We rode in this cool buggy. It went up hills and then we went down really big hills. It reminded me of the Rock’n roller coaster in Disney.  My mom was scared.

After we got up on two camels. It was like getting on another ride at Disney – The Tower of Terror. At least when it was going down it felt like that.

Getting up

When we were walking  in the desert my mom was Terrified!!! It felt bumpy but I wasn’t scared.

 I asked if the camel could run. The man said yes and he took me for a ride.

Running on the camel

 When we were  in the desert I got off and took some photos of it then I went back  on again and  then it ran sooo fast I bumped my butt on the camel!

I liked the ride. I would rate it a 5 out of 5.

WE DID IT

Then we went to have some hot chocolate and snacks in the desert. It was awesome. 

My mom says: Thanks to Samsara luxury resort and Suryagarh for organizing our great adventure.

In that dream what do you see?

Is it the waving palm trees announcing your arrival to Mumbai?

The pink palaces of Jodhpur?

View of the fort from a room at the Hotel Raas

The golden sands of Jaisalmer?

Those gorgeous sari colours that get caught in the breeze?

Ladies outside an Udaipur temple

Or does India bring other things to mind: Dirty streets. Begging Children. Delhi Belly. Slumdogs.

Before we got here we were braced for more of the latter than the former. My knowledge of this country wasn’t as a journalist or a researcher or a traveler it was as a consumer– of movies and television.

I knew all about the Bollywood Glam and the IT outsourcing and the Slums of Mumbai. I knew of Gandhi and poverty and that Ayurveda had its roots here. And that’s about it.

I’m not proud of that fact, but it’s the truth and I share it with you because I know that many of you know only that much too. That the fear of what might be waiting here has stopped you from visiting and that, my friends, would be a shame.

Because in seven days I’ve already learned so much about this place.

Village shephards

I have Liberty Travel  to thank for that. He and the team at Liberty  took my desire to understand this country seriously and set out an itinerary that will have me criss-cross it over the next six weeks exposing me to its history and beauty.

Exploring elephant carriages with our guide in Jodhpur

I have only been in Rajasthan so far but already I’ve fallen in love with the ways of the Maharajahs and those who fought against Britain’s colonization. I’ve tasted teas I’ll need to take home and salivated over the decor of locally run hotels. I’ve seen 5-star luxe in completely Indian owned and operated hotels that would match and surpass many of the properties I’ve visited in other so called first-world countries.

Learning from Arvind our guide in Udaipur

I’ve seen immaculately kept homes in the middle of the dessert. I’ve watched people work harder than they should for less than they deserve.  I’ve been offered chai tea from people who can’t afford to do so.

I’ve met people who I knew within hours would be friends for years to come, developed an entirely new understanding of hospitality and continuously nurtured a dangerous craving for Laal Maas and Naan.

And I’ve done it with my children in tow.

Sharing a moment with famous Drury rug weavers in a village outside Jodhpur who literally gave up their turbans for the boys

Watching, learning and immersing themselves in what is just another day in their lives; never once thinking that there is anything odd or different about a man who drapes cloth around his head or  a woman who offers them a bindi when they enter.

Bindi Welcome to Hotel Raas in Jodhpur

For my boys this time in India is simply more adventure  in a year of adventures. And if it means that when they are on the cusp of 40 and asked what they think of when they think of India and they can only remember how welcome they felt here and how beautifully they’ve been treated, then this visit has already been a success.

1. We are having the family trip of a lifetime

2. I’m passionate about you having one too

Cruising past the Taj Summer Palace

This trip has exposed us to some mind-blowing experiences which have also allowed me to continue my role as a travel writer, columnist and correspondent. I’ve traveled further than ever before and been able to experience these places through the eyes, ears and smiles of my children and to share them with audiences through articles in newspapers and magazines and interviews on Television and Radio.

The view from Jagmandir

Over the last few months I’ve also worked with great products and companies that I feel good about. One of those is the Four Seasons resorts. The Canadian company  invited me to stop in and see hotels in several destinations and many of my stories from those visits  have appeared on their blog

In Mumbai, we chose the Four Seasons again.

