Vermont Family

Product Review A short list of products and companies that served us well in our travels, and a shorter list of a few that didn't: 1. Western Mountaineering Sleeping Bags: Wicked light sleeping bags (1 lb.) that zip flat and zip to a featherweight sleep sheet. So we all had slept in great comfort for just about 2 lbs. for 4 people. And they sold them to us at cost! 2. Pacsafe Daypack: Wire mesh lined day pack that has locking cable to close it all up. We thought it a bit too much before we left, but everytime we left our hotel (or rooms much less secure), we locked all our valuables inside, hooked the cable to some piece of furniture, and had much more peace of mind (and much less stuff to carry around ... read more

Part 22 April 30 Picton One of the tricks to having your trip work out well is to ignore things like weather and alarmist advice. Our plans to bike the Queen Charlotte Track were delayed by not being able to get bikes for the kids. One guide told us he would be being "irresponsible" to rent his kids bikes for this endeavor as the track was so difficult. When I tried to pin him down about the dangers, the most specifics I got were that it was "boggy" in spots, "greasy" in others. Some others also told us the track deteriorates quickly when wet, and the 5+ inches of rain in the last week certainly hadn't improved conditions. So we delayed our start one day while we found someone else with kids bikes and decided to ... read more

Part 20 April 10 Queenstown, New Zealand Well, we have been in New Zealand for a week and just now I have a chance to write for the first time. So, apparently, we have been busy since we got here. (In fact, I think we have confirmed throughout this trip that our personalities don't exactly lend themselves to loads of down time or just lazing around relaxing.) New Zealand is a pretty easy place to be busy in, as there is much to do and the cooler temperatures don't sap one's energy like the heat and humidity of the tropics. But our schedule has been driven largely by the plans to meet my parents in Queenstown 6 days after we arrived in NZ. This gave us 36 hours from when we left the airport (which took ... read more

Part 17 March 11 Ubud, Bali The roosters call from all quarters as the sun rises over the rice paddies, making fields of flowing green almost yellow under the glowing backlight. Despite the changes wrought by many years of unbridled development of what was considered a tourist paradise, Bali still has the scenery and serenity to charm. It is little hard to get past outward appearances here--on one hand the natural beauty of the lush palm fringed rice fields terraced up towards the holy mountains not so far off on this island where nothing is more than 50 km away; on the other the almost eerie feel of this glut of guesthouses, resorts, bungalows, and other tastefully manicured accommodations and restaurants that are, at best, 25% occupied and, more likely, house one or two guests in ... read more

Part 15 February 16 Siem Reap It is not hard to get off the tourist track here. Simply crossing the river (a muddy brown little meander) gets us to a ruddy dirt road and the last sighting of any Caucasians. We cycle along past waterwheels, fish drying, schools, wats, and all the other "regular" life sights of shops and homes and kareoke halls that make up life here. Soon we come upon fields of corn, and after that rice that grows in what is the outskirts of Tonle Sap Lake when it is high during rainy season. Overlooking the rice fields, there are a string of hammock restaurants--as far as we can tell, you place your order and kick back in one of the 14 or so hammocks hanging in two rows, shaded by a bamboo ... read more