Europe trip 2023

 

We arrived into Talinn about 3pm.

A cute little vintage bus took my interest as soon as I got off so photos sent back to my step father in NZ “look at this bubble bus!”

Messages back that it was a Japanese interpretation of a 50’s bus. Ahh the knowledge base that is my parents.

From asking about snow in Morocco to buses in Estonia. 

We ubered to our accommodation- that APP is SO useful when moving a family round. It is so cheap and a lot of times, unless the kids go free, it’s not worth putting the family on public transport for the price, when you add in the ease of getting someone to pick you all up and drop you off where you want to go, with or without gear, it is just a 1000% worth doing. The interesting conversation from a local has also been such a highlight as we drive.

We spend the next couple of days exploring the city, we’re staying central again. 

We walk through a beautiful park and find the Baltic Sea, oh the sights, smells and sound of the ocean!! 

We wonder round the city taking in the sights. We buy more stuff to add to the collection to take home.

By this time it’s early July and we have daylight for 18.5 hours. Sleep is getting harder! Strangely they don’t have shutters on the windows which we find odd because they must have long cold winters and they’d be really handy then too! 

I repack all our gear again, it’s time to catch a ferry to our final EU country.

Days- 261 days

Countries- 34 countries (35 for me because of going to Spain with Mum – my total country count is now 43) including NZ.

Beds- 60 beds for the fam, (67 for me as they didn’t come to Spain).

Sickness- C had a rash early on in Asia, I had a head cold in Thailand. BK had a quick tummy bug or something in Sri Lanka. Both kids got colds in London when I was in Spain. I put that down to not having their Mum to nag them about using hand sanitizer and washing their hands as soon as they get in the door from being out and about. This meant our extensive travel insurance was unused! Woohoo!!

Familiar faces seen- 24 and it was so lovely to see them all.

Flights- 19 flights (21 for me – Spain return)

The best and worsts for our flights are all the same as the 3 month stats except our best landing was the one back into Auckland. I was fortunate enough to walk through the Auckland airport halls to Duty Free with the pilot so I told him so!

 

Top 3 things I learnt.

I am not a teacher. Never again.

Juggling BK’s work with everything was much more difficult than both of us ever imagined. We had to be much more intentional about it.

I’m awesome at keeping my family on a budget. Yay me!

 

Roughest Day- Still that land crossing day from Thailand to Cambodia that went from bad to worse.

 

Best Day – So many highlights it’s very difficult to choose so I’ve chosen one for each continent.

Asia – The elephant experience in Thailand was a stand out.

Europe – Legoland still gets talked about a lot and was, strangely, enjoyed more than Disney (but that’s probably all to do with crowds and wait times).

 

Favourite Country.

Mine has to be split into continents again so  Asia – Taiwan & Singapore / Europe – Croatia

C loved Thailand & Sri Lanka

R has no idea

BK really enjoyed England!

 

And now the figures you’ve all been waiting for

Day to day living costs-  $44,933

Flights, 4x rental cars, Eurostar, vaccinations, travel insurance and the Camino tour- $21,438

Total trip cost- $66,371 ($254 a day or 63.57 per person per day)

 

#nailedit

 

Now onto the next adventure….

 

Team Knowles, over and out! ‍‍‍

 

(Disclaimer- this is not the entire cost of those months away, we still paid business overheads, storage, school fees and a bunch of other stuff at home BUT it would definitely be cheaper to be on the road than live our lives at home if we had ‘gotten rid of everything’).

 

 

Hello Spain – Camino de Santiago

 

We had a few days in the midlands of England after we left Ireland. Then it was to one of London’s many airports so Mum and I could fly to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. BK and the kids went to an Airbnb in London.

 

Mum and I flew to Spain to go on a walking holiday with an organised group. We were going to walk the last 115km of the Camino de Santiago over 6 days. After a smooth flight we arrived to 30+ degrees. We had a bit of luck when the bus from the airport to the city stopped right outside our hotel! The most famous sight to see in Santiago de Compostela is the cathedral so that was of course our first stop. And it was beautiful. The following day we went inside the cathedral and also caught a tourist road train around the city before bussing out to the airport to meet up with our tour group. Once we had everyone we were transferred about 2 hours drive away to a hotel at the start of our walk. We had dinner very late followed by an even later briefing meeting We were in for a week of early starts and late finishes!

