Petra, Jordan

Petra – Jordan’s Rose Colored City in the Desert

Three words: Far Above Expectation

And my expectations were very high indeed.

Who has seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? You know the temple at the end of the movie that holds the holy grail, it’s a real place, without the ancient knight and the cup of Christ of course. And let me just say that in real life the city of Petra beyond the is absolutely stunning.

But backing up.... We docked early in the morning at Aqaba, Jordan.

Jordan is a landlocked country with the exception of Aqaba. In the ancient times Aqaba was the headquarters for King Solomon’s merchant fleet, exporting copper and bringing shipments from the Red Sea through to the far East. Aqaba dates back all the way back to the 4^th millennium BC. And over the years has been controlled by the Edomites, the Nabataeans, the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Ottomans and lastly (and currently) the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Whew, that’s a lot of changing hands, but the land feels unchanged, and it’s hard not to breath the layers of history in the air when visiting here. People stay the same. Trading, farming, having families, fighting, loving... that’s what the majority of us humans do best - while the select few waste their lives fighting over lines in the sand, and a few extra shekels.

But we don’t stay long in Aqaba, today’s objective is Petra, the capital of the ancient Nabataean civilization.

The Nabataean’s were an Arabic empire that flourished in the centuries before Christ up until the time that the Romans took over in the first century AD. They were mainly traders, controlling the lucrative routes between east and west. Did I mention they were amazing with stone work? While they had a very distinctive style of building by carving right out of the stone walls of their mountains, they borrowed ideas from all the other civilizations that they traded with. The used Greek pillars to decorate their tombs and even pyramid designs depending on the fad of the day.

Leaving our two little girls at the kids club - still recovering from the flu - we boarded a bus for the two hour drive north into the hilly mountain region where Petra can be found. The drive is anything but boring, with sharp mountains sticking up, camels running free and many Bedouin tents and goat herds dotting the landscape. Jordan is a fairly poor country, with nearly half of its 4 million population being immigrants from Palestine and the other Arab countries that are under fire these days. But the people don’t seem destitute, just simple.

The walk down the valley to Petra is beautiful. The Nabataean’s must have been a very theatrical people because by the time you have walked down the valley and get ready to enter the “Siq”, or entrance to the city, you are already quivering in anticipation. Small carvings, and simple tombs are carved into the valley.

The Siq is a narrow valley carved into the cliffs by years of flash flood rains. As the only entrance to the city it makes it simple to defend. And oh so impressive to the visitor. After a 10 minute walk through this narrow valley, under cliffs of 150 feet or so, the Siq gets even narrower until you suddenly glimpse your first view of the Treasury. This huge monument is staggering in its beauty and the effect that you get from viewing it that way - literally popping out of the mountain - makes your knees wobble.

The Treasury Building, as it is known today, is actually a tomb of one of the Emperors wives. And this is just the start of the city. Other tombs are carved into the wall. This entire entrance to the city is a giant necropolis. Further along you come to the amphitheatre and baths - expanded during Roman times - before coming out of the mountain and seeing the main road stretching out before you where the ancient market place would have been. And the ruins of houses, and all the other things that make up a city.

Petra was devastated by an earthquake in the 300’s AD but hung on until a second large earthquake in the 500’s when it was mainly abandoned, except for the migrant Bedouin tribes. It was rediscovered to the outside world in 1812 by a Swiss explorer and has been drawing tourists ever since.

I am not a very good writer and cannot even begin to put into words the scope of the city. The big kids had a fantastic time. Liam had chosen Petra as one of his two “must see” places for the trip (his other one is Vatican City). I asked him if it is all that he thought he would be, and he said it was so much more. He thought Petra was just the one building, as I think most people do, but to have an entire city cut out of the canyon is mind boggling.

And it was Liana and Liam’s first introduction to haggling. The Bedouin who live in the caves and old empty tombs of the area have all sorts of ware available all along the valley floor. Randall had his eye on a few daggers for his collection and took the kids with to learn about getting a good price. The key to haggling here in Jordan is to keep the respect for both parties. The nice Bedouin man sold his daggers and gave Liana a moonstone necklace and Liam a Nabataean coin for free. Everyone was happy - until we saw the time and realized our bus was leaving and had to run back through the Siq. We ended up hiring horses at the bottom of the Siq to get us up the long hill at the end. Not that it made much difference in timing as my horse was the only one that would gallop! We made it to the bus, sweating like demons, doing the walk of shame to the back of the bus past all the on-time people waiting for their late lunch.

