country in Europe is covered except Ireland.

Pay ye Toll

Stay alert. Some tolls don’t have booths, gates, or entryways, just an obscure sign on the side of the road (that look much like regular highway signs) that reads, “You must go online within 24 hours to pay your toll” with a URL at the bottom. If Jackie didn’t notice the sign we would have easily missed it.

We don’t break for Banshees

Every country has their own signature style of driving. Everyone in Italy, for example, thinks they are a pro racecar driver, and the eye in the sky keeps Australians annoyingly honest. Ireland and Scotland are a wee bit different. Sort of inbetween the two.

The average posted highway speed limits were between 100 Kph and 120 Kph. The fast lane had cars moving 20-40K faster than the posted limit and the slow lane was about 0-10K slower. There were no crazy lane changes or people cutting each other off like in Italy, but the locals have the same level of respect for letting faster folks pass.

In general the speed limits were quite high. Highways were typically between 60-70 Mph. Not too crazy, but even the small, one lane, curvy, country roads were quite high at 60 Mph as well.

Something that bothered me about Scotland was while the roads were strewn with signs  warning drivers of speed cams there were few posted signs that actually let you know what the speed limit was. I guess it is just understood: if you are on a highway, drive between 60-70 Mph.

What side and what unit of measurement are we on exactly?

While driving through Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland we crossed through a hodgepodge of units of measurements for speed. Although all three countries drove on the left side of the road North Ireland and Scotland use the Imperial system for measurement and Ireland uses the Metric system.

This created a peculiar situation as we drove from Ireland into North Ireland. Our rental car (that we rented from Ireland) ONLY had Kph on the speedometer.  Within two-seconds we went from reading signs in Kph to reading signs in Mph, followed by a whole lot of calculating what our speed should be on our phones. Talk about a crash course in conversions. (Lucky that didn’t turn into a pun. We made it out unscathed.)

Don’t get stoned

Many Irish roads are not only tight, but lined with stone walls that jut out. In a slight miscalculation I clipped the passenger side of our car on one of the narrow, curved, stone walls. (Jackie has made it hard to forget about it.) Luckily it was small enough that our rental company let it slide. Maybe this is why no auto insurance company wants to cover Ireland drivers.

Aye, that price? Not bah.

Here is a huge tip: Before coming to the area be sure you learn to drive stick! The price of a manual transmission rental car is around $20 per day. Compared that to a car with an automatic transmission at around $80 per day. As such, it can be super cheap to drive through the country and as I’ll explain below – you will most definitely want to.

THE COUNTRYSIDE IS A BEAUT!

Oh my gosh, what an amazing country side! Ireland is filled with ancient structures dating back to before the pyramids. Scotland has rolling hills filled with rocks and picture perfect lakes (AKA Lochs). The grass is emerald green and lush. You will be in awe.

If it is your first visit to either country then: Explore the south of Ireland (the Kearny loop). For Scotland make your way up to the north (AKA Highlands) and especially in the north west for majestic views of the country side.

Golf courses

You may not be a golfer, but many of the golf courses we saw in Scotland were worth stopping for anyway. Some are situated between amazing lakes and mountains and other straddle quaint towns. They make for a great walk, and, if you ARE a golfer, a magical round.

 

On the road again – an Homage to Dr. Robert Williams

Tragically, and unexpectedly, Jackie’s father passed away while we were in London in early August. After hearing the news we cancelled our trip and caught the next flights we could back to Virginia; neither of us have posted any updates since. It has been a nightmare to say the least; it’s a phone call you can never be prepared to receive – especially when so far away from home.

I wanted to dedicate this long overdue post to him.

Jackie’s father’s name was Robert Williams … eh hem … Sorry – **DR.** Robert Williams. He was an ex-military, urologist who graduated from West Point and served 27 years in the Army.

Jackie explained this all to me the first time I was to meet him at her family’s house for dinner about 4-years ago. She continued …

“Just so you know my Dad is a former Colonel of the Army. Don’t slouch and be respectful!”

She seemed anxious and was only half kidding. I assume she knew I would be respectful, but I think she wanted to instill a little fear in me so that I would be prepared.

“And whatever you do – don’t call him ‘Mr.’. It’s ‘Dr.”“

To this day I still don’t know what she was so concerned about. Dr. Williams was polite, soft spoken, and kind. He was reserved at the dinner table but had a properness about him that spoke volumes. That being said, you could tell straightaway that he didn’t take well to B.S.

