Featured

In 116 Days Around the World

Dies ist die Kurzfassung des Beitrags.

The journey can begin …….

What started as an idea more than 4 years ago becomes reality for Anne our son Tim and myself.

We both love traveling and try to explore new destinations almost every holidays. After our son was born we decided together that we should try to give him some of these experiences we collected over the last 15 years back. The plan was born – have a around the world experience with Tim Thien and show him what his parents love.

6 feet – 6 destinations – 4 months – 3 dreams

After more than a year of preparation – discussions – re-plannings – new ideas  and many more hurdles we will start tomorrow on the 7th March 2018 from Zurich to Dubai – spending 5 days in a cool hotel to get used to the quality time in front of us and the exciting new family experience.

pexels-photo-297755.jpeg

  1. Dubai
  2. Vietnam
  3. Western Australia & Cape York
  4. Fidschi
  5. Hawaii
  6. Alaska

We all look forward to a great time and will share our experiences with you who like to follow our dream……….

IMG_2939

                             HP                                                           TIM                                               ANNE

Stay tuned……..

Aloha Hawaii 🌺

After a 6h flight from Nandi we landed on Hawaii 🌺 at Honolulu International Airport. After passing the US immigration – which was much easier than expected – we went to our one night stand hotel “Honolulu Airport Hotel” – perfect for one night……

What we did not expect even knowing it …. we crossed the date boarder and arrived one day earlier.

So…….

Our hotel was booked for the day later….. our connection flight to Kauai was booked a day later ….. our rental car 🚙 on Kauai was booked a day later….. this issues came up at 3 am in the hotel lobby. Luckily we got a room…. for a much higher rate than the day we booked it originally. But luckily and thanks again to very good negotiation skills we had not to pay the second night.

This mistake gave us the opportunity to visits for one day Waikiki Beach 🏝 …. which turned out a a brilliant idea …..

A day we really enjoyed and made appetite for more…..

….. but now hurry up to the airport not to miss our flight to Kauai…..

How to negotiate ….

One of our objectives on the island was to get a.th. made on Fiji from Fijians …. so we ended up in an “Village Shop” from wood carvers ….. the experience was memorable as we never did this kind of tradition before …..

Prepare a special drink (still do not know what it is)…

….. become a member of the chiefs family (this is a son of the chief)

…… discuss and agree…..

Finish of……

….. start working on the agreed deal…..

All of this of course in Island timing ….. better Fiji 🇫🇯 Island 🌴Timing …… 2.5 h to come to an agreement and the products ready for shipping ……

We would always do it again …..

A Day on “Robinson Crusoe Island 🌴 “

After some days in our new and really relaxing 😎 house on Fiji 🇫🇯 we looked for other adventures ….. so we endet up on an Island close to Viti Levu for a cultural Fiji experience …….

The Island Monkey 🐒 he moderated the whole day with a lot of humor.

They always sing 🎶 and dance 💃 wherever we were on Fiji 🇫🇯

FIJI 🇫🇯 dance show

FIJI food and Hot Stone Dancing ….

Stand up paddle and fund at the beach …..

Island crab 🦀 Race with winner Tim

Coconut 🥥 drinks are the best ….

…. and enjoy the sun ☀️ and the Fiji 🇫🇯Gold …..

We enjoyed the day on the island 🌴 we had a lot of fun …. learnings (how to cook in Fiji) and many new impressions about a county nobody knows were it is (besides you love Rugby 🏉)……

BULA FIJI 🇫🇯 …..

Bula (Hello in Fiji) to a great 👍 Island … great People …. great hospitality ….

We had the great fortune to found a house with Heavensdoor from Scott and Christine … a real jewel 💎 with one million dollar views … a great location ….

Our house 🏠….

….our views …….a perfect place….

… our Monster Truck…. Ford Ranger…. again a perfect 👌 car for the island 🌴 of Fiji 🇫🇯

Beach and Sunset 🌅

No. 7 Beach 🏝 of the world….NATADOLA Beach

Wedding 👰 Island….. we saw many of them … mainly Australians or Kiwis decide to get married in Fiji …. all inclusive

A lot of things to see and explore ……

Sydney Zoo and Blue Mountains….. not to miss out

Not to miss out what we did as well in Sydney. We spend some hours in Sydney Zoo and a whole day in the Blue Mountains…….

Some impressions ……

Sydney Zoo

The best located Zoo in the world….

Tim had a lot of fun with the Seals

Australia’s National Animal : EmuEchidna neves see a such a big one before ….

Sleeping 💤 Koala 🐨

Tree Kangaroo

…… and not to forget …. The Wallaby

Blue Mountains

In the Mountains……

Here we have a drop of 300m …. in The Valley every year around 100 hikers get lost… be careful when you hike…

Father and Son… during a great day in the Blue Mountains…

Anne with Tim having a rest after the big stairs

…. the big climber…..

Bye bye Three Sisters…

Bye Bye Australia 🇦🇺 …… with a bit of wistfulness … but after 4 weeks of great experiences we leave our second home ….