 

We were up early the next day and were excited to get started on the walk. It was a misty morning which was a welcome start as it was going to be a hot day (34+ degrees)! We started walking at 8am after doing some stretching and walked the first 22km of the trip. When we reached the hotel many hours later I was pleased to find it had a pool so I threw my togs on and jumped in to cool down as soon as we arrived. I enjoyed the dinner, the starter was a big chunk of melon. The dessert was custard – my fave!!

 

The next day few days were the same routine, a good buffet breakfast filled us up and after our morning stretching we were off around 8am each day. We all walked at our own pace. Mum and I got in to the hotels first each day as we didn’t like to stop for long and let our muscles go cold, as it was hard to get started again!! Once we arrived at our destination for that day we had showers and then into bed for a rest/sleep. We then met up with our group for dinner and a briefing meeting before falling into bed!

 

The temperatures got much more bearable as the week went on, one day it even rained on us.

The food was hit and miss for me as there was a lot of vegetable soup for the entrees and seafood for the main courses, neither of which I eat! The hotels we stayed at were nice. And the benefit of doing it as an organised group meant our luggage was transferred between each of our hotels so we didn’t have to carry it!

 

In our group was us 2 Kiwis, 2 English, 5 Irish, 4 American and one Spaniard guide. We became like a family and we got a ‘What’s App’ group together to share photos and let our tour leader/guide how we were progressing along the walk. I think we’ll be friends for life. It was great to meet some awesome Irish people after we’d done Ireland last month. It was a little unfortunate we didn’t meet them before we went to Ireland.

 

Our whole group was successful and got to the end of the walk with no injury. We each got a certificate of completion which will be highly treasured. Mum acquired a blister on the last night of the trail wearing her sandals for a couple of hours during dinner. I got none! (Plenty of others in the group got them early on). Before we started we thought after it we’d finished we would be totally exhausted and unable to walk, but, while we are tired, our bodies are perfectly fine.

 

The day after we finished we took a bus trip to ‘the end of the world’ Fisterra, Spain. We found the 0,000 km marker for the Camino so had photos with that and saw the lighthouse. It was a long day on a bus but it was so beautiful out there on the Atlantic coast.

 

So after 9 days in Spain Mum and I are off back to London for a few days with the family and then homeward bound.

 

The next, and final, blog will be a bunch of stats covering the entire trip.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

It was going to be a long day to get from England to where we were staying in Ireland so we left our Airbnb early and glided down to the airport. We checked in and attempted to progress through security…Mum and R failed the person scan but once patted down and swabbed were fine. BK and C’s carry on bags failed. BK had coffee in his bag but got to keep it, C had a pocket knife in his bag, he didn’t get to keep it! Me and my bag, were not a security risk! It was a very short flight, barely time to get to our cruising altitude before we started our descent. We picked up our rental car and headed to Northern Ireland (the bit still owned by the UK) to a cute seaside village called Castlerock (apparently it is named after a rock that looks like a castle which you can’t see anymore because it’s covered with sand.)

The next eight days in Northern Ireland were a mix of rest and sight seeing. We saw Giant’s Causeway, which is a bunch of pentagon and hexagon shaped rocks all linked together. I loved the rugged West Coast of NZ look. BK visited a whiskey distillery called Bushmills. We had a day in Belfast where C and I went to the Titanic museum. It had lots of Belfast history then it moved on to getting the ship built and launched. Not so much on the actual sinking. Then there was a bit about the aftermath of the sinking and a lot about all the technology used to find the wreck. It was very interesting. I got C a kids audio guide and he proudly told me that when they were building the ship the workers were only allowed seven minutes per day to use the toilet. He also told me that there was only two toilets to serve the 700+ third class passengers onboard! Yucky! The museum was built right beside where the ship had been built. Outside they have indicated on the ground how big the ship was and where the funnels and lifeboats were placed. We walked the whole length, it was huge! There was a cruise ship in port and I pondered how big it would have been compared to that one. While we were doing that Mum bought BK a private tour of Belfast’s history for his birthday (which is in October) so they went on that with R. The day worked out well with everyone seeing what they wanted too.

