Bates' family world tour
In and around World
Question:
What's got eight legs, is pink, hairy and wanders around the world in a state of bewilderment and hunger?
Answer below.....
The Bates family has decided to take a break from work, school and home in Shropshire to travel round the world for nearly a year. We are going to educate our 6 year old boys Archie and Stanley along the way - although they should pick up a lot by themselves in our living geography/history/RE lesson!
It's a good time for us to go as Jon (dad) has sold his business and is ready for a break, and Sam (mum) - film maker and lecturer - has just finished a film, and it's relatively easy to take an unpaid sabbatical from teaching work. We are renting out our house to part-finance the trip and have savings (in theory) for the rest.
We hope to visit Canada, the US, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, and SE Asia. We intend to blog the trip so that we can can keep in touch with our friends, family and school mates and relate to them our (mis)adventures!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Bates' big trip
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1
Getting ready to go
We have handed in notice at work (unpaid leave for a year), temporarily taken the kids out of the school system, and finally decided on our world trip... Continue reading » -
2
Paella Party
We have now had lots of farewell drinks, dinners and two full blown parties to celebrate our big adventure and say good bye to our friends. One of... Continue reading » -
3
Round the world with hand-luggage
We have now bought our luggage for the trip after lots of agonising as to the best type of luggage to buy (mainly me doing the agonising, boys are... Continue reading »
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4
Bright eyed, bushy tailed.....and nuts!
Well, it’s day 6 of our trip. Me (Jon) and the boys are in a park, packed lunch at the ready, schoolwork in the rucksack (honest Mrs Crouch), the s... Continue reading »
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5
Loon Song Cottage
On the Friday (14th) I picked up our hire car which we will rent for the next three weeks. After long deliberation I plumped for the car in the... Continue reading » -
6
Camping in Killbear Park
Can't believe we have only been away for 10 days, it feels like ages already! We are now at our 3rd destination, camping at Killbear Provincial Park i... Continue reading » -
7
Running from Bears
It was with a heavy heart yesterday afternoon that I pulled on a pair of old trainers and shorts and exercised for the first time since leaving the UK... Continue reading » -
8
Hotdog Island and lake swimming
I've realised that Jont and I are both writing this blog but it seems like it's one person. Until we sort out how to differentiate through the softwar... Continue reading » -
9
Midland and the Huron Ouendat Village
Leaving Loon Song, we drove south back towards Toronto stopping about halfway in Midland. The Super 8 motel we stayed in was quiet and as a result... Continue reading »
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10
Toronto Zoo
Yesterday we visited Toronto Zoo on a marathon day trip. Marathon because it took 7 hours of solid walking to see everything (plus it was 31 degree... Continue reading »
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11
CN Tower and Hockey Hall of Fame
Apparently the CN Tower is the tallest completed freestanding building in the world and its observation platform is where Archie, Stan and I found our... Continue reading » -
12
Ontario Science Centre & ROM
We have been using our CityPasses with abandon this week and visited the Ontario Science Centre on Thursday and the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) yesterd... Continue reading » -
13
you say clamato...