Kiteflying with the Four Seasons Mumbai

We spent our first two nights with them because we wanted to stay somewhere comfortable and familiar after more than 24 hours of flight and layover time from Tanzania.  As soon as we arrived I knew it was the right decision.  They gave us a comfy room (read: gorgeous) and soft beds (read: luscious)  but then they went a step further and transformed our short time in Mumbai (48 hours) into a magical introduction to India.

Mumbai sunset

You’ll be able to read all about various parts of the stay here and on the Four Seasons site in the months to come (sooner if you’ve been following me on twitter or Facebook ) but suffice it to say that there is more to Mumbai then what you’ve seen in Slumdog Millionaire or read in Eat, Pray, Love.  This country is as vast and complicated as its history and landscapes. Mumbai with its sky-high scrapers and tin-roofed slums only tells a part of the story and over the next six weeks we’ll explore a lot more of that city (and many others) and share it with you.

The pomp of age old palaces remain

What I will tell you now, four days into our visit to India, is that if you only take one thing away  from our visit here it should be this: You need to see this for yourself.

The first of many Hindu temples

This is a country unlike anything I imagined. The history runs deep. The culture and the way it ebbs and flows as you move from one state to another is unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere so far.  The colours are indescribable and the people are incredibly kind.

Everything is beautiful here

Case in point? Four weeks ago I wasn’t sure where to begin. We knew the key places we wanted to visit and thought we’d head for the Golden Triangle. We met an Indian  family from the UK who was on vacation in Mombasa (stay with me…) at the same time we were there. We chatted, hit it off and they offered to help us plan the trip – right there by the pool. Then they took it a step further. They had a “dear family friend in Delhi who they’d put us in touch with” and they did. He in turn put us in touch with Liberty India and three weeks later I’m sitting in India four days into a trip that has gone from memorable to magical with their help.

Now our itinerary will take us far beyond the Golden Triangle.  We’ll step into palaces and farmers’ homes. We’ll eat in the best restaurants and local kitchens and even try our hand at making a dish or two ourselves. We’ll see the beaches and the desert. And we’ll share it all with you.

Laundry never looked so appealing

Over the next few weeks I’ll introduce you to  palaces, people and properties that I knew nothing about before leaving home. I’ll have the benefit of Liberty’s insider knowledge to lean on and my kids’ reactions to offer. India is our 18th country in 7 months; we should be jaded by now. Instead we’re finding new energy in a destination that promises to be one of the most interesting legs of our trip.

If you’ve been piqued by our trip this far. Wait until you see what India brings.

E taking it all in

I’ve watched them marvel at the culture and take their turn herding cows with Masai warriors (see the video below). I’ve watched them  share with the people, learn from history, taste the food, broaden their smiles and so much more.

Boys gone wild

In some ways Africa has been disappointing. I had such high hopes of making a difference here but three attempts to secure volunteer placements didn’t come to pass and now I’m leaving the continent closest to my personal heritage having had little impact on it. For me, that’s  heartbreaking.
But that isn’t to say that Africa didn’t give me more than I gave it. It delivered in spades.
In South Africa I watched the boys develop an understanding of the sacrifices required when you believe in something and saw firsthand how the beauty of a place can leave even two chatty kids speechless.

The boys greet a "wired" version of a hero

In Namibia they learned about the animals on this planet and the people who are committed to keeping them in the wild. They learned that their ancestors were intelligent human beings who were some of the first people on this planet and saw that they left the cave drawings to prove it.

Ancient Cave Etchings in Twyfelfontein

In Kenya, they learned that strangers can become fast friends, that their mother’s appetite for African art is only matched by her love of Hashimi’s Tandoori chicken and that there are friends you make in life who despite distance or time will always feel like family.

Friends who feel like family

And of course there were more animals to be blown away by.

Lions upon lions in the Masai Mara

And in Tanzania they learned how language doesn’t have to be a barrier to understanding, how knowing only a few words can change your day and how some things are simply too heartbreaking to explain at all.

Slave Market Memorial Zanzibar

We’re leaving Africa as better people. We gave little here and I’m not proud of that. But we’ll be back and better equipped and prepared to do more.

And now, without further ado, Cow herding….