On another one of the days in Northern Ireland, BK, Mum and Connor took the train to Londonderry. They managed to unknowingly choose the busiest day of the year with 147 marching bands (which was about 10,000 people!) marching down the street celebrating the end of the siege 400 years ago. After a day of rest Mum and I took the kids to the next town over from where we were staying, Coleraine. I’m not normally a person who likes browsing shops but I didn’t mind that day. Also we saw a busker who had a sign saying he was traveling the world and had been to 57 countries so when he stopped for a break I went up and chatted. He’d been on the road for four years including being in New Zealand for three months and had busked outside Countdown in Tauranga! What a small world. Other than that we went for lots of walks and saw the Mussenden Temple (which actually was a library, not anything like a temple!)

Then we moved south into Ireland, and back to the Euro currency. We stayed on a working farm about an hour east of Dublin for three nights. C enjoyed going to the milking shed each morning to help with the last few cows. We only had one day in Dublin itself so we headed in early. Mum, C and I went to see the Book of Kells (Google it) and the old library at Trinity College. The book was a bit of a let down. It could have been displayed better. But the old library! It was amazing, so beautiful. It definitely didn’t disappoint. Then it was a trip round on a Hop On Hop Off bus. We didn’t hop off until we got all the way around the circuit. We met up with BK and swapped him my bus ticket for R. He had wanted to see the Kilmainham Gaol (old jail) but all the tours were full. So around the circuit he went. We met up again later and he took both kids to the Natural History Museum, otherwise known to locals as ‘The Dead Zoo’ and Mum and I did our own walking tour. A full and expensive day but a good day.

After a rest day we moved a few hours further south to a cute riverside town for a week. There are lots of things to do in the south so we set to it. The first day we went into Limerick and drove around. It was very quiet because there was a Hurling final on (their national sport) and Limerick was one of the teams playing. The boys watched it in the pub when we got back and I’m pleased to report, Limerick won! Youtube it. It’s an interesting game!

Next up was a drive 1.5 hours south to Blarney Castle. My Nana went there when I was about 9 years old and I’ve wanted to go ever since. So I did. There’s a stone to kiss at the top, this involves you sitting, leaning backwards over the top edge and kissing it, C went first – he did great, germ-a-phobe me went next. I lent back but kissed my hand and patted the stone as there was no way I was putting my lips near that stone thousands of people kiss a day. Gross. We then had a drive through Cork and out to a cute seaside village called Cobh. This was the last port of call the Titanic set off from before sinking.

The following day we drove another 1.5 hours in the other direction out to one of the most famous landmarks in Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher. After doing the trick of parking outside and walking in for free, it was good to see them. Though I can’t say they were a top attraction for me. There were lots and lots of tourists so we didn’t stay long. Then we headed up to Galway. We saw a lady doing Irish dancing which the kids enjoyed watching and we did a walking tour.

We carried on the touristing the next day with a 35 minute drive to Bunratty Castle and folk park. We turned up at opening time so almost had the whole place to ourselves for a while. It was a  great castle to explore with lots of antique furniture. The folk park is similar to a historic park, there were cottages, shops, a church and a school. The forecast had been for fine weather but it was wrong  so we wandered around in the misty light rain. That afternoon was spent relaxing and doing some school work.

After a couple of days of rest it was time to go back to Dublin to drop the car off and head to our next destination. We had a few hours to spare before our flight that evening so Mum bought me tickets to Riverdance as my birthday present (in November) and BK and the kids stayed at the airport with the luggage. It was a fantastic show, we were glad we went and saw it.

Budget – $753 under

Which is good going because the southern bit of the island or Ireland is really expensive!!!!!

 

Till next time,

Claire

After we arrived at our Airbnb flat in London and dumped our gear, we headed off to my Aunty and Uncle’s for dinner. On the way we realised we’d been without the English language for just 5 days short of 7 months. We could understand what everyone was saying! Even the train and bus announcements!! It was wonderful! We had a lovely evening with them, great food, great company, and the kids were totally spoilt! Thank you Aunty & Uncle.

The following day we had a slow start, BK did some work then headed off to see a friend and the kids and I spent the afternoon back with my Aunt and Uncle and explored the beautiful Kew Gardens together. So BK got a good chunk of work in and the kids and I enjoyed an afternoon out and about.

For our last full day in London we got up early and took the underground to the other side of the city. Actually to the city of London. Did you know London is actually two cities squashed together? One is called London (a tiny banking district), the other is called Westminster (the bigger area everyone knows as London). Then we took a local bus to see the sights rather than pay some horrendous amount for a hop on off off. This is how Team Knowles rolls (and how that budget is going so well). I had got the idea from a blog which described each building and what it was used for so it wasn’t boring just looking at buildings and guessing what they were. Instead I could tell the family what they were or what to look out for. Here is the blog I got the information from if you wanted to do the same.