Yesterday we had a chill out day; it was Sunday and we were all ready for some vegging. We watched tv, the boys had a swim, I did a load of washing (t... Continue reading » -
14
Niagara - wine country and the falls
From Toronto we headed along the QEW highway for an hour around the edge of Lake Ontario into the wine region of Niagara. Although Canada’s climate... Continue reading »
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15
Simcoe and the Norfolk County Fair
The drive from Niagara to Simcoe in the middle of Norfolk County took two hours. While the boys fought in the back and Sam drifted in and out of co... Continue reading »
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16
Canadian Thanksgiving
We got back to Toronto on Friday, happy to be back with our friends and staying at their house for the final weekend in Ontario. We mainly just did wa... Continue reading » -
17
Vancouver - fish, markets and galleries
We flew over the middle bit of Canada (via Sunwing, an airline I secretly worried didn't actually exist since I'd booked it on-line & had never... Continue reading »
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18
Happy Days in Banff
Sorry to be misleading in the title, this entry is not about a reunion in the Canadian Rockies of Fonzie, Chachie and the ginger one from the popul... Continue reading »
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19
Icefields Parkway
Spent the night at a hostel in Lake Louise, 4 bunks in a dorm (very Shrewsbury school.....Stan 'fagged' for me, Archie for Sam), bit expensive for... Continue reading »
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20
calming down in Jasper
After our momentous drive we were very happy to arrive in Jasper (despite the lack of large mammals on the way). Jasper is much smaller, quieter and m... Continue reading » -
21
The road to Tofino
We set off from Jasper early and took the slower route to Kamloops than the journey into the Rockies but as the traffic was light we still made the 43... Continue reading » -
22
Tofino & the Pacific Rim National Park, Vancouver Island
We stayed here in the Whalers on the Point Hostel which is a great, atmospheric and friendly hostel right on the waterfront. We had a family room with... Continue reading » -
23
Seattle
On Friday it took 14 hours to travel from our hostel in Tofino to the Green Tortoise hostel in Seattle through various combinations of car, greyhound... Continue reading » -
24
Coast Starlight
We stocked up on provisions at Pike Market in Seattle for our 24 hour train journey to San Francisco - a much anticipated highlight for the boys -... Continue reading »
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25
San Francisco
We spent three days in SF, the first after checking in to our Motel (after showers and phone calls home) was spent getting our bearings. Lunch at a... Continue reading »
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26
Sequoia National Park
The car hire we picked up in SF was $300 dollars cheaper than one for a similar period in Canada and although it’s slightly smaller the saving is w... Continue reading »
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27
Death Valley National Park
We only had the morning to experience Death Valley as a long journey awaited us the other side of midday. The Mesquite Sand Dunes were first on our... Continue reading »
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28
Zion National Park
On Sunday 4th Nov we took full advantage of the ‘free’ Holiday Inn Express breakfast (gave the boys a talk in advance about eating as much as they cou... Continue reading » -
29
Bryce Canyon National Park
The carving of Kalob Canyon pales in comparison with Bryce Canyon, part of which is a huge natural amphitheatre of ‘hoodoos’ - strange shroud like sha... Continue reading » -
30
Capitol Reef National Park
Arriving at Capitol Reef after another wonderful car journey we visited the National Park Office and took advice as to what to do that afternoon. A... Continue reading »
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31
Arches National Park, Utah
Archie was very happy to go to his own national park, especially after we had visited Stanley Park in Vancouver. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon... Continue reading »
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32
Hovenweep National Monument
Without a long drive to a new destination today we could relax after breakfast. The boys had a long english lesson with Mrs Bates, played on the mo... Continue reading »
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33
Natural Bridges National Park
So Elodie and Charlie finally arrived much later than they thought, shattered and ready for bed. They quickly hoovered up the left-over burrito from J... Continue reading » -
34
Monument valley
We left Recapture Lodge and drove to Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation, a breathtaking desert landscape. It’s not a national park as it is administ... Continue reading » -
35
Grand Canyon
We headed for the visitor centre where the boys got their Junior Ranger info and were told that they had to attend a ranger programme to qualify fo... Continue reading »
