My Travel Blog
Well, we have kicked off our summer vacation with a bang! Yesterday we flew to Vancouver to see One Direction - Julia's favourite music group. She received tickets for Christmas and finally got to open her present! :) Jeff was one of a handful of men present (evidenced by the fact that they switched half of the men's bathrooms to women's - smart move!), and the line-up for beer was definitely shorter than any of the other big arena concerts we have been to in the past. The lemonade stand line-up, on the other hand, was huge! The concert was great actually; they certainly put on an impressive show for the screaming fans in the audience. Those guys brought the energy, and I'm not going to lie - both Jeff and I were caught tapping our toes and clapping along. Fans got their money's worth and definite memories were made. Julia LOVED it, and the smile on her face was fantastic.
This was a quick Vancouver pit-stop and we are now heading off to Montreal to continue our journey. (I am writing this in the Vancouver airport as we wait to board our flight.) This is a bit of a whirlwind North American trip with many stops, but we look forward to the adventure! (Spoiler alert, we end the trip back here in Vancouver at a Taylor Swift concert; at that time we will spend a few days in this beautiful city and enjoy all the amenities!)
Well, as what usually happens when you return to real-life after an epic holiday... time got away from me. My intended re-cap of Hong Kong never quite made it from my brain to my fingertips to cyberspace!
As with most memories, they tend to get a bit fuzzy and over time we are left with a general feeling of our experience. I would have to say that I feel really satisfied by our trip to Hong Kong and Bali. We experienced many new things, had interesting and delicious food, and escaped any major complications whether they were extreme jet-lag, family discord, or physical discomfort. (Aside from some crazy itchy bug bites in Bali!) I wasn't sure how taking a 2 week trip to the other side of the world would work with the time change and length of travel, but I must pat ourselves on the back because we all handled it really well. This trip was outside of our comfort zone; we have been to Europe many times and feel like we understand the systems and how to work within them. Asia was a new ballgame for us, and I think we hit the ball out of the park! I'm always impressed with the kids and how great and comfortable they are with all the expectations and disruptions of this type of travel - one of our main hopes from giving them these experiences is to make them comfortable with new experiences, encountering different people, food, and cultures, and opening their minds to what the world has to offer.
This summer we are trading in our regular European vacation for a crazy trip criss-crossing North America. We have a few concerts to attend (One Direction and Taylor Swift - insert excessive squealing here!), an important exam weekend in Chicago for my husband, and showing the kids a few of the main highlights of our own great country that they haven't seen before. It's important to see the fabulousness and diversity of your own country along with what the rest of the world has to offer. We will visit Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa (they are so excited about visiting the Parliament Buildings, how can we say no to that?), and the iconic Niagara Falls to name just a few of the highlights. Next spring we are planning for Greece, so it may be time to brush up on my Greek history and mythology!
Traveling is a gift and a privilege. I can't wait! :)
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