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Another trip come and gone
Aug. 26th, 2007 | 07:00 pm
August 26, 2007 by tneuage.
Another trip come and gone. This is our sixth round-the-world journey in succession (previous times there were gaps of several years in between); our tickets originate in Sydney and stop in New York for a ten-month working time to pay for the next trip. We have our ticket in hand to return next northern summer to Adelaide. See our videos for 07 (http://07.ournews.mobi/), 06 (http://neuage.org/06trip.htm) and before and photo albums (http://ournews.mobi/album.htm) that are slideshows and etc. http://photos.ournews.mobi/
We saw so many contrasts; from Cambodia’s incredible poverty where one US dollar is more than a day’s wage for most people to a newly build basement basketball court in a privately owned home that has been dug into a cliff in Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts which our neighbours say already has cost more than a million dollars. See our video at http://ournews.mobi/basketball.htm
Now we are back and looking forward to a year of work with a couple of breaks until going home (Australia). We are doing a two-week road-trip through the south at Christmas time and during a two-week break in March we are going to Utrecht, The Netherlands for our parent’s 80th birthday.
We thought we would have a good rest in Australia but for the six weeks we were there we managed to do too much once again. From preparing a two week stay in Holland for us and Narda’s three sisters and her three sons plus the parents and a preparation for Narda’s son, Chris’ wedding in Chattanooga, Tennessee (and watching him go through all we went through to get a Green Card to get married to an American), the weekend before we go off to Holland (her parents are staying with us in NYC for a week before the wedding. Getting everything in place for two 80 year olds to stop in NYC, go to Tennessee, then to Holland, then back to Australia is quite detailed), as well, I am buying a round-the-world ticket for my son Sacha. He and his girl friend will stay at our NYC home for two weeks while we are in Holland (this seems to be a highlight of their trip having our home when we aren’t there for two-weeks, hummmm), then they are seeing Europe for a month. Of course the Holland stay will be good. And as if we didn’t have enough to contend with we bought a house-land package at one of Australia’s first totally green village at Lochiel Park in Adelaide and we took much too much time choosing and changing our minds over all the bits and pieces for our interior. This is much different than our Victorian homes in upstate New York that we spent years renovating then left to live in NYC. The Lochiel Park house should be near finishing when we get back next July-August and we will go back Christmas 2008 in hopes to rent it out until we someday move there. As if that was not enough to do I visited nine international baccalaureate schools in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney as part of my work. So as all holidays go we are resting today (Sunday) the day before going back to work.
One of the things I did not miss was American television. We use to complain that even with a couple of hundred channels there was nothing worthy of watching so we canceled our cable subscription months before we left. It is interesting to note that we rarely saw any news of anywhere/anything for the past couple of months; television, newspapers, magazines or even on the Internet. It did not affect our travels one bit. I think one of the few things I checked on the Internet outside of our mail was the US dollar which rose ten-cents against the US dollar while we traveled and dropped almost ten-cents toward the end – just the opposite of which we wanted. Now it is climbing again which is great for our family coming to visit but not for any investments in Australia. Bottom line – reading books is much more entertaining and informative than television or newspapers. It is amazing how much is in the news that has no value to an individual’s life. We have been home for two days with no thoughts of putting on the television or radio. Of course without cable there is no data so that could be the reason, though we have not looked at a newspaper since being back either. All those silly people on the cover of magazines at the supermarket and all the stupid claims about those ‘celebrities’ are not worth picking up the magazines for. Perhaps I am too old but most of the people appearing in the news I have never heard of. This person getting married, another screwing someone’s partner, someone saying they are gay, and on and on. Does anyone really care? Or are people’s lives so shallow that they have to read about someone else’s?
And that is our journey so far this year.
And now we prepare for 2008. http://08.ournews.mobi/
Another trip come and gone. This is our sixth round-the-world journey in succession (previous times there were gaps of several years in between); our tickets originate in Sydney and stop in New York for a ten-month working time to pay for the next trip. We have our ticket in hand to return next northern summer to Adelaide. See our videos for 07 (http://07.ournews.mobi/), 06 (http://neuage.org/06trip.htm) and before and photo albums (http://ournews.mobi/album.htm) that are slideshows and etc. http://photos.ournews.mobi/
We saw so many contrasts; from Cambodia’s incredible poverty where one US dollar is more than a day’s wage for most people to a newly build basement basketball court in a privately owned home that has been dug into a cliff in Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts which our neighbours say already has cost more than a million dollars. See our video at http://ournews.mobi/basketball.htm
Now we are back and looking forward to a year of work with a couple of breaks until going home (Australia). We are doing a two-week road-trip through the south at Christmas time and during a two-week break in March we are going to Utrecht, The Netherlands for our parent’s 80th birthday.
We thought we would have a good rest in Australia but for the six weeks we were there we managed to do too much once again. From preparing a two week stay in Holland for us and Narda’s three sisters and her three sons plus the parents and a preparation for Narda’s son, Chris’ wedding in Chattanooga, Tennessee (and watching him go through all we went through to get a Green Card to get married to an American), the weekend before we go off to Holland (her parents are staying with us in NYC for a week before the wedding. Getting everything in place for two 80 year olds to stop in NYC, go to Tennessee, then to Holland, then back to Australia is quite detailed), as well, I am buying a round-the-world ticket for my son Sacha. He and his girl friend will stay at our NYC home for two weeks while we are in Holland (this seems to be a highlight of their trip having our home when we aren’t there for two-weeks, hummmm), then they are seeing Europe for a month. Of course the Holland stay will be good. And as if we didn’t have enough to contend with we bought a house-land package at one of Australia’s first totally green village at Lochiel Park in Adelaide and we took much too much time choosing and changing our minds over all the bits and pieces for our interior. This is much different than our Victorian homes in upstate New York that we spent years renovating then left to live in NYC. The Lochiel Park house should be near finishing when we get back next July-August and we will go back Christmas 2008 in hopes to rent it out until we someday move there. As if that was not enough to do I visited nine international baccalaureate schools in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney as part of my work. So as all holidays go we are resting today (Sunday) the day before going back to work.
One of the things I did not miss was American television. We use to complain that even with a couple of hundred channels there was nothing worthy of watching so we canceled our cable subscription months before we left. It is interesting to note that we rarely saw any news of anywhere/anything for the past couple of months; television, newspapers, magazines or even on the Internet. It did not affect our travels one bit. I think one of the few things I checked on the Internet outside of our mail was the US dollar which rose ten-cents against the US dollar while we traveled and dropped almost ten-cents toward the end – just the opposite of which we wanted. Now it is climbing again which is great for our family coming to visit but not for any investments in Australia. Bottom line – reading books is much more entertaining and informative than television or newspapers. It is amazing how much is in the news that has no value to an individual’s life. We have been home for two days with no thoughts of putting on the television or radio. Of course without cable there is no data so that could be the reason, though we have not looked at a newspaper since being back either. All those silly people on the cover of magazines at the supermarket and all the stupid claims about those ‘celebrities’ are not worth picking up the magazines for. Perhaps I am too old but most of the people appearing in the news I have never heard of. This person getting married, another screwing someone’s partner, someone saying they are gay, and on and on. Does anyone really care? Or are people’s lives so shallow that they have to read about someone else’s?
And that is our journey so far this year.
And now we prepare for 2008. http://08.ournews.mobi/