Waiting for that delicious chicken at Jambo Inn

Our breakthrough day in Dar was day 3. After a late lunch at Jambo Inn ( tandoori chicken we never tired of) and the thrill of meeting not one but three Canadians over our meal. We were chatting with one of our new friends Fimo Mitchell as we started the slow walk back to our apartment in search of a good spot to grab a snapshot or two.

Grabbing a shot with our newest friend Fimo Mitchell

When we happened on a group of men playing checkers we stopped to take a look. They looked up as we approached, muttered some words in Swahili and went back to an intense match. We stood on the sidelines and watched.

A checker board painted on cloth and bottle cap pieces but it did the job.

Then we noticed Ethan was making his way further in and watching intensely. Could he play?

Watching and waiting and hoping for a turn

We motioned through hand gestures and way too loud English what he was wondering and to our surprise one of the men gave up his chair!

What followed was a moment none of us will soon forget.

A painted cloth board, two dozen bottle caps, a dozen grown men and us on a street in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It’s amazing what a shared experience can do.

Not sure where one ends and the other begins and grateful for that

Six months after leaving home my sons are closer than ever. At ages 7 and 9 they have no sense of personal space or boundaries with each other. They are each others limbs and whether tumbling in the grass or playing in the pool or now, hovered over my iphone, a tangle of arms and legs in an airport lounge, they are blissfully unaware that they are anything less than the combination of each other.

Taste testing their chocolate creations in Australia on Hayman Island

Every day we are together on this trip  the truth of how intimately connected  their lives on this planet will always be becomes clear.  They are the most beautiful mix of their parents’ love and eyelashes and finger nails and perspectives.  They have inside jokes that no one will ever understand more than each other. For now they hold conversations between themselves that cause us adults to take pause and shake our head. In a few years those conversations will become whispers behind closed doors, locking us out and making their bond even closer. They will be each others best historian and, I hope, each others most reliable ally.

Vietnam beach boys

They finish each others sentences and know exactly which buttons to push to get the other happy, upset or giggling.

I know there will come a day when they push each other a little further away.  I recognize they will need to assert their individuality and be their own people. But that day is not today.

exploring angkor wat

Nope, today they are each others BFF and momentary nemesis and BFF again.  And they are ours.  Unbelievably, undeniably ours. We are so incredibly lucky.

Relaxing on a Kenyan safari

]]> http://globetrottingmama.com/my-two-sons/feed/ 27 0.0000000 0.0000000 http://globetrottingmama.com/the-namibia-post/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-namibia-post http://globetrottingmama.com/the-namibia-post/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 09:55:22 +0000 Cameron http://globetrottingmama.com/?p=3516 Hi I am cam

We are in Namibia  

In Namibia  I saw a hundred  giraffe

I love giraffes

then I saw a  zebra

and my mom showed me a photo  of a rhino’s butt  because I was sleeping in the car when she saw it. 

rhinos are big!

We saw a lion some were lying down 

some  jumping for meat

Catching dinner

and some  looking at ethan and I .

gulp!

Leopards and cheetah and  hyena and steenbok. We saw it all in Africa.

These animals were so cool!

]]> http://globetrottingmama.com/the-namibia-post/feed/ 6 0.0000000 0.0000000 http://globetrottingmama.com/globetrotting-kid-mini-golf-mayhem/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=globetrotting-kid-mini-golf-mayhem http://globetrottingmama.com/globetrotting-kid-mini-golf-mayhem/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 09:51:50 +0000 Ethan http://globetrottingmama.com/?p=3328 I wanted to go mini golfing with my family in Vietnam. I went on Google and found Cai river mini golf.  I went to TripAdvisor and they said it was great. We got a cab and we went there @ 10:00 AM. We were pretty excited! My hopes were really, really high. 

They were closed. I’m like ” who sleeps at 10:00 AM?”

Don't go here

I felt so mad! I did all that research and it was kind of a waste!

So when I got home I tried to write a comment on Trip Advisor. It wouldn’t let me! It kept saying “bad request” and it wouldn’t let me post my comment!

So that’s why I made this post to express how it feels.

I’m not too impressed with the hours for Cai Mini Golf and I suggest that when you go to Vietnam you take a walk around and explore instead.