As the day went on I watched Mum’s flight make its way across the world to London, it was running an hour early at one point so it headed to the airport early to ‘pick her up’ (actually guide her onto a train back to our flat). It had been a long 7 months without her! Once she got there it was lots of chats and sorting my stuff (souvenirs etc) into a big mostly empty suitcase she had brought over. Which was going to be stored at a friend’s till we go home in September. After a good sleep it was time to leave London. We’ll be back again later in the trip for some museums and palace fun.

BK picked up a rental car and we drove out to a friend of Mum’s. She feed us all the most lovely lunch! No dinner was required that day. Mum stayed in Essex and we drove out to Norwich. We decided we’d go for a canal boat trip the next day on the Norfolk broads. We putted around for an hour then had a pub lunch at a brewery BK wanted to visit. Then we went out to the beach and saw a family of seals having a lovely time diving in and out of the water.

After all that moving around recently we had a rest day was in order for the following day. However we did manage to get some fish n chips for tea. We were going to sit in a park and eat them but due to the awful heatwave we sat in the air conditioned car and looked at the very brown grass!! A few days later I saw that our area had recorded the hottest temp of the year that day. 34.7 degrees Celsius I think it was. Hot for England! C also managed to get another sting, a wasp this time!

Then it was off to Dorset. We stayed in a cute village of cobb houses (made of mud, thatched roofs) called Milton Abbas. It had a pub and a post shop. There was a beautiful Abbey with attached private school close by too. We walked there every day. We found their cafe/school tuck shop and enjoyed the cheap drinks and food. Schools out for summer at the moment so we didn’t gate crash the students! The weather finally cooled down and we had some rain. Mum came to join us too.

One of the days we went on a trip to a seaside town called Beer. First we went to a place called Pecorama which had mini steam trains which you can ride on. Bigger than the ones at memorial park but not by much, about the size of the one in Palmerston North if you’ve been to that park. Then we had a walk through the gardens, where Mum got a wasp sting!! What is it about Europe and stings! The kids found a soft play area (think mini chipmunks) so they played and us adults sat outside and ate the lunch we’d brought along.

Mum and I then walked into the little town and Bk fed the kids and saw a little train exhibition where apparently you could control your own model train.

Next it was to Honiton. Apparently my Father’s side of the family lived there before they left for NZ, but I’m 4th or 5th generation kiwi on his side so I couldn’t really connect to the place. We did see a nice lace museum which had a fantastic age appropriate scavenger hunts for the kids. We loved our time in Dorset. Everyone was extra friendly and everything was calm and chill. We also enjoyed our first Sunday carvery lunch. Yum but oh so much food!! Thank you Aunty & Uncle for letting us stay in your cute cottage💗

4 days before we were due to move on we had our first Airbnb fail. Our host cancelled on us for our next stay (which I had booked back in February!!) in Derby. It being the peak season and busiest month of the year, it took me an entire day to sort out somewhere else to stay. We ended up doing a night in a youth hostel family room before moving on to another airbnb for the remainder of the time. I had been waiting all year for something to go wrong with Airbnb but couldn’t quite believe it finally happened.

So then it was then off to Derby (and our new found accommodation), where Mum was born and lived until she was 5 (she then got on a ship with her family and immigrated to NZ). The following 4 days were a mix of hanging out with the extended family, exploring Mum’s old neighborhood, another Sunday carvery lunch, and shopping (new jeans for me, yay!). Bk also bought me a beautiful gold bracelet – been nagging, i mean asking, him for 2-3 years, finally he gave in and purchased it from where my Dad bought my Mum her engagement ring. (Do you remember the name of the store, Dad??)

Then it was time to clean the rental car, downsize our gear and head off to airport, for the first time since March.
Stay tuned for dramas we had going through security!! 😄

Till next time,

Claire

 

Budget update
England : $673 under
Disclaimer – Does not include gold bracelet!

Leaving the camp we had been staying in we drove only a few hours to an area Brittany, still in France. We splurged a bit on this Airbnb and enjoyed the extra comforts that got us. After unpacking BK took the kids to explore the property, in bare feet and unfortunately C stood on a bee but he was very brave.

The first day we went to see the local area. We had seen a photo of a pretty canal lock so thought we’d get a French pastry and sit and watch to see if it got used and it did! It was fascinating for all of us to watch. Not much else happened that day due to C’s swollen foot.