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36
Las Vegas
The journey from the Grand Canyon was a boring 5 hours as the spectacular scenery of the last 2 weeks dried up and we spent our time on the freeway... Continue reading »
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37
Santa Monica
After a dull but fraught journey (made easier by Elodie & Charlie’s sat-nav) we made it across Arizona and California through the traffic hell... Continue reading »
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38
Los Angeles Airport
We expected to lose a day on our way to Fiji by crossing the International Date Line......not two. But as we arrived 4 hours prior to our flight to ch... Continue reading » -
39
Waya Island, Fiji
After 10 hectic weeks travelling around Canada and the USA, cramming as much of these huge countries as we could into our limited time we were complet... Continue reading » -
40
Charlie's Cottages
After the sadness of leaving our new friends at Bayside the new place would have to be pretty good. We arrived back at Nadi airport after the two hour... Continue reading » -
41
Auckland
Well, we made it to NZ, and arrived to a right royal - um, mistake with our hostel booking (their fault, we're supposedly being refunded although it h... Continue reading » -
42
funky Rotorua
At the moment we are in Rotorua which is very important to the Maori culture as well as being apparently the thinnest area of the earths crust. This m... Continue reading » -
43
The Jugglers Rest
After a night at a hostel in Wellington (lovely; watched a trashy film and drank too much NZ wine after the kids went to bed) we took the ferry over t... Continue reading » -
44
Renwick
Next day we caught the bus over to Blenheim where we caught up with Carol and Mark Wilson, ex of Shrewsbury and parents to the boys’ best buddy Joshua... Continue reading » -
45
Golden Bay
Golden Bay The drive to Golden Bay on the north coast of the south island took four hours (with a stop for provisions and lunch) and we arrived mid-a... Continue reading » -
46
Motueka
We visited the Abel Tasman National Park on the north coast on our way out of Golden Bay. The flies and flying ants were so bad around the information... Continue reading » -
47
Saint Arnaud
Two hours driving in the morning brought us to St Arnaud which consisted of a petrol station/store, information centre and a couple of hostels. The on... Continue reading » -
48
Hanmer Springs
We got out of St Arnaud double quick and travelled the three hours south to Hanmer Springs in the hope of some sunshine or at least dry weather. No... Continue reading »
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49
Christchurch
Next stop was Christchurch (passing about 4 cars in the hour and a half drive) and checked in to our hostel before exploring. It is a very English fee... Continue reading » -
50
Upside down Christmas
We arrived in Australia to be greeted by Shane, Nina and Jake - the kids nearly swamped by the huge helium 'Welcome to Australia' balloons they carrie... Continue reading » -
51
Summer in Scarborough
Well we are still here in Scarborough and after the recent festivities have settled into Nancy and Shane's home, hopefully without imposing too much u... Continue reading » -
52
Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains, NSW
Went to the Blue Mountains today and walked down to the National Pass past the Wentworth Falls, down and up steep stone steps. Beautiful scenery, and... Continue reading » -
53
Stan & Archie's 7th Birthday
Archie and Stan woke at 6 am ready to party! However, their parents poo pooed the idea and birthday celebrations were postponed til a: it was after 7... Continue reading » -
54
Symbio Wildlife Park
There's not much to say about visiting Symbio wildlife park, apart from we got to cuddle a koala (unexpectedly cute!), and feed kangaroos (less cha... Continue reading »
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55
Celebrating Australia Day...
..or 'Straya Day as I'm learning to say it, or even Invasion Day as the Aboriginal community call it. Australia Day gives us a long weekend and lots o... Continue reading » -
56
Boys at school
The boys went to the local school for the first time this week with our friends Nina (7) and Jake (5). It was Jake's first day too so it was lovely... Continue reading »
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57
New toy for the boy
Jonty has bought a new camera so you may notice that the quality of photos on this blog will rise somewhat. It's very special with 2 lenses, bells, an... Continue reading » -
58
Under the avocado tree
Nancy & I have been friends since we roomed next door to each other in halls at Exeter University in 1989. I think they put us together because we... Continue reading » -
59
Singapore City
Last time we were in Singapore was on a stop over on our honeymoon before we headed on to Australia. We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and had a tho... Continue reading » -
60
Kuala Lumpur
We left Singapore for the 5 hour journey to Kuala Lumpur on a luxury double decker coach. Despite the fact that it was of the two storey variety it se... Continue reading » -
