Category: Travel

Slowing Down

Posted on by Caroline
We’ve covered a lot of territory since I posted last time. But I want to stop for a minute and enjoy this moment. Right here. We are in a beach town a couple hours north of Sydney. It seems to be popular vacation spot for families. Tim found a rental RV and a camp site right by the water. So we woke up this morning with a sunrise walk on the beach. Tim left for his class and after a quiet morning, the kids and I are slowly wandering into town, with lots of stops for playgrounds and throwing boomerangs. After the hustle and bustle of the past week, I’m enjoying the quieter day. It's a quick post (I've got...Read More

Sydney —> Melbourne

Posted on by Caroline
Our first few days in Australia were indeed a whirlwind. We left late on Sunday night and then (the joys of traveling over the dateline) we lost Monday altogether and landed on Tuesday morning. We were all groggy and disoriented, but we managed to have a full-ish day. We went out of the city to visit an Aboriginal Cultural Centre that ended up being largely a dud. But at least the kids got to see wallabies and emus up close. Yesterday, after an early jet-lagged morning and a few work phone calls, we walked through the city exploring the laneways and city streets. On a whim, we visited the State Library Victoria. The architecture was luminescent - a graceful melding...Read More

Easter Sunday

Posted on by Caroline
Today feels a little surreal. According to our original itinerary, we were going to fly from Denver to San Francisco and visit with family during our long layover. We are on our way to Australia later today, but since there were storms over Denver last night, our plan got disrupted and we ended up flying into Sacramento instead. And so, as always, Aunt Chini came to the rescue. She made the amazing offer to drive all the way to Sacramento early on Easter Sunday to pick us up, drive us back to visit with the rest of the family and then back to the San Francisco airport at the end of the day. We had a short, but meaningful day...Read More

Happy Ping Pongs

Posted on by Caroline
This morning, the kids and I are on a flight heading back to Japan. And hopefully from there we can make our way back to Denver. Tim will meet us there in a couple days. It’s hard to believe that it’s been less than a week since we flew back from Kyoto. That was such a dreamy trip. But we’ve been busy during this last week - a full work schedule for me and Tim, a boat day, a soccer day and a school day. Plus time to wash, fold and dry what (I believe) was every article of clothing in our house. This trip is largely logistics - we’ve got to renew passports, Tim has training and I’ve signed...Read More

On the Haruka Train

Posted on by Caroline
Our last morning in Kyoto and we’re headed to the airport. As we looked forward to this trip, we imagined a long leisurely time here in the city. Looking back, I feel like we packed our days full and we could have spent longer here if we’d had the time. I’m still hoping to do the longer posts that I mentioned before about goshuinchō and travel journals, but in the meantime, I have a few impressions of the city I’d like to share and a few recommendations I’d like to share. Kyoto is (of course) known for its beauty. We were hoping to see some cherry blossoms on this trip. We were lucky enough to catch some early blossoms, but...Read More

Tokyo!!!!

Posted on by Caroline
I am vibrating with excitement. It’s been 991 days since we were last in Japan (not counting layovers). One of our major goals when we moved out to Guam was to travel to Japan as often as we could and that just hasn’t been possible. Up until today. The borders opened to tourists last night at 12:01, and now this morning we’re at the gate, waiting to board our flight to Tokyo. We’ll only be there a few days, and it’s forecast to be rainy, rainy, rainy. But we’ve got umbrellas and rain jackets and a raft of enthusiasm. We’re planning to visit Disney Sea tomorrow. We’ve heard it’s a phenomenal park. On Thursday we’ll explore the city, visit a...Read More

Leaving Thailand

Posted on by Caroline
Here we are, sitting in the Phuket Airport, waiting for our flight to Bangkok. We’ve fallen in love with Thailand - the people are incredibly kind, the service is attentive, the food is fresh and flavorful, the fruit is sweet, the landscape is stunning…. we’re already looking forward to our next trip to Thailand. When I started this blog, I imagined writing the kinds of posts that I wrote when I was traveling in my 20s and 30s - longer, thoughtful posts that gave me a chance to share my reflections about the culture, history and architecture of wherever I happened to pass through. But I’m slowly realizing that kind of travel belongs to a different phase of my life....Read More

Phang Nga Bay

Posted on by Caroline
We took a little mini-trip within our trip. We chartered a sailboat for a two-day exploration of Phang Nga Bay, and some of the treasures there. Our captain was amazing - attentive and thoughtful, and willing to work with us to find the best opportunities. It’s jellyfish season here, so we couldn't spend much time actually in the water, which made it all the more enjoyable to spend the time on the water. The highlights of the trip were the island resort on Ko Yao, watching the kids kayak in Ko Hong, the floating village of Koh Panyee - especially the school, and the fresh, delectable seafood and fruit….

Out Sailing…

Posted on by Caroline
We have found a boat that will take us around some of the local islands and sights. We’re on our way this morning, we’ll stay for the night at an island resort, and then we’ll come back here to resume Tim’s Deep Week tomorrow night. Which all means that we’ll be offline for a few days! See you soon!

Exploring Phuket

Posted on by Caroline
Ahhh…. Now, what a lovely day it’s been! My original plan for the day included an early start with a GrabCar (the Thai equivalent of Uber) into Phuket City so that the kids and I could get a glimpse of the Sunday Walking Market and be back in time to meet a local guide for the afternoon. But as I was trying to figure out where to go so I could book the car, I happened across the critical information that the market doesn’t open until 4 PM. And I felt immediate relief - I knew that it was too much to squeeze into a day, and it would probably stress me out. (I don’t know how to explain why...Read More