03 Jun 2012 1 Comment
in Family Gap Year, Foodie Central, Tips Tags: Brazil, Gap year, Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
Not being the sort of organised parents that have their darlings tucked in bed nice and early (or fed) we went out to dinner. Lara managed her fish and chips but didn’t make it to pudding (lucky Ben).
When a girl just has to sleep
Should prove a useful skill on our family gap year! Talking of which we still only have flights to Rio in just over one month time although Mo has found some apartments near Ipanema which look lovely, if not there is always the airport floor.
22 May 2012 2 Comments
in Adventure, Family Gap Year Tags: Ben, Camps, Lara, Zoe
In Urban Jungle Exploring Ben and Zoe built a camp in the garden using whatever they could lay their hands on. But what use is a camp if you can’t sleep in it? How could Dad resist when they asked so nicely and as Mo was out I couldn’t get a second opinion so I said yes until Mum comes home:
Luxury
22 May 2012 2 Comments
in Education & Schooling, Family Gap Year, Preparations, Travelling Tags: digital nomad, Gap year
Nomad transport?
Our lovely kids have come to call our family gap year a ‘holiday’ and rather than dent their enthusiasm we have not shattered the illusion just yet (lucky they don’t read the blog every day, Horrid Henry is more interesting!).
So will life on the road be much of a holiday? More
17 May 2012 3 Comments
in Adventure, Family Gap Year, Photos Tags: Camps, Climbing, Education, Gap year, Urban Jungle
Who needs a family gap year for a bit of adventure when you can explore the Urban Jungle? Mum was out so the mice could play.
As usual they waved goodbye as Mum drove off to her girlie night out and I thought they would soon be back inside. Not hearing anything for a few minutes I glanced out of the window…
Spot the children? (there are 3)
Luckily Lara is quite the climber
13 May 2012 Leave a comment
in Family Gap Year, Health & Fitness, Preparations, Safety Tags: Ben, Calpol, Rabies, Vaccinations, Yellow fever
Martin is a Guinea Pig
Two months to go and we are ticking off some of the must do things on the list for our family gap year. Top was getting the right vaccinations so we stay healthy and it turns out that even though we already make pretty good pin cushions we need a few more.
Maybe we were ‘sold’ but the description of getting rabies
21 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in Family Gap Year, Top Experiences Tags: Rainbow
It rained yesterday afternoon, it was also sunny, so weather confused. Unusual for England I know. I thought they might like to see the rainbow and a shout of ‘Who’s going to be first to see?’ quickly got everyone to the top of the house.
I can only remember Lara going ‘Wow!’ but the others were also enthralled in a fleeting moment of beauty.
May we see many more rainbows.
Double Rainbow (Sponsored by Pride in Brighton)
20 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in Adventure, Family Gap Year, Photos, Preparations Tags: Ben, Family Gap Year, homeless, renting
Making fire in the woods for lunch
Reality check. Just had 2 viewings on our house and one seems keen. Brilliant! Oh, they want to move in a month before we go? It would certainly make our preparations move on more quickly.
Maybe we could live in the woods? Make fire by rubbing two sticks together?
We would be foolish to say no and would just have to manage, we could go away at half term and then be creative for the 4 weeks until the end of the summer term and we fly.
Ben is happy with his new bedroom
Better start packing and hopefully throwing away all the clutter that accumulates when you have enough space to keep it.
I have been super busy with work but expect more blog posts as we count down to our family gap year!
14 Mar 2012 Leave a comment
in Family Gap Year, Preparations, Tips Tags: ATM, Bank account, Bank charge, Cash, Travel
Commission free ATM Cash
‘People get divorced more often than they change bank’ is no longer true but I am sure many people (like me) have had the same bank account for 30+ years. There is a lot of inertia to overcome in moving and in a competitive market surely all their charges are much of a muchness? Calculator time and I was shocked!
10 Mar 2012 Leave a comment
in Family Gap Year, Preparations, Safety, Tech & Kit Tags: American Express, Cambodia, Gap year, Google, Insurance, iPad, Ko Samui
Mugged in Cambodia
I am not sure I should write this as Mo might change her mind but our flights are booked! More
08 Mar 2012 Leave a comment
in General Tags: Coffee, Generosity, Optimism, Starbucks, Strangers
Yesterday I went to London to an exhibition at ExCel, it took 3 hours to get there with 7 stops. I did not see many smiling faces on my journey and even after rush hour I had to stand half of the way, perhaps the train has suddenly become popular with driving so expensive? Against this backdrop I had two encounters which brightened up my day:
The Clark Family's Amazing Adventures 