We had such a lovely guide who was very concerned that each of us got a good sense of history of his country, and that we saw the place for the country it really was, unaffected by the media that surrounds the middle east in general. I hope to come back to this place again, and this time be able to explore all thirteen cities of the Nabataean’s that have been found thus far.

Back at the ship we were met by some happy smiling girls.... and as the sun set over the gulf of Aqaba we had a nice dinner and enjoyed catching up on our respective days and planning the next day – EGYPT!!!!!!!!!!!

Random Ramblings from the High Seas

Travel Days – Random Ramblings from the High Seas – On lookout for Pirates, really!

Leaving Oman, we have a five day journey around the Arabian Peninsula, across the Gulf of Aden, up the Red Sea, and through the Gulf of Aqaba to Jordan’s only port – Aqaba. It’s quite a long, long way. It’s taken two and a half days to come down Arabian Peninsula and cross the Gulf of Aden. We have been traveling at top speed to get through this stretch of waters safely. The coast off of Yemen and Somalia – the Gulf of Aden – is home to pirates who are still very active. They don’t generally attack large, fast ships like ours, but better to err on the side of caution, so says our Danish Captain. The ship is spending $200,000 USD on added security to get us from Dubai through the Suez Canal. The decks are closed at night (just for the Gulf of Aden) and all lights are extinguished at night to give the security better night vision. And the coalition fleet are in constant contact with the registered ships heading through the area to attempt to keep them safe. And so for us it has been smooth sailing (so to speak), but a smaller fishing trawler was taken by the pirates just last night.

On this ship you can walk (during the day) all way out to the very bow. The first day into the gulf of Aden Randall and I spent quite a bit of the morning out there. The ocean was like glass and filled with flying fish. Hundreds of these little guys went flying off in waves as our big ship glided through the water. I wanted to holler up to the captain to please stop the ship so we can dive into the water and feel it’s warmth, don’t think he would have listened though.

The kids are happily discovering the joys of cruising and enjoying the kids club. And I am enjoying the first holiday that I can sit back and relax by myself for at least ten years. It’s quite a concept to be able to choose your activity (or no activity) based upon your own wishes and no one else’s. Hmmmmm, I could get used to this! The kids have all made friends and are eating the ship clean. I just cannot fathom how the cruise line will have made any money at the end of this cruise on us, simply due to the amount of food consumed!

They have all breezed past the formal night, and managed to be on their mostly best behavior in the dining room each night. Yes, even Liam with his cave man table manners. We have practiced our better manners in preparation, such as how to give a hand shake, proper greetings, table manners etc; and they were quite excited to be able to use them and be complemented. Liana even got Randall to dance with me at the Captain’s dinner. It’s a once every five year event so I have to really appreciate it when it happens.

Liam and Clara each spent a day in the cabin with a fever, which is not a nice thing to happen on holiday, but better it happen on these hot days at sea than one of the days in port. We have the most exciting ports (at least for me!) coming up soon..... Jordan and Egypt!

Oman

Sorry for all the crazy formatting and sometimes strange spellings of the previous posts. Blogger has thus far been in Arabic script, so it’s been a bit of a challenge to navigate. LOL.... Using a satellite connection at the moment, so hoping this will work a bit better!

OMAN

Yes, we are on a glitzy ship, but I am rethinking this mindset of being against cruising. I do know that I have a knee jerk reaction to cruises simply because I spent much of my childhood cruising with my parents. Given that we are traveling through some very unfamiliar countries, with some very different customs and cultures and we have four little ones, the idea of a floating hotel with all you can eat, depositing you to your next destination while you sleep is growing on me. Now that I have children, it’s all making sense.

So here we are. Docking in the sultanate of Oman. Its noon and it is very hot, and very dusty. All around us are the craggy brown cliffs that give the capital city its name in Arabic – Muscat. It’s a country that has not been open for tourism very long. Only in the past six or seven years has it been starting to let in the outside world.