61
Food, food, food
Now that we are a two camera family the boys have the double humiliation of their parents taking out a camera EACH to photograph every meal we sit dow... Continue reading » -
62
Pulau Perhentian Besar
We left the Haven Guesthouse, taking the monorail and then bus to the airport and after a flight of only 45 mins (£30 for all of us) and an hours taxi... Continue reading » -
63
Monkey business on the Island
The good thing about having no money is that we can’t afford snacks between meals. Sweets and puddings and other treats are things of the past and so... Continue reading » -
64
Birthday & Mother's Day celebrations
Within 4 days we had mother’s day and my birthday. Result! We could go outside the budget (Jont paid from his own cash, bliss) and go out for a spe... Continue reading »
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65
Journey to Hat Yai
The 8am boat back to the mainland wasn’t half as hard on the bum as the journey out and a taxi was waiting as arranged to take us to the border. We wa... Continue reading » -
66
Ko Lanta
The cheapest way we could find to get to Ko Lanta was by mini bus and although we got the price down to £30 for the four of us, given the cheap train... Continue reading » -
67
Ao To Kho bungalows, Ko Phi Phi
After some debating about whether to stay at Fisherman’s Cottages for longer we finally decided to move on. We loved it there (so chilled and friendly... Continue reading » -
68
Phi Phi to Krabi
We set off for the mainland on the early boat, and caught the ferry from the teeming pier. Krabi is a jumping off point for visitors to the islands... Continue reading »
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69
Wat Thum Sua
We spent our last full day in Krabi visiting Wat Thum Sua which was a cheap local bus ride out of town. It is a beautiful spot where a buddhist shrine... Continue reading » -
70
VIP bus to Bangkok
Hmm. Not so much VIP as RIP for the bus we took from Krabi to Bangkok. There was nothing special about the bus; if you don’t count the streaming ai... Continue reading »
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71
Manic Bangkok
After our Holiday Inn experience we were quite happy to go back to the more ‘textured’ world of the Suk 11 hostel where we were booked in for the rest... Continue reading » -
72
Ripped off, brassed off
After 7 months on the road now we have become quite travel-savvy. We use the internet and word of mouth to plan journeys, destinations, accommodations... Continue reading » -
73
River day
Today we took an early sky train to central pier from where we caught the Chao Phraya express river bus to Saphan Phut, the location of a great fruit... Continue reading » -
74
Chill out day
Today we had a chill out day scheduled. We’ve found that the kids have only so much stamina for travelling and sightseeing before they need a bit of d... Continue reading » -
75
Chatuchak market, foot massage and kickboxing
This morning we had another early start and headed to the end of the sky train line to the Chatuchak weekend market. This is a huge affair, one of the... Continue reading » -
76
Royal Turf Club
Sunday is race day in Bangkok. There are two race stadiums in Bangkok and they alternate between the two, this week it was the one furthest away from... Continue reading » -
77
Sleeper train to Chiang Mai
Sam left for 8 days in Aspen (well, 6 in Aspen, 2 travelling) yesterday afternoon and after a quiet few hours watching knock-off DVDs in the hostel’s... Continue reading » -
78
Double fool
When it came to leaving at last I felt terrible waving goodbye to Jont and the boys. As the taxi drew away Stan ran down the road after me and... Continue reading »
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79
Aspen Shortsfest 2008
At the crack of dawn I got a flight from LA to Aspen, together with a load of healthy (wealthy) ski types, all apparently auditioning for a&nb... Continue reading »
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80
Aspen Day two
Early start this morning after a jet lagged sleep. I had an enormous breakfast to ready myself for the onslaught ahead. Met some other film makers in... Continue reading » -
81
Life in Chiang Mai
This morning we took a tuk tuk to the Immigration Office by the airport to extend our visas. Originally we expected to be out of Thailand by now but w... Continue reading » -
82
Aspen Day three
Aaargh - woke up at 4 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I’ve slept brilliantly on the RTW trip so far but now I’m away from my tribe my sleep’s back t... Continue reading » -
83
Aspen Day four
Couldn’t sleep, but had a relaxing morning wandering about Aspen in the snow and seeing the early risers. Spotted a dog wearing not only a cashmere po... Continue reading » -
84
Aspen Final Day
Packed up today ready for the flight home tonight. Conor tried to fly out last night but got snowed in so I’m a bit worried about getting away. I’ve h... Continue reading » -
85
Back with my tribe
The first flight was 1.5 hrs to LA, then 14.5 to Taipe, 5.5 to Bangkok and 1 hour to Chiang Mai, and I lost the 7th April over the international date... Continue reading » -
86
Bates United!