The following day we drove out to Mont St Michel, which is an old town and church on a hill on an island. Back in the day you could only access it at low tide. Now there’s a bridge, and a bus, so we took that! BK and C sat in a cafe while R and I explored the church further up.

We were so glad we went early as by the time we left at 11.30 the island was choca, there was loooooooong queues of buses coming onto the island (luckily no queue for us either way on the bus!) and it was really hot!!

The next day we shifted another 2 hours drive away into the Normandy region, known for the D-Day landings. BK and I had been to this region of France before on our 2007 trip but had done a tour which follows paratroopers. So we missed the beaches and American cemetery. The day after we arrived it was perfect weather so we got it done! It was a great day. The beaches were amazing with D-Day well remembered. The American cemetery was beautiful but heart breaking as one realises there are 9000+ graves (we later found out there was another American cemetery in Brittany with 4000+ graves – very sobering).

The rest of that week we really did nothing much apart from clean the car. We knew the pace was about to pick up from now until the end of our trip so we took the opportunity to just lie low, rest and eat some great French pastries (yes I have managed to gain back that weight I lost in Asia but I’m not worried about it at all, it’ll come off before I’m home)

Then the bittersweet day came. Time to drive to Paris and say goodbye to Rouge. We had her for 121 days and drove 14,300km. I had arranged to dump our gear at our Airbnb thinking the less times we have to lug that gear around public transport the better, and when we arrived the apartment was ready so I stayed with the kids and BK dropped the car off (with no issues thank goodness – we are still waiting for our two Italian fines to show up). Bye little Rouge! You helped us make so many wonderful memories.

We drove you in all conditions from slow in the -2 degrees and snow on the Swiss Alps to 38 degrees and fast on the German autobahns.

It was time to explore Paris. We had been twice pre kids, and we didn’t love it as much as so many people do so we were hoping this time it would be ‘third time lucky’. We stayed in a lovely little area out of central Paris, we weren’t pushed to ‘do everything’ as we had already but were keen to show the kids the main sights. We checked out the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. One day and I took C to the Musée d’Orsay where he saw some Monet paintings he knew from his Montessori preschool days. A great art education for both of us. The following day BK took the kids to the science museum while I had a few hours of peace and quiet. So while no school work was done in Paris everyone certainly got educated! A really great Paris experience. Third time lucky ✔

Then it was time to down size our stuff as much as possible so we didn’t look like too much of a circus as we made our way to London. We Uber’d to the train station in Paris for €11 (it would have cost us €5 on the train so not that much more for the ease of being taken). Lugged our gear onto the Eurostar train then sped our way across France at 260 km per hour, under the English Channel and into England. A fantastic experience for all. We took the underground tube to our flat in London and was very glad when that travel day was over! United Kingdom here we come!

 

France Budget : a ridiculous 2410 under
There were a lot of days this month that were spent resting (and eating pastries). Disney was sponsored by a grandparent so that wasn’t put into the budget.

Till next time,

Claire

It was goodbye to the FREE no speed limit autobahns of Germany and back to tolled 130 km speed limit motorways as we arrived in France. We will be here for a month, staying in 5 different places in that time, this blog post is about the first two weeks. These two weeks were meant to be the south of France and Barcelona, Spain but after some long travel days a month or two ago we bailed on that idea due to the length of time it would take to get all the way down there and back.

 

The first week we stayed about an hour north east of Paris in a quiet rural town. BK found a co-working space in the next city over so did 3 days of work there. On one of the days he wasn’t working we headed into Disneyland, Paris. BK and I have been to the one in Los Angeles (pre kids) so we knew what to expect. We also knew a family who went at the end of last year and another one in April this year. So along with their comments, a ton of blog reading and youtube watching, I was pretty clued up on how to do Disneyland with kids. We mastered the FastPass system. I had bought a supermarket load of food the day before so we didn’t have to buy overpriced rubbish there. I made up snack packs to give everyone as we waited in the long lines (we only waited in 2 lines that were 45+ minutes long so that was a plus!) And water and water and water!! We arrived on time for opening at 9.30am and got our FastPasses working straight away. First it was rides, rides and more rides, then R and I took a break and watched a show with a bunch of characters celebrating the park turning 25. Followed by more rides. Then another break for lunch and a ‘character meet’ with Pluto! 🐶 Then more rides and another show for R and I – this time princesses! After that we staked out an excellent place on a curb for the parade. Finally one more ride, our fave, Thunder Mountain and we left at 8.30pm. A visit to McDonald’s to get an ice cream and a salad wrap each, and we rolled in the door at 9.45pm. I purchased one thing all day – a Minnie Mouse soft toy. I got a Mickey Mouse soft toy from California, so I purchased him a French wife 😄 🇫🇷 I did find a Christmas store onsite but I restrained myself!