After dinner we moved on to a movie and desserts in the family room.  As we were shuffling rooms he found a chance to pull me aside in the kitchen for a brief one-on-one.

“You do know what I did in the military, right? Did Jackie tell you?”

“Yes. A urologist?”

“That’s right. And you know what a urologist does?”

He made a scissor clipping motion with his two fingers and stared me directly in the eyes. I nodded. My forehead wrinkled.

“So if you do anything to hurt my daughter…”

He purposefully left the sentence hanging to allow a dramatic pause to take its effect. I decided to end the silence.

“I understand, sir. I will take care of your daughter. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Just remember what I said.”

I think, for many people, that encounter could be viewed as “aggressive”. Not me. I found it to be a comical way to make a very important point. He didn’t exactly smile when he said it, but I could see in his eyes it was a sincere request with sharp edge he attempted soften. He loved his daughter helplessly and found a simple way to protect her while he wasn’t around: Medical experience and vivid imagery. I could see where Jackie got her prep strategy! Instilling fear via subtle comedy is a powerful mix.

Since then Dr. Williams had been a strong supporter of Jackie and I, and a champion for our love of travel.

Before we left for our “around the world trip” he bought us a Nikon CoolPix Waterproof camera and said:

“This is a once in a lifetime trip and you’ll want to make sure you get great pictures that you can appreciate for the rest of your lives.”

It was a gift from someone who knew what they were doing. We’ve used that camera EVERYWHERE! His only ask in return was that we take pictures of ourselves standing in front of signs wherever we went, and to send them to him. We were looking forward to seeing the result of what he had in mind, likely a picture book of some kind. Sadly it is I gift we will never see. Nevertheless, we will continue to take pictures of ourselves in front of signs from here on out and create a book at the end of our adventure, just as he would have done.

Dr. Williams traveled extensively; he was a wanderluster in his own right. Not only through his tours in the military, but he made a point to bring Jackie and her sisters along with him to see the world as they were growing up. He took them to places like Rome, Paris and London when they were teenagers, and continued the tradition into retirement. Most recently he took Jackie to Hawaii for some father/daughter time in 2014. It was their 5th visit together. She loved it.

He loved to travel vicariously through us. He did so by either tracking our flights, watching a tiny plane move across his computer screen (a tradition we plan to continue with one another), or by asking us to stop in places he had always wanted to visit (or re-visit) and sifting through the pictures and collecting souvenirs we’d send him. We got him tapestries from India of Hindu gods, pictures of architecture indicative of Turkey, and a medallion of Saint Bernadette from Lourdes, France. Hunting for items he requested became a sort of game for the three of us.

It only feels right that after his funeral Jackie and I made a cross country trip to collect his things in Palm Springs to bring them home. By doing so we completed our westward tour all the way around the world, starting and ending in California. We were lucky enough to meet his friends and loved ones while in Palm Springs and hear about all the sides of Dr. Williams that we hadn’t had a chance to know while he was with us.

So many of the people we met that knew him remembered him as I did: reserved at first but a loving, fair, forgiving and respectful person once he became more comfortable with those around him. It was a testament to him that all of his friends were so kind and welcoming to us. We were invited to dinners, to have drinks, see homes and even had a plate of delicious homemade fudge brought to our door (which was one of Dr. William’s favorites). In light of this tragic time I also got  a chance to get closer with Jackie’s family and had the absolute pleasure to spend a great deal of time with one of them in Palm Springs as we packed up the house together. I like to think of that as his final gifts to Jackie and I as a couple.

Now, over a month and a half later we are back in VA and preparing to start our trip up again. This time we will be moving eastward to complete our second revolution. We are re-invigorated to continue not in spite of Jackie’s father’s passing but as an homage to him. To carry on the love he had to see the world. He had dreams to visit us in Scotland where he wanted to visit Dunnottar Castle, a landmark that is part of his family’s heritage. Even though he is gone we will be completing that dream on his behalf within the next few weeks. It will be an emotional experience. We are also eager to visit South Korea by the end of the year, another of the places he was hoping to meet us.

I hadn’t written or posted anything here or FB since he passed because it honestly hasn’t felt right to do so. But now, as I sit here at BWI about to board our plane to Ireland, I can only imagine how happy he would be that we are carrying on. How proud he would be of how strong Jackie has been through the whole process. How excited he would be that we have found the energy to continue our trip, valuing experiences over things as did he.