Oman has a long history of over 5,000 years. It has been part of the Persian Empire, an outpost for the kings of Hormuz, part of the greater Arabic peninsula group. It was ruled by the Portuguese in the 1500’s and the English in the 1800’s. The current Sultan, His Majesty the Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, studied at Bathurst in England and upon returning to Oman was put under house arrest by his father for his progressive views (hey it was the 60’s man). He eventually was part of a bloodless palace coup in the 1970’s where he deposed his father with the help of his British friends. In the 80’s Sultan Qaboos allied himself with USA who wanted use of the military bases and of course access to the Persian Gulf through the straits of Hormuz. No wonder Oman looks to be so prosperous, it controls some pretty amazing real estate.

Surprisingly Oman’s GNP is only 50% from oil, which is vastly different from the rest of the Middle East. The sultan has been quite wise in his rule of his country thus far and is uber popular among his people. Over the last 30 years he has modernized his underdeveloped lands and created an affluent 21^st century country. Literacy is 98% across the board, the vast majority of the people are very well educated. (Men and Women alike.)

Seeing what has happened to his neighboring countries (like UAE) where the population has gotten drunk off of the oil riches, he has taken many steps to keep the Omani people working, not becoming dependant on the immigrant work that is so easy to fall for, especially when you have the money to pay for it. People really are not happy to just sit back and do nothing are they? What’s the saying; idle hands are the devils work shop? Even though they are a prosperous nation the Omani’s still do the majority of their own works and they are so very proud of their country. Most of the population speaks, or is learning English. They are up skilling in the IT department and pursuing cleaner industries like tourism to bring revenue into their country without relying on just the oil and shipping revenues. What a nice feeling it must be to be part of an up and coming nation that also has a rich culture to back it up.

So, as I was saying...... Docking at noon in Oman......

Muscat is surrounded by craggy hills and the air is heavy with humid heat, in such contrast to the arid land. On the hills surrounding the town are Old Portuguese watch towers, and the town itself looks like something out of Disneyland. It is so clean and so orderly. Everything looks new or at least very well maintained. It has a romantic air to it with the Old Portuguese forts on the hill above the simple seaside town below.

After going through immigration we leave the port and get ourselves a taxi. First up we drive out of the downtown and along the highways inland for a photo op outside the brand new Grand Mosque. Being Friday, the Muslim holy day, we are unable to tour the inside, but just the view from the outside is enough to give us all a flavor of this amazing modern building. The sultan didn’t hold anything back creating his mosque. It’s made from gleaming stone, and decorated by marble, carved wood, gold inlay and everywhere the traditional inscriptions from the Koran in Arabic. Our taxi driver was able to take the camera inside for us and take pictures.

Next we visit the international community where all the consulates are located, followed by a quick stop at the Hyatt Hotel to admire all of its opulent grace. Poolside are rich multi nationals sitting in the sun and enjoying the true high life.

Back to the main part of Muscat we view Al Alam Palace, the official residence of Sultan Qaboos, built upon the sight of the old palace in 1970. It is splendid indeed, with turquoise and gold oriental architecture. The palace faces out to the sparkling blue Bay of Muscat, and is flanked by the Old Portuguese forts of Jalali and Mirani, which were built to protect the town in the late 16^th century.  Liam was particularly taken with the heavy machine guns that face out into the Bay of Muscat. But was soon side tracked by the Old Portuguese cannons which he decided to climb up, until he was told off by the palace guard. Ah, boys will be boys!

Ending our little taxi tour of Muscat we all feel like we’ve had a good overview of the town and a feeling of attraction to the country. It’s certainly a place I would like to come back to someday and explore in depth.

Something that has really stood out to me as we spent our day among the people here is the relationship between the men. They are very affectionate with each other. They are very open to embracing, and think nothing of holding hands while walking down the street, and hugging when they meet. It is such a stark contrast to the men of our western countries who seem to be barely able to manage a hand shake without feeling like they have somehow overstepped their sexuality. Not a judgment, just an observation about the differences in the different cultures.

Our driver drops us off at the entrance to the Mutrah Souk to the sounds of the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer. I explained to the kids what this was about. Clara, who is the spiritual one among my brood, has been very taken with the idea that people need to be reminded to pray. “But why can’t they just remember, mummy?” I wish I had an answer for her, why don’t people remember to embrace the spiritual side of life without prompting? I know that I would be glad to hear the muezzins call during the day to make me pause and give a moment of reflection.