 

My top tips for Disneyland would be:

🔸Take food in!! I didn’t even look at the prices this time but I know they are horrendous for average food and long wait times. Eating while standing in lines is a great time passer. Keep everyone fuelled, not with heavy stuff that doesn’t suit roller coasters…if you know what I mean 🤮

🔸Master the FastPass system, to the minute. As soon as the time comes up, get another one started, THEN go on the ride you’ve been waiting for. Get time working for you. 🕒

🔸If you’re carrying around drink bottles in the same bag as your electronics, put the electronics in a snap lock bag. I did and was very glad when wee boy tried to be helpful but accidently knocked a drink bottle lid off as he put something back into the bag, next minute, soaked bag, but dry phone/Wi-Fi unit/ power bank/cables. Phew. 📱

 

The rest of the week was rest and laundry and a tiny bit of school. We did pop into the next town over to have a look and a walk. School work is slowly grinding to a halt as I run out of resources. C does have comprehension book he’s working through but R doesn’t. However by the time you’re reading this my Mum should be here to refill the resources, so we should be up and going again soon. I’m not too worried about it. Their school will fix them (haha, jokes, I know you’re reading this Marcus!).

 

The following week we drove south to the coast for some ‘glamping’, like we did in Austria. The most exciting bit for this Mum was the kids club! I love my kids but oh I miss my own space! When we arrived it was 34 degrees, hot! I got the run down on the park, the kids events crew were milling around so we met them and I answered their (bazillion) questions about our trip. Then it was unpack and into the pool! That evening a thunderstorm was forecast and at 1am it showed up, right above us! For the next 2 hours it rumbled and did it’s lightening thing so not much sleep was had! Finally we got back to sleep only to be woken up by little Miss R screaming at full volume at 6am (her daddy moves REAL fast when she screams, it’s quite hilarious…and cute) a huge spider had crawled on her and no way was she staying in her bed anymore. So in with us it was. Sleep.

 

The next few days were a mix of walks and exploring the local area but making sure we were back onsite for kids club sessions! The kids got their faces painted a few times, played on the playground, made friends with other kids and played at their tents.

 

The week was topped off by the Tour de France bike race coming past. We watched the caravan (parade) as a family in the hot sun, then got some lunch, BK and R didn’t want to come back out to see the cyclists so C and I found a nice patch of shade to sit in, till we heard several helicopters, which could only mean one thing and up we jumped! The first 3 riders were 4 or so minutes ahead of the main bunch, I took a photo of them then got video of the rest coming past. An American rider was trailing the big bunch because apparently he’d crashed at the ‘feed zone’ a few kilometres back so he wasn’t happy.

 

Yep so that was the first two weeks in France, onward we go! No budget update, I’ll do one for the whole time in France.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

Dresden + Gorlitz/Zgorzelec and Berlin

 

Because we had driven on the back roads between Austria and Pilsen, driving into Dresden we got our first taste of the German autobahns (highways). We’d been told there’s no speed limit but a bazillion trucks. Wow that sure was correct! We enjoyed the 3 lane highways the most (due to trucks passing trucks) and most of the time we sat between 130km p/h (the normal speed for highways in Europe) and 150km p/h (about as fast as Rouge comfortably goes) and had cars woooosssssh past us.

 

We checked into our apartment in the outskirts of Dresden, and were told not to go into the city as a couple of days earlier some guys on a building site had found a WWII bomb that hadn’t gone off, so specialists had been working on defusing it but had been having issues with the detonator. Apparently it did explode a bit and catch fire, but no one was harmed and they got it sorted within 24 hours of us arriving in Dresden. Phew. So we chose not to go into Dresden the next day while all that was going on and drove to Poland instead. We drove across the border and had a look around before realising they did not use the Euro and we were not changing any money just to get coins for parking! So we went back to Germany to park and then we walked over a bridge into Poland and along the river bank until we found a restaurant for lunch. BK had a Polish dish called borsch which was a sour beetroot soup that he really enjoyed. The rest of us had pancakes. Turns out Polish pancakes are just like the rest of the world’s pancakes! 😝 Then it was back to Germany in a rush as BK had booked hair cuts for him and C.