Tim and his new friend

Half Time 58 days on the road 58 days to go …..

Even I have not finished all of Sydney We had a special day yesterday …..

….. Half Time …

58 Days on the Road

58 Days to go……

We celebrated this special day with a great 👍 day on the beach and a very good dinner at ” Beach Bar and Grill

Dinner at “Beach Bar and Grill”

Day on the beach 🏖 with Sundowner ……

All of are very happy 😊 and looking forward to the next half of our dream ……

Sydney – see old friends…….

In Cairns we took the cheapest solution to Sydney “Tigerair”. We did not know how strict these airline is with food and drinks BYO (Bring Your Own) to the plane so we rather took care of it before we flew out ….. in Front of Terminal 1 we eat ad drink most of our supplies to avoid any stupid discussion with security…..

In Sydney we lived in a very nice apartment in North Curl Curl ….. to be easier Sydney Northern Beaches. It felt again like a second home….

And even better they have ALDI here in Dee Why…..

Another reason to feel at home……..

…… a cool 😎 house ……

With a cool view …..

And of course our friends…..

Ulrike and Anne at the Split Park

Anne with Paul

Thommy

Thommy with Alexa and Oskar

Kids having fun in the Newport Arms Pub

Tropical North – Cairns – Cape Tribulation – Cooktown

After a good bye dinner with friends in Perth we took the red eye plane to Cairns. All of us did not sleep therefore the mood when we arrived in Cairns was not brilliant.

But we were looking forward to our new adventure and the Monster that should help us make another dream reality – driving from Cairns to Cooktown through the Dschungel from Cape Tribulation…..

The MONSTER – Toyota Landcruiser 70 – 4.5 L Diesel Engine with 170 hp and 135 l petrol ⛽️ in the extended range tank

We received the car with 28 km so brand new… with a rooftop tent and all equipment you need to survive in the wild.

One problem … we totally underestimated the effort to pitch the tent ⛺️ and as our first das was a very rainy day we managed to flood the ground cover and all of us had to sleep in a roof tent that was designed for 2…. a very Cosy night 😀😀😀😀😀

MONSTER with finally correct pitched roof top tent

First night in Cairns visiting the public swimming pool at the ocean park

And back to Cairns with Skyrail

Cairns was really fascinating for us as many things have changed since the first time we’ve been here. Most to better 😀

This we did not go the Barrier Reef as we were more interested in the Dschungel experience on Cape Tribulation and Cooktown….. we did not regret….

Tim with his new friend playing in the Dschungel

Only place for save swimming ….. waterholes as big salt water crocs come to the beach 🏖 in Daintree

Typical Aussie humor 😂🇦🇺

4WD in Daintree National Park

Do you see the croc?

Here itis……

Australia: Ningaloo Reef – Exmouth and Snorkeling with the Whale Sharks

We took a direct plane from Perth to Exmouth …. well direct as Exmouth is almost at the end of the world we had to fly to Learmonth a Aussi Airforce base also utilized force racial transportation. The problem … Learmonth is about 40km south of Exmouth and we did not find a solution for the transport….. after spending several hours with a travel consultant we found out ….

1. No free bus 🚎 to Exmouth

2. You can order a Taxi 🚕 but you have to pay both ways

3. Rental cars 🚗 yes but we could not drop it in Exmouth…..

4. Walking ….. No 40km at 41 degrees Celsius …. No way

So we hired a offshore bus company and were sitting in a bus with some travelers (had provably the same idea) and many offshore gas and oil workers.

Solution worked and we ended up in Exmouth at Wicked Campers – the only company renting 4WD campers out of this remote area. Therefore we had to pay a remote fee of 300 AUD and received a lousy service. The lady who handed over the car made the impression we destroy her day – unfriendly – rude – incompetent…. she was not even able to show us how to pitch the root tent ⛺️. At the first night we found out why…..it was complicated -hard work – and you had a big laugh 😂 on most campgrounds when they saw this Monster…… my family continuously remember me on this camper booking adventure….

The seven step procedure to pitch the roof tent:

1. Get the winches ready e.g. untangle the mess

2. Position the winches on the box

3. Attach the hook to the roof point and move the tent max 50% up

4. Change position – when tent flips over it could hurt you heavily

5. Release support beam

6. Attach support beam….. I never thought this will really support the weight of the tent

7. Get the ESKI out and drink a beer 🍺 for well execution

This took us the first time 60 min. What made some members of the team rather bored…

We managed it to get the time down to 15 min after 10 days of practice.

Ningaloo and Cape Range National Park is famous for the great weather and the wonderful beaches you can find almost anywhere. Big fish 🐠 coming direly to the shore and can be observed from max. 2 m distance…. a really cool experience also the opportunity to snorkel in crystal clear sea water was unbeaten so far.

Torquoise Bay …..

Whale Shark 🦈 boat with a sick Tim (not born for the sea) – more to come

Coral Bay – Main Beach 🏖 – playing soccer ⚽️ with Tim’s new friends