The Mutrah Souk was just reopening for the late afternoon/evening round of business, and we spend the next two hours lost in the mazes of the ancient culture. This is not as commercial as the souk in Dubai, the only tourists are the one off the ship, and as most of them are off on preplanned tours we stand out with our very white skin and western dress. The girls are a huge hit, with their shining faces and golden red hair. They of course loved all the attention and were on their best behavior. They even have the art of haggling starting to form, although Juliet mainly uses the big kitty eyes to get what she wants. Move over puss in boots, you’ve got a rival.

We’ve been practicing what we call “formation” with the kids, to help us all stay together when we are moving through these crazy busy areas, and so far we haven’t lost anyone. Liam, who I am sure was a sheep dog in a previous life, is all on board with this. The second Clara falls behind whichever parent is in back (because it’s always Clara!) he is barking out the command “formation” at the top of his voice to herd her back up. He’s taken the roll a little too seriously and Randall had to have a bit of a word with him about who the actual parents were. The people watchers of the souk must have had a laugh at us for sure. But, hey, it works, and I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Again we ended up at the Gold Souk, which this time was simply part of the rest of the souk. And this time we did make a purchase, but it wasn’t me who scored the amazing golden earrings, it was Liana. I would be jealous; however I was pretty excited by my own purchase. A bag of high grade Frankincense. This amazing smelling incense is actually tree sap from the native Boswellia trees, and when it’s burned it has the most amazing smell. Yes, even I can smell it. During the time of Christ it was as valuable as gold. And it comes from Oman. This country not only has a long history, but a long history of having a lucrative export.

Back on the ship I am sitting in air conditioned luxury while the stark cliffs of Muscat recede into the distance and we begin our five day journey around the Arabian Peninsula, through the Gulf of Aden, and up the Red Sea to Jordan. I am looking forward to making this journey. I have so many ideas in my head about what this part of the world will be like, I’m wondering if any of them will be correct, or if once again I will be surprised.

XOXO from me for now......

Dubai

Dubai

After sleeping the entire day we headed out into the dusk, in search of the old souk (market) for an evening stroll through the market and city. Alas, all that travel caught up with us and we only made it a sweaty few kilometres before having “Dubai’s Best Pizza” and taking a taxi back to our hotel.

Geographically, Dubai (one of the ten Emirates that makes up the United Arab Emirates, or UAE)  is on the Persian gulf, on the tip of the Arabian peninsula, so I have to say I was expecting heat. What has really surprised me is the humid heat. As we drove back through the crowded night time streets the fat rain drops started falling. Not enough to call an actual rain, but enough to swirl around the dust and leave mini craters in the exposed sand. Our cab driver told us that Dubai gets the tail end of the monsoons that hit India, and when you look at a map that does make sense.

In one way the weather probably helps the inhabitants of the city feel more at home. Dubai and the whole of the United Arab Emirates is the largest immigrant nation in the world. With a population of ten million, less than one million are actual Emirate citizens. (Read, actually Arabic people who lived here before all the building.) The rest of the inhabitants are all escapees from the underclass of Pakistan, India, Philippines. Flocking here for the better quality of life and higher wages. All this crazy building began a few dozen years ago, taking a dusty Arab trading port and turning into a modern buzzing city. Although I would watch this space as I wonder if this boom town won’t be a bust town in the same amount of years in the future. If you look close enough you can see the cracks in the buildings and the peeling paint from poor construction. As Randall put it, like it was all facade to lure the foreign investment money, never to be actually seen except in photos, and lived in by a grateful Pakistani man, sending all his hard earned profit back to his family in Pakistan. It all smacks of the economic model a la John Perkins, if anyone has read his “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”.....

After a fabulous night of sleep I awoke to stifled giggles. The kids were all piled on the couch with Randall and attempting to navigate the TV. They had a great game of imitating the Bollywood actors and putting silly words into their mouths. Gotta love Bollywood! Classic......

This day I was determined to see more than the flash metal buildings and speeding, honking cars that we saw the night before, so off we went finally in search of the souks. I must admit this is the part where I got us lost, but I must also say in my defence that the map was really, really bad!

Soooooooooo, after an hour of walking through the muggy, dusty heat, along endless roads, with screaming traffic we finally came to our destination. The “creek” is the old part of Dubai. The inlet of water where the Dhow’s come to bring in their wares - the fish, the spices and the goods traded as far away as India and beyond. For hundreds of years this would have been the cutting edge of action for this part of world. Goods trading hands, the smell of Frankincense, Turmeric and Cloves. It’s much the same today, except the HSBC banking tower looms in the back to show where the real trade is these days. It’s all electronic and not quite as real feeling as the real good trades of the previous generations.

