Full Circle

July 6th and I am sitting in LAX (Los Angeles Airport) waiting for the flight home. The photo attached was taken in almost the same place on the way out, so I have come a full circle.  No photo this time as I am on my own. Russell has stayed on with family in Cleveland and then will head to Boston to attend Harvard. I am eager to get home and join the family celebrations with the anticipated arrival of a new grandchild. I am marvelling at technology as I receive updates on the progress of our new grandchild into the world in real time, and remember back to delivering a child in Papua New Guinea and my mother only hearing about it when it was all over! It would have been two days between her hearing that we were going to the hospital and finally getting news of the child's safe arrival from us.

Looking back over our adventures as recorded in this blog I feel like I haven’t recorded the half of it and hope to go back and fill in a lot of gaps before we forget the details. Every day we appreciate how blessed we have been to have received this opportunity and are thankful to the people who have enabled us to go away for twelve weeks. Obviously the Woolf Fisher Foundation who gave us the impetus, but also our family, friends and colleagues (who are friends) have added to their loads to make this possible and we recognise this and are truly grateful.

We have learnt so much and have simply enjoyed being curious and going from experience to experience and soaking up ‘stuff’ and making connections. We have connected ideas and people, dredged up memories long forgotten and added new ones.

This is not the last post, but there is a sense of rightness in noting that I was here on April 30th, looking forward to an amazing adventure, and here I am on July 6th having lived it and more.

Green Water

I had to laugh when I saw this sign in the shower at the airport in LAX. I am quite sceptical of the energy saving notices in commercial establishments when they relate to water.  In this case it meant that the water pressure was so low it took three times as long to shower and wash the shampoo out of your hair so they would have been better providing normal pressure and getting you out of the shower faster.

Many of the places we have stayed have displayed a sign similar to this telling us that if we reuse our towel we will be saving the planet.  I would be a lot more convinced if they also provided plugs in the sink.  We have stayed in 20+ different accommodations in our travels and the ONLY places to consistently provide plugs in sinks were the homes of our families.  In some places there was no plug in the kitchen sink, many either had no plug at all in the bathroom, or it leaked rapidly and was completely ineffectual.

In some places we had no option but to wash our clothes under running showers as they provided no washing facilities and no plugs in basins.

I will believe these signs are more than money saving gestures for the hotels when they do their bit by providing well sealed plugs in the basins.

Travelling Companions

There is no doubt at all about who was the best travelling companion on this trip - especially now I am completing the journey on my own.

But there have been a couple of other items that must be mentioned. The first is my trusty Trakdot. I bought this fabulous device back in 2013 after seeing it in a gadget magazine.  I had had a bad experience losing my luggage in LAX and this wee device seemed like just what I needed.  I have used it nearly every time I have flown since, from local trips in NZ to Asia to the UK, from Australia to Europe to the USA and it always delivers. When I land I get an SMS and an email from my suitcase telling me where it is in the world. And if I have my bluetooth on I usually get advance notice that my bag will be appearing on the luggage carousal any moment. It is wonderful.  I did note on one flight this trip that TSA seem to have taken an interest in it.  I had the notice inside my suitcase that TSA had been borrowing through it and my Trakdot had moved from the bottom of the case to sitting on the top. But nothing was said, so it must have been deemed kosher.

The notification emailed reads:

Your Trakdot device: NamedXX is indicating its location is within the area of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). If this is a final destination of a flight you are on, proceed to baggage claim to pick up your luggage. If you are at your final destination, but it is not the location of your Trakdot luggage, then proceed to your carrier's Baggage Claim Office and arrange for the luggage to be sent to you from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).Battery: Full.

The other must have is the app TripIt Pro. All your travels in one place. You download the app on your phone and you sign up to create an account with them. The Pro Upgrade costs a fee that is well worth it.  I had to allow access to my GMail, and then it takes every travel looking document and adds them to my TripIt account.  From there it handles all my bookings like a travel agent sending me notices 24 hrs in advance that I need to check in, what Gates and terminals and even tracks my seats.  It informs me of flight delays, Gate changes etc on the day right up to boarding. It provides maps and information about the arrival destination as part of the deal. My human travelling companion has come to accept that TripIt will always be the first to let us know of any travel changes.  I have stood in an Air NZ terminal, with the AirNZ app on my phone, and TripIt has informed me of flight changes before AirNZ themselves do - every time. It is well worth the investment.

