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Vaccinations

We finally got the children’s last vaccinations yesterday. I knew it was going to be a trauma after the last time, so I took the mature route and didn’t tell them until we arrived at the doctors. When I told them what we were there for all three immediately went into total meltdown. Luke finally pulled it together and said he was going to be brave. Emma and Susie had to be physically moved out of the car and in through the door!

By the time we arrived at the reception desk, the poor receptionist was convinced that we were a dire emergency who should really have been heading for A&E based on the amount of noise coming out of them. We finally managed to explain that we’d just come to visit the travel clinic.

The nurse had gathered reinforcements (probably based on hearing the noise in the waiting room of Susie screaming at the top of her voice and trying to escape) so we had two nurses and myself to hold them down and jab the needles in. I felt like the worlds worst parent.

All over very quickly, if deafeningly! Plasters, stickers and lollipops afterwards and suddenly everyone was feeling much better. On the way home in the car the children competed over who had been the most “brave”! Susie thought she was braver than last time because apparently she “didn’t try to get away and didn’t even cry”, Emma and Luke both thought they were braver and they all agreed that it didn’t hurt at all. Unbelievable!!!! But I have decided that if they believe this fiction it is probably for the best as it will lower the likelihood of lasting phobia of needles.

I’m very glad to have it over and done with!

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Why are we going?

 


So many people have asked us why we are making this trip I thought I would include it here.  Above all, we want to have time as a family unit without the distractions of work, housework, house maintenance etc etc.  Phil and I were blessed with nine months of travelling together not long after we married and we loved the luxury of time and exclusivity which just can’t be replicated within everyday life.  Ever since we had children we have wanted to be able to have this same luxury with them.

We are also really keen to show the children that the world is a far bigger place than rural South Norfolk!  We want them to understand through our actions that they can do whatever they want, even if it’s something that other people think is mad.  They need to understand that the world is interlinked and that increasingly our actions in the UK impact the lives of others elsewhere in the world.  You can only truly understand how fortunate you are by seeing how others live.

The primary reasons for the timing of the trip are practical.  I get the six week school holiday anyway so it requires less time off work to overlap with the holiday and it minimises the kids time out of school.  Because Susie is not yet five, Phil is entitled to four weeks of parental leave and we are utilising this to facilitate his work being happy to let him take such an extended period of time off.


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Packing

We have now done the test pack to see if everything fits. It does thank goodness but there is an awful lot of stuff and when we put it on to test for weight last week that excluded the huge quantities of suncream, washing stuff, first aid kit, malaria pills, insect repellent, hand cleaner, sea sick pills and maybe another 10 things I have forgotten to list!

Here it is laid out. Hey you can still see the floor right? Maybe we are not taking enough 🙂

Cannot believe it is only 7.5 days to go!

Phil

Rucksack filling

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Itinerary

Hi there

This is it – dada!  The Itinerary.  Flight times on scheduled flights will dictate some movements so here are the main elements.

[travelmap-map height=400]

Hope this gives a quick idea.

[travelmap-list]

 

Phil

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Jubilee only 21 days to go!

The Thai consulate in Birmingham have really surpassed all expectations. We sent the visa applications on Monday morning and they returned them complete on Wednesday morning!!! How about that? No more worrying whether our passports would be back in time. The CRB forms for Plan International are still away and it is probably a stretch to hope for this week even.

Because it is not nearly busy enough we wanted to complete the upstairs lick of paint approach to redecorating so we can put the house on the market when we get back.  So we are doing our room, paint, lighting and curtains.  Should look lovely once ready but a complete bombsite now so we are sleeping in the tent.  Good practice for the rooftop chalet we have booked in Bukit Lawang.  This looks awesome.

We now have an itinerary that we are happy with. It has involved setting some things in stone like going to Sumatra because the flights (no ferry from Pedang any more) had to be booked. Still this has made the malaria tablet calculations massively more simple.

I watched the bridge over the river Kwai last night. Seems odd that we will be there in not too long. I have no idea what the kids will make of it. I don’t know what I make of it.

We have set out what clothes we plan to take so we can establish what we don’t yet have. It is a bigger list than we thought and several early purchases look very utilitarian and we may relax into more surf style for the remainder so as not to look like someone from the bridge over the river Kwai!

Totally fed up with the weather here and cannot wait for some consistent heat. This is going to change when we get there and end up hunting for air con I am sure. The grass is always greener.

Feelings about work being too much to handle are fading away when I contemplate that in 3 weeks we will be at the airport. Life will go on and no amount of preparation will stop all the plates I have been spinning from crashing to the ground. Maybe I can just describe which will fall first?

Thats all for now. Will update the map and present the itinerary later.

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Final phase of preparation begins

Hi all

We now begin the final phase of our preparation.

Final jabs for the kids

Malaria tablets

Test pack

Visas

CRB checks

It is getting very exciting now.  The countdown is new on the right hand side so we can keep an eye on it.

Should be publishing an itinerary soon.

 

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Where’s the paella?