We took a small Dhow (local wooden boat) across the “creek” to the old Souks on the other side. For only 4 Durhims (about one dollar) it was a nice little ride, and yes, we were all glad to sit down after my impromptu tour of the streets.

The markets on the other side do transport you back to that older time. I loved watching the kids experience their first market scenario. It is not quite the same thing as the farmers market, that’s for sure. We stopped at a few spice stores just to get the feel of it. Smelling every barrel, it’s incredible. Dried roses, sage, smoked lemons, pepper of all colours. We ended up buying some pistachios and chocolate for the kids.

Getting deeper into the souk, the touristy places die out and glimpses can be caught of the more everyday life that happens, whether there are tourists around or not. The girls were fascinated by the women wearing birka’s and other such forms of traditional head gear. A good lesson in cultures for sure. As we passed a group of happy, laughing covered women out shopping for new bedding it makes me think what those women would think of us western women for wearing pointy stiletto heals and ruining our feet for fashion. All they have to do is wear a hat. Hmmmm.......

Finally we reached the gold souk. Wow. I am really not a lover of jewelry, but this was astounding. The gold was just unreal. Sparkling from every store for more than a city block. We, of course, went into a few. Randall said he’d buy me something if I found something special. The girls all tried on some Arabian head dresses. They had the time of their lives. Even Liana got into the spirit of it, oohing and awing over all the intricate jewelry. When I asked the man how much for the golden head dress Clara was posing in, he replied it was worth 20,000 Durhims, that’s nearly $12,000US! Crikey man, that’s a lot of gold......

I never did find anything I wanted for myself (I know, what’s wrong with me eh?) and we slowly made our way back to our hotel to pack up and get ready to go to our ship.... The one thing I said I’d never do with my kids, travel by cruising, and here I am getting ready to get back onto a glitzy cruise ship. Lordy, what have I done....

Onto the next phase of our trip. A Gaudy cruise ship where we can be with all the partying fools in an autumn of a heyday. But then, as an adult, it may just be fun. And let’s face it, it is the only way I am going to see this part of the world with all my little munchkins in tow.

Over and out for now.....

Are We There Yet?

Are we There Yet?

Amazingly enough, after 36 hours of travel, I did not hear that phrase, not even once from my children. They were all absolute legends. Maybe it was the fact that I drummed into their heads that it would seem like we were travelling forever, so when it was only a day and a half they were quite pleased to be done. Or it could be that once we finally got on our big Malaysia Air flight, I finally relaxed, and they followed suit.

Modern day travel is so much easier than when I was a child. I have not-so-fond memories of the horrible air plane seats, the dingy airports, and don't forget the planes that were half smoking and half non. What a joke that was, as if we weren't all breathing the same air! These days even on a run down airline (Malaysian Air, oh, did I say that?) there are individual tv screen, special veggie meals for me and even if it is air plane air, at least it is smoke free.

You'll be very happy to hear (or maybe you really don't care) that I managed to keep our luggage down to four suitcases, plus our backpacks. And it was pretty nice to not feel like we could handle things without need of a trolley. I felt pretty satisfied with that, considering I have over fifty dry nights for Juliet, and about a weeks worth of food. Nothing worse than getting caught out by kids with low blood sugar!

One of the things I most love about travel is people watching. Isn't it amazing the things you can learn and laugh at? Maybe it just makes the time go faster, or maybe in our usual day to day life we don't have the time to spend just observing.It lets you know that as crazy as you think you are yourself, you are not alone. Although I could have done without the dutch man who kept picking his nose and eating it when his girlfriend wasn't looking. I mean really, he may only have eyes for her, but there are other people out there that would like an appetite!

And anyone who likes to observe people would have very much enjoying watching our family. Especially during our 6 hour lay over in Kuala Lumpur. We landed at about 8:30 pm and our flight to Dubai left at 2 am. I had a plan to keep them moving, an hour on the moving sidewalk helped get the jitters out, then the extra long line at Burger King and the ensuing negotiation debates over the need for soda at ten oclock at night (I won, they had water), and finally ended up on the couches in the tv lounge to watch space shuttle discovery land. When I came back from checking us in there were three kids passed out and I spent the rest of the night trying to keep the cheeky three year old from waking them up.