Notifications received like this:

TripIt Pro alert: Connection summary for DTW DL 98 arrived at DTW and will disembark at terminal M, gate A3.Your connection DL 5264 (DTW to CLE) is currently ON TIME departing from terminal M, gate A61, at 5:45pm EDT. You have 1h, 53m to make your connection.For help or changes, contact FLIGHT CENTRE BROKER JIM: 09 815 6675; Delta Air Lines: 1-800-221-1212View your trip to access the latest flight status information.Happy travels,The TripIt Pro team

Happy Place

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

From our arrival at the small airport (Wellington size), to our stay in a condo, to the conference, to the time spent on the beach, to our departure through TSA we experienced unfailing friendliness, helpfulness and genuinely happy people.

We highly recommend this place as a travel destination.

The beach itself is an endless stretch of white sand which is both long and wide, with choppy surf, and balmy tropical water temperature and atmosphere. An extensive stretch of sand pools form between the soft sand and the surf, creating warm pools for children and those who are content to wallow. And the concept of burn time which governs our lives on the beach in NZ doesn’t appear to feature as you don’t seem to burn!  Lots of surf life saving teams on the beach as there was quite a strong drag in the surf while we were there, so only confident swimmers were out in it.

We are blessed to live in a country with stunning beaches and to have sought out beach paradises in many parts of the world, including PNG. But the thing that struck us about Myrtle Beach was how happy everyone was.  Groups of people enjoying themselves in all kinds of ways.  There were those lined up under the obligatory hotel umbrellas with two loungers, but the majority of people had other ways of doing ‘holiday at the beach’.  On my last walk along the beach I took my phone to try and capture some of it to preserve this feel good memory.

Welcome to Portland

Our first impression of Portland, Maine as we flew in at 11pm was, “What a bunch of friendly and welcoming people live here”. Even on the (small) plane strangers were chatting across aisles and offering advice and help. When we landed and one bag didn’t arrive someone came up to us and asked if we had a luggage problem, showed us to the luggage counter and we were reunited with it immediately. Somehow travelled solo on an earlier flight and they had put it into storeage.  So we were feeling very buoyant when we were able to get a cab quickly with only a short drive into town ahead.

We were half a block away from our Air BnB apartment and checking addresses when “Whack”! A car appeared out of nowhere, did a U-Turn in the middle of the street and accelerated straight into the passenger side of our car. We were both sitting in the back and I was on the passenger side. My head ricocheted off the door and cracked into RGB’s head. Our driver was pretty shaken but unharmed.

We pulled over and very quickly (under 10 minutes) had police, fire engines and ambulance on the spot. Most impressive and never experienced in NZ! Everyone was very kind and helpful to us, but other than feeling a bit sore we really couldn’t identify any injury to justify the ambulance. Those involved were dead keen to get us off to hospital for CAT scans etc but at 12.30 am we just wanted to go home and sleep it off! Fortunately one of the service men had spent time in Christchurch helping out during the earthquake, and recognised our stoic state as reflecting a national characteristic rather than a deep concussion and let us go home armed with directions on how to access the trauma unit at the hospital nearby if needed. He was also undoubtedly aware of our non-litigious society!

The car was pretty munted along the side, but in hind sight we are impressed by how well the Honda we were in stood up to the impact of a large Volvo ramming it. No glass broken to cause human damage and internally the car kept its shape.

This morning we have woken feeling very grateful to answered prayers for protection while we travel. We thought we had got through the worst of it when we returned the hire car in Sicily, but clearly we need to keep praying! We have a few aches and bruises and I've discovered that the side of my head that collided with RGB is more tender than the side that whacked the door. All our gear was undamaged and my MacBook Air which was against the car door on the floor in my backpack fired up fine this morning.

Keep praying for us people. And buy cars with those side door safety impact features if you can.