 

 

]]> http://globetrottingmama.com/globetrotting-kid-mini-golf-mayhem/feed/ 7 12.2387915 109.1967468 http://globetrottingmama.com/freedom-to-roam/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=freedom-to-roam http://globetrottingmama.com/freedom-to-roam/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:03:30 +0000 Heather http://globetrottingmama.com/?p=3347 We walked into the “Texas Bar and Grill” in Nha Trang because one of us -*cough* Ethan *cough* – had a hankering for ribs. And from the moment we entered, the waitresses were watching the boys. The ladies standing off to the side of our table weren’t being rude or threatening and I assumed that, just like we encountered in China and to a lesser extent in Thailand, they were just curious. But it’s more than that. When she approaches to take our order, our waitress’s questions – Where are you from? How long are you traveling?- and the statements that follow suggest a different emotion – “awe.”

Freedom to Roam

As a Canadian there are so many things we take for granted. The ability to travel is a big one. We may grumble as we march down to the passport office and wait in those ridiculous lines but when a few weeks, days or hours later we walk out with our shiny little blue books, we know that all that is standing between us and the planet is our ability to buy the ticket.

Exploring the night market in Thailand

But this lady, who I’ll call Maria, reminded us of a different reality. She fully expects that she will never set foot outside Vietnam. Ever.
“Not even Thailand? Malaysia? Laos?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“You need to have a lot of money,” she explains, “but you also need a visa and even if you are rich you might not get the visa.”
We Canadians need visas too. Getting one has been a nerve wracking experience every time.
Our trip was almost derailed before it began when faulty information on where we could get our Chinese visa (not from my Flight Centre Travel Agent extraordinaire) meant sleepless nights and sweaty palms in BC. We ended up having to scrap plans to visit Portland and Seattle in order to rectify.(I’m still not over that. We will get there one day.)
And to get into Vietnam we had to gamble on an online service – was it legit?- to get approval ahead of arrival and then wait patiently in a room bordered by men in military uniforms to get the necessary stamps. Each time it was time consuming and nerve wracking process but each time we eventually got what we needed.

 

Making our way across China thanks to our visas

We were able to pay the fees. We were able to get the stamps. We are able to see the world.

Sitting in the Texas restaurant, the irony isn’t lost on me. The waitress who is serving us the most American of meals will never taste it on American soil.

Those of us who have the privilege to travel owe it to those who don’t to make the most of it.

Where will 2012 take you? 

]]> http://globetrottingmama.com/freedom-to-roam/feed/ 1 12.2387915 109.1967468 http://globetrottingmama.com/globetrotting-dad-6-months-in/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=globetrotting-dad-6-months-in http://globetrottingmama.com/globetrotting-dad-6-months-in/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:03:04 +0000 Ish http://globetrottingmama.com/?p=3535 Six Months have passed. We  have visited 15 Countries. It’s hard to believe.

In each  of the countries we have had unbelievable experiences that will be remembered  for years to come. I have learned so much…

Some of the hardest working and fun guys I know.

- Languages are the great equalizer. The more languages you can speak, the easier it is to communicate.
In China we missed out on numerous opportunities because of the language barrier but when we arrived in Australia and New Zealand daily living was a lot less  stressful because there were  no communication issues

.-Life will give you obstacles. They can be problems or opportunities. It’s up to the individual to decide which and deciding at the outset that you’ll only have opportunities can make all the difference.

-Anything you want in life will require you to work for it. There are no shortcuts.  We live in society where  most  people  want instant gratification. They want results  ASAP. Whether it’s becoming   a millionaire or losing weight or taking a trip around the world – but if you asked  them what they’re doing  to make it happen… What I’ve learned is that there no short cuts in life.

- Play hard. Work hard.

- The people who want “it” the most will work the hardest. I’ve seen people work 12 hour days, six days a week in Cambodia for so much less than what we have. Not once did I hear them complain. They all had goals and they knew that if they wanted to reach them the hard work was necessary. We all need some more  of that drive.

Eyes on the prize

Six months. 15 countries. Countless lessons. Can’t wait to see what the next six will bring.

 

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