Luckily for me the next flight was smooth and over six hours. For the first time in my life I was asleep before take off and didn't wake up until just before landing. I've never had all four of my limbs actually asleep at the same time before. Mighty awkward.

I was ready for Dubai. The airport is built to impress and give the impression of graceful dominance. It is open, with cascading waterfalls, shiny marble and pillars. Like an Arabian version of Valhalla. Customs and immigration is all dealt with quiet efficiency. A nice change from the chaos that is the typical experience. And arriving so early we were whisked to our hotel before the crazy traffic that the UAE is legendary for.

I won't bore you with all the drama's of getting to our room, which took us longer than immigration, customs and the drive put together. I am now sitting in my large three bedroom apartment. It is nine in the morning. All four kids are asleep in bed. So is Randall. All I can think about is the hot shower that is calling to me. This afternoon I'm hoping we'll be able to muster troops and discover a little more about this crazy, unnatural, man made city in the desert.

Over and out for now.

Less Than Two Weeks, the count down begins

After wrapping myself in the mourning cocoon the last wee while it's time to get back into full excel spread sheet planning mode. Now I am down to excursions, train schedules and clothing choices.

Don't laugh, but I am bound and determined to only travel with 3 suitcases plus carry ons on this trip. The high in Dubai today is 33 degrees, but it is only 8 degrees in Paris so I am wondering if I will be able to accomplish this. Especially now that my little dude has discovered the art of dressing up. He looks sharp in his new suit and is insisting on wearing it at dinner every night. "Practise for Europe" he tells us.

Wallace Drinking Fountain Paris

Planning the excursions is much more interesting. The kids have had a hand in planning the trip from the very beginning and have come up with some interesting ideas. For example, Liana has been researching Paris and came up with the Wallace drinking fountains where we can fill our water bottles with clean drinking water. According to her research, after the Franco Prussian war of the mid 1800's there was much poverty in Paris and an English philanthropist designed these fountains so that the poor would always have a source of fresh clean water, and they are still used today. Being as Paris is our last stop, we will probably fit into that destitute category. Move over Tour d'Eiffel, we're coming for the water fountains.

Liam's first suit

Meanwhile, Liam has been burning the midnight oil with his "not for parents" guide book to Rome. You gotta love Lonely Planet's genius marketing on that one! He tells me he is a bit too nervous to try putting his hand into the Hand of Truth (apparently there was an incident where some sweets were eaten last month that he thinks may put him into the realm of danger) however he has discovered that the wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus (Rome's twin founders) is used as the emblem of FC Roma. Am I sensing an Italian soccer game in his future?  What he doesn't know is that I have discovered a gladiator school near the Colosseum where they teach small groups to fight using authentic gladiator weapons and gear. Ohhhh, yes!

Juliet is always excited.

So all in all, we're all systems go. Final details hopefully falling into place. It's been five years in the planning. It will seem strange when it actually begins.

But it can't start soon enough for the kids who are bursting out of their skins with excitement. Juliet wakes up every morning with a bright cheery statement that "Today is Europe!" Soon she'll be right.

Sometimes Life Throws You Lemons

Life can be interesting sometimes. And the way you feel about it can change with the events happening to you. In the last two months both my parents have passed away. The family house has passed out of the family.

Bill and Julie Martin 1979

It feels like a way of life has ended. And it has. The way of life that encompasses my childhood, my youth and young adult hood. With the house and people still there it felt like I was someone's little girl, I have that bond and the house to go home to, to comfort when it's needed. But to suddenly lose it all, it's like a sucker punch to the belief system, like I am adrift.

Or at least that is the way that it feels when looking through the goggles of depression and grief. But to turn those glasses around and use them as a tool to re-examine life using the filter of the past to project the good that you want to take forward into the future. And if you leave a few things by the wayside, things and beliefs that don't fit with the current ways of the world or the life we've chosen then so much the better.

And now that our trip looms only two weeks away I realize just how much my love of travel and sense of the world has stemmed from the wanderings of my own parents. Maybe they didn't see the world the way that I do, but they started me on the path of thinking outside the nation state and about global humanity. So cheers mom and dad! I hope that a little bit of your spirits are free to travel with us on our journey. They certainly live on with me and your grandchildren.