8th April

Easter Sunday was very pleasant.  The wind had died down a little a the church bell was ringing across the air as we made our way to the Sunday service.  We didn’t expect to understand much of the liturgy but in fact it seems like the priest was in a hurry as 32 mins later we were walking out again. No hymns no special bits for children.  We sauntered back the long way and planned what to do before the afternoon trip to the beach. I was determined to try out the gopro underwater in the sea.
We had lunch and a game of UNO.  Luke won both times,  he is scary at UNO and chess. Susie was grumpy she had to keep picking cards up.
We all rocked up at the beach to find it fairly busy.  Still a few degrees cooler than you would choose but plenty of people building sandcastles and starting off a tan.
When finally we had played enough on the playa I made a decision to go in the sea.  Not a light hearted one either since I would be the only bather.  Then just as I was changing my mind Emma runs into the sea.  I go knee deep and shiver.  Can you be out manned by your 9 year old daughter? I thought not too!  I jumped under and 30 seconds later after cancelling the ambulance I took the gopro into the frozen waist deep brine. You can see the results.  Above water it is very convincing, below it is somewhat blurry.  The fish were there I promise!
Then after filling the bath with sand we headed out to a restaurant that was supposed to have great paella. We got to “Meson son caliu” at 18:00 and were asked if we wanted to eat.  “yes please” we answered in garbled Spanglish. We were then presented with a bar menu with burgers etc. A glance to Jenni and we had to admit defeat.  It had taken a while to get here and the kids were hungry.  We ordered 3 adult meals as our appetite has adapted to leave space for dessert and while waiting I went round to see that we had entered the bar adjoining the restaurant we were recommended!  Grrr.  On enquiry they explained the restaurant does not open until 19:00.  We were shown the other menu and this did have paella on it.  Settled, we had another round of drinks, served the kids the bar meals and then moved to the restaurant for our paella and desserts for the kids.  It turned out really well although we are stuffed now and on the way home we sang along to Sir mix-a-lot “I like big butts”.  Definitely one I should have previewed before airing it to Emma.  It seemed so innocent in Shark Tale 🙂
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Cortado – a good tip

I am really enjoying the vibe here. Very quiet and as I sit back with another cortado I have free wifi and non stop chill out music. The perfect way to read the lonely planet for Malaysia. Have already made some notes on good eating places in Kota baharu.

We went to Palma today expecting lots of activity around Easter and we were not disappointed, the overal sense was of a vibrant spring day with blossom and green shoots,wage smell of pine and crispness to the air. Another belter of a sea breeze made the port a visual spectacle and the Cathedral was bustling with activity. We found a lovely bakers where some empanadas of varisort fillings were purchased. Aimee those on a bench and noticed a tiny cafe in eyeline. It seemed to be doing very well so we found the last table and ordered some coffee cake and drinks for the kids. The photos do not do the views justice but we loved it. A crowning moment in this quick venture away from the UK.

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Hole in one

6th April

Very overcast today and with a biting onshore breeze.  It is also Good Friday and therefore we are killing time until the Ecumenical service at the local catholic church.  Whomever had the bright idea to put children’s play parks at every 200m or so throughout the resort should be knighted.  We spend some time learning to grapple the fireman’s pole and watching Grannys in their Sunday best parading along the pavement round the bay.  Following the service which was evidently cobbled together in part Spanish and part English we make our way back to the apartment for lunch.  We need a new plan for the afternoon.  We settle on Mini Golf.  The children are very excited.  We pay for 18 holes.  There is a serious risk that given our expertise at golf we will end up being here after dark!  As it happens we only lost one ball in the waterfall and after coaching Luke that it is not necessary to break the world record yardage at a single stroke we let some people go in front and find a rhythm.  Emma seems to have quite a natural knack for putting, Luke turns on the tiger for the 17th and gets a hole in one.   You couldn’t put a name to the ecstasy written on his face.   Suffice to say we stopped recording the score with the tiny pencil and paper.
Looking for somewhere to eat tonight turned into a longer adventure than planned.  It is quite difficult to find a restaurant that doesn’t cater for the British appeal for loads of meat and beer.  The beehive or La Colemina is a good spot with a reasonable selection of meals.  We have a swordfish, a lasagne, escalope and Spanish omelette and mix it up a bit between the children.  Luke doesn’t like swordfish after all 🙂
It is quite late but we cannot put the children to bed because Luke is reading “Chester’s back” to Susie and they are incapable of getting past the middle without collapsing into fits of laughing.  It is the best noise!
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It’s not banana time!

4th April

We have woken up, not to the forecast rain but sunny spells which for April we feel unable to argue with.  The hotel room has the perfect and unique smell of a Spanish package holiday apartment.  It is probably how the linen is cleaned or the floors mopped but it is unmistakeable and yet indescribable.
First up is breakfast which we decide to eat in for.   Off to the local shop “eroski” – how do they come up with these names?  Reminds me of a van I saw last week with the sign writing “dave’s specialist erections”.
The beach is wonderful and when I get to upload this I will show what we saw. The kids were amazed that the sand appears to be made of crushed seashells.  I could only get Susie away from the edge of the rock by shouting “crab!”
We headed for a walk towards Magaluf this afternoon out spotting the potential meal and ice cream venues.  Only stuff open at this time of day is “British” pub or cafe.  We did find some great parks for the kids though.
Gutted that the restaurant we chose for its Menu del dia was only available during the late afternoon and that by 6 it had finished.  Never mind, pizza all round and then back to the ice cream parlour.  On the way back we played chase.  I was on Susie’s team.  I said “lets go!” Susie said “its not Banana Time!”.  Overall we managed pretty well following the delays last night that caused our 15:40 flight to arrive at gone 22:00!  We get the impression that the lack of a specific schedule will even out the stresses of life with 3 children in unfamiliar surroundings with strange food and travel woes.