 

The following day we braved Dresden and were surprised to find that parking was really easy! We had a walk around and could easily see which bits of the city/buildings were original and which had been rebuilt since the carpet bombing/fire of WWII. A stroll along the river was lovely and we even came across the shopping street my Mum got lost 10 years ago when she was in Europe. I reenacted several photos for her just to be funny! 😄😄 We also hit up a cheap clothes store called Primark and spent $83 NZD on replacing clothes, this got added to the daily budget. So that was our express trip to Dresden and Poland!

 

After that it was a quick drive to Berlin, less than 2 hours. A late check out at our place in Dresden meant we could just drive between the two places rather than waste some hours. We don’t leave our car when it’s full with our gear so that restricts what we can do on travel days. Berlin was very hot, 30+ degrees every day. Our hosts were amazing, almost as awesome as our Zagreb (Croatia) ones. Funnily enough it was the same kind of situation, them downstairs, us upstairs. After an incredibly informative check in we tried to go for a swim at a swimming pool but couldn’t find a carpark 🙄 We even played the game, you know, watch for someone to come out the door and head for their car, then slowly and stalker-ishly drive after them and hope to get their parking space. Nope, didn’t work for us. We did a day of sightseeing in Berlin, and again, as this is a city BK and I had been to we didn’t want to do the same walking tour we had done before. So we did it by boat. Unfortunately the English audio guide didn’t work very well and so that was a waste of €4.

We snuck a bakery lunch on board which kept us going in the extreme heat (haha this blog is really showing you our true colours, stalking car parks and sneaking cheap bakery lunches onto boats). After that it was a bus ride to Checkpoint Charlie. It was double decker bus that picked us up and when we got on we could feel the air con wasn’t quite right and then it totally clapped out. So imagine us, on the top level of a mostly full bus, 33 degrees outside. Yep. It was gross! The bus driver stopped in the middle of a traffic jam to come upstairs and unlock the small windows to let some kind of air in which still didn’t help much.

So that was 10 minutes of character building, or something! Gelato helped the situation when we got off.

When were in Berlin 10 years ago Checkpoint Charlie had been quickly covered on our walking tour so this time we got to actually take it all in at a leisurely pace. Then it was back on the train and to our apartment to rest and cool off.

The following day we enjoyed a rest day, you know the drill, laundry, supermarket, school work. We also visited an asparagus and strawberry farm on our hosts recommendation. BK used his best German to get across what we wanted to an older lady but a younger girl had great English and after hearing where we were from exclaimed we were very far from home. Yeah, tell us about it!

The next day we went into Berlin again, this time to our first aquarium of the trip. BK and I have been to aquariums all over the world and we were not disappointed, even seeing fish we’d never seen before.(Google: Leafy Seadragon) It was well set out and the kids were really engaged.
My favorite tank was one where it there was a convex dome. The fish came right up to you. It was amazing and looked so computer generated! In fact I spent a lot of time saying to BK, “Is this real or CGI?”
At the end there was a buzz about an ‘Aqua Dome’ so we were all for it and lined up to enter. We went into a circle shaped lift, then up through the centre of a giant fish tank. it was 25 meters high and took 8 minutes to ascend/descend, it was totally amazing! Apparently it’s the biggest cylindrical tank in the world at holding 1 million litres of water. Wow!

The tank was in a hotel lobby which had rooms facing it. You wouldn’t want to have the curtains open when you forgot to take your clothes to the shower, huh!! I felt the tank should be more heavily stocked with fish but my fish obsessed husband tells me that a) 1 million litres takes a lot of fish and money, and b) you can’t stock a vertical tank as much as a horizontal tank, it’s not good for the fish!

 

And that was Berlin.

 

Now we leave Germany for a couple of weeks, but we’ll be back for another week later on.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget update :

Germany P1 : $305 under

Total budget : $4137 under

We came out of the Austrian mountains, into Germany for a bit then finally into Pilsen, Czechia. It was an easy check in to the apartment. We ended up loving this Airbnb, from the furniture to the crockery to the internet speed. I took photos of a high back chair and the couch and hope to find similar in NZ for our collection. Next year’s goal is to not to travel the world but to finish renovating our house.