This afternoon Sam arrived back from the USA, jet lagged and tearful, much to the relief of the boys and I. Apart from doing their schoolwork we’d spe... Continue reading » -
87
The road to Laos
Today marked the star of a three day adventure from Thailand, over the border into Laos (they don’t pronounce the ‘s’ you know) and down the Mekong ri... Continue reading » -
88
The Slow Boat to Luang Prabang
We had read at length of the horror that is the slow boat to Luang Prabang. Two days sitting on hard wooden benches on an unsafe, noisy, overcrowded b... Continue reading » -
89
‘Bun Pi Mai Lao’ - Laos New Year
So we were quite sad to leave Chiang Mai as the new year water festival (Songkran) is such a big deal there that people travel up from Bangkok to expe... Continue reading » -
90
Up close with elephants
Today we went to an elephant sanctuary just outside Luang Prabang. It seemed we were an oddity as we didn’t arrive as part of a tour, didn’t have a gu... Continue reading » -
91
Picnic by the Mekong
Our hosts, Khoun and Kon, have three kids (Mina, Fly and Mimi) and a large extended family (including Chit, Kon’s brother, and Sompon, their foster so... Continue reading » -
92
Party
On Sunday we were invited to a party hosted by Khoun and Kon to say good bye to ‘G’ (Gert), a Belgian volunteer at Big Brother Mouse (a local chari... Continue reading »
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93
Lazy days in Luang Prabang
We spent the last 5 days at Kon and Koun’s Bungalows taking things easy which we found necessary because Sam and the boys picked up a bug and had high... Continue reading » -
94
Bus to Vang Vieng
On Saturday we left early to catch a bus to Vang Vieng, a popular backpacker town about 5 hours south of Luang Prabang. Assured by the tour operato... Continue reading »
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95
Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng was never meant to be part of our trip as it sounded very much like the closest thing to Ibiza that Laos could muster. Hoards of young back... Continue reading » -
96
The mystery of the headless tuber
Today we went tubing it was very very fun. On the way my life jacket was so tall I looked like a headless tuber. Sometimes the river was quite slow an... Continue reading » -
97
Vientiane
We arrived in Vientiane by (unexpectedly) posh minibus. Another journey through beautiful unspoiled landscape, but also through villages of grinding p... Continue reading » -
98
Hanoi
After all the horror stories we found the 24 hour bus trip from Vientiane to Hanoi wasn't too bad at all, as coach journeys go. Our expectations weren... Continue reading » -
99
Full moon in Hoi An
We've been here for over a week now and show no signs of leaving. Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage town, based around the old quarter which is a m... Continue reading » -
100
On the move again
Sixteen nights we spent in Hoi An. In the end we only did one cooking course (we put our name down for another but I don’t think they liked the idea o... Continue reading » -
101
Ho Chi Minh City
We are staying here for only 3 days before heading down the country to the Mekong delta region. HCMC is huge and noisy and crowded and smelly; it’s... Continue reading »
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102
Bus journey/tour/breakdown/hitch to Can Tho
We had asked at our guesthouse for one way tickets to Can Tho from Ho Chi Minh. A bus trip to Phnom Penh in Cambodia was only $10 so we were surprised... Continue reading » -
103
Can Tho
Can Tho is not quite the idealised fruit basket of the Mekong we’d imagined, but it’s a bustling lively market town and after some hunting we finally... Continue reading » -
104
What's up Chau Doc?
We transfered from our guesthouse to the bus station in the same way as we had arrived, on three motorbikes. Each had a driver, of course, me and the... Continue reading » -
105
Slo-o-o-ow boat to Pnom Penh
There’s a pace to travelling in Asia, and it’s slow. Not just, “my train is half an hour delayed”, or “I’ll be there 15 minutes later than I said”, bu... Continue reading » -
106
Cambodia’s bloody history
We spent part of a day visiting the genocide museum, Toul Sleng. This was a former school which was turned into a prison to house the ‘enemies’ of Pol... Continue reading » -
107
Siem Reap
We arrived in Siem Reap after a 6 hour bus journey, happily our guest house made good on their offer to pick us up and we got taken there in style (ai... Continue reading » -
108
The Temples of Angkor
A three day pass to visit the Angkor Park costs $40. Thankfully the children were free as by Cambodia standards this figure is extortionate. To add... Continue reading »
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109
Your digestive system’s guide to Cambodia
Food; Cambodians eat anything and everything. Hardly surprising given their recent history. Their national dish is Amok, a meat dish cooked in co... Continue reading »
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110
Battambang
We knew that the drive to Battambang near the Cambodian/Thai border wouldn’t be easy when Archie started throwing up while we were waiting for our pic... Continue reading » -
111
Back to Thailand
I (Sam) think that Battambang had a bit more going for it - ‘La Villa’ hotel for example - a boutique hotel in a 1930s colonial mansion - was delig... Continue reading »
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112
Faa Sai Resort & Spa
So here we are, in our penultimate destination (we’re expecting to spend a few days in Bangkok before flying home in a fortnight), the FaaSai Resor... Continue reading »
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113
Swimming with dolphins
Aside from some light strolling and semi-pro butterfly watching in the garden we've been doing not very much here at the Faa Sai hotel. The lure of th... Continue reading »
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