 

First on the to do list was a brewery tour, Pilsner Urquell to be exact. It was a hot day so we went in our singlets but knew they’d take us to the 5 degree cellar so took fleeces and jackets with us. There will be a photo coming on Facebook of me all bundled up. It was a great 90 minute tour finished off with tasting unfiltered beer which BK thought was the best thing ever! I had 2 sips but it was a bit tart for my liking. We purchased two beer glasses, to add to the growing pile of stuff we lug around before we finally take it home to NZ.

 

The following day we drove to Prague, we parked in the suburbs and took the subway into the city. After walking around a bit and seeing some of the main sights such as, the river, the old town, the dancing house and having a turn on a playground, everyone was a bit over it so we headed back to our apartment in Pilsen for an early night. Prague was a nice city and another day there would have been great.

 

After a big sleep and a slow start to the day, BK had a bunch of work to do so the kids and I went to our first science museum, it was very hands on. I tried to explain the science behind everything they were doing, at their level, which sometimes they were interested in but sometimes they just wanted to do the activity to see what happened. A lot of it was high school level physics and went entirely over their heads. There was a part for under 8’s which R particularly enjoyed. Some school groups came through and a couple of the kids weren’t very nice to my kids which tainted the visit a bit but we still had a good time and after 4 hours I dragged the kids out the door! Techmania Science Centre in Pilsen, is definitely worth the visit. First bit of science for the whole trip ✔️

 

So it was a short visit to Czechia but great to finally see the area. One thing that stood out to us was everyone’s courteous driving. A big high ✋🏻 from Team Knowles! Awesome work Czechia 😎

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget update :

Czechia : $339 under

Total budget : $3832 under

It was a long drive up into Austria but we were happy to find much cheaper petrol and our destination, a very cool campground.

 

We had booked through Eurocamp.co.uk and got a 3 bedroom cabin. Though a bit cold at night it was well set up and easy to live in for a week. The camp had an onsite kids club running, which had 2 morning sessions and an afternoon session so for most of the week the kids went there. BK found an onsite library so he got some work in while the kids were at the kids club. I was happy to have some much needed peace and quiet while everyone was out of the cabin. The rain set in for a few days so no one was very motivated to explore further afield than the camp.

 

We celebrated C’s birthday during the week. At the supermarket I found a make you own cake in a box, just add eggs/butter/water, and thought to myself “I can do that”, then proceeded to march myself to the onsite camp restaurant and ask to borrow a cake tin, which they kindly obliged! When he woke up to balloons everywhere, a cake and gifts on the table he was very pleased so that was a winner! He had a great day despite the rain.

 

Little R went to the kids club by herself that day which she never ever would have done a year ago. We are so proud of our wee girl’s personal growth during this trip, it’s been so lovely to watch her spread her wings and take on the world. So much thanks to her teacher last year for working so hard on not only R’s education but also her emotional side too. We love you Mrs B! Forever grateful! 💜

 

By Friday it had fined up so we did the things we were meant to on C’s birthday. We played mini golf and went on an Austrian style luge which they call a toboggan. It was attached to rails (like a roller coaster) as opposed to driving on a track like the type of luge we were familiar with but the fundamentals were the same, drive your self, in a cart, down a mountain…at speed! The boys went together on one cart and the girls in the other. I was instructed plenty of times to slow down by my passenger, she wouldn’t have done well in a cart with her Dad, I was slow compared to him! 😄😄😄

 

The following day we woke up to blue skies. We had come to this area of Austria for one reason, 10 years ago when we were in Europe we did a bit of a WWII stuff, we followed the Band of Brothers TV series and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere several times exploring where they had been (I, to this day, have never seen the series!) Anyway, they were the company to come across Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden after the war ended. The un-researched young us pitched up at the start of winter trying to see an alpine area, only to find it was shut for the season! ☹️ So, take 2 in 2018, we turned up on a great day, took a bus to a very gold elevator and were taken up into the house, which is now a restaurant. We looked around, ate apple cake and enjoyed the views. R found some snow on the ground and formed it into a ball to throw at her brother, except she missed and got a lady! 😲 Fortunately the lady took it well and we all had a laugh together.

 

It’s time to continue the trip north!

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget update:

Austria : $581 under

Total budget : $3493 under

It appears to me I either way over budgeted or I’m awesome at keeping the fam on the straight and narrow after 2017’s efforts of hard core saving! Either way, yay!