Photo is from our walk along the Portland waterfront this morning before heading out to work. Glorious sunshine to clear our heads and walk off the aches.

Sheep

I have been intrigued by observing the sheep farming practices on the land by the sea surrounding our cottage. Whenever we went out walking we would hear the sheep before we saw them, as a couple were wearing large bells around their necks. 

There were no fences that we could see so they were always accompanied by their shepherd. He could take a while to locate if he was on his back under a bush.

Two things stood out from a kiwi perspective; they were foraging for food in sparsely vegetated  dry and dusty land, and they were carrying very heavy wool in a climate where we were glad to be wearing jandals and singlets.

Today they were moved up the hill near us and I was relieved to see that they were freshly shorn. Just in time for the heat of Summer.

Coastal Paradises

The stunning coastal beauty of this part of Sicily drew us here from when we first saw it on the internet. The sea has lived up to the images we had seen and we have spent happy hours swimming, walking and chilling out at the beach. It is one of the earth’s  very special places.

After marvelling at the scenery, pivot 180 degrees and this beauty is marred by a very thoughtless approach to rubbish disposal. We have met people who are very carefully recycling all their rubbish, but the extent of the problem here indicates that there are a significant number of people using the beach and the sea as a dump. And not just for household rubbish - building debris, tyres and engines all seem to end their life here.

Sadly they are not alone in experiencing this problem. We have seen it in Papua New Guinea in idyllic Milne Bay, we have seen it Vietnam on Phú Quốc, an island paradise in the Gulf of Thailand. And our own Pt England coastline tempts thoughtless people to take the easy option with their household rubbish.

In all of the places I have mentioned we notice that at beaches where local livelihood depends on visitors there is often a team who are up early in the morning ensuring the beaches present a pristine appearance when the visitors arrive. But it needs to be done daily because clearly there are more people messing up than cleaning up.

We need to do much better right across the planet.

Sicily: Four Rs

What have you been up to? Where have you been? What are you doing there?

These are the questions we have been getting from friends, family and followers. Even mine host here is a tad anxious about whether we are having a good time!

Answers: Nothing. No Where. The Four Rs - Resting, Reading, (w)Riting, Reflecting

And it’s good!

View from the rooftop of our apartment this morning

After entertaining folk with tales from our first five action packed weeks, and endless reports of the ABCs

ABCs in the education sense = lots of school visits

ABCs in the tourist sense = Another Blimmin Church/Castle/Cathedral/Crypt!

we are sensing concern that we may be bored! 

Our travel plan always was to pack experiences and learning into every available moment for the first five weeks and then to come to a complete stop and reflect on what we have seen and done. We have a backlog of ‘stuff’ that we have not found time to write about over the last few months/years and we planned to create space to do this. This of course includes our current travels.

We asked a number of people for recommendations about a place in Europe that would be good for this.  Our requirements were: internet, sun, sea, peace and quiet, access to food somewhere reasonably handy - and cheap!

We had a number of suggestions but the standout was from Brian and Jean Annan who advocated for Sicily. I went online and entered our dates and stipulations into Trip Advisor and we ended up in Piana Grande, Riberia.

Corner of our apartment looking across the bay

There are no ABCs of any sort nearby, we are in an apartment on a 3 hectare section by the Mediterranean - 5km beach walk at the bottom of the cliff. Our landlord lives below us and presses tourist itineraries upon us. There is an agriculture service town 6km away, which is nothing like any town people from NZ imagine when thinking about Italy - more like an agriculture service town in the Far North of NZ.

On the roof top

We drive into town to buy fresh produce, olives, bread and meat etc and bring it home to cook. The internet comes and goes, but we have great 4G cell reception to tether our phones when needed. We do the things we came here to do. And we are very content, for these two weeks. It really does remind us of a holiday our family had in Henderson Bay in the Far North - minus the boat!

At the far end of the beach below our place

Pretty much a kiwi camping holiday - just under a roof and with internet.

If you ask us if we have done this, that or the other that people come to Sicily to see and do, the chances are quite high that the answer will be 'No'. I think you've got the picture here (literally) of what we're doing!

And the super observant will notice that the number of blog posts are multiplying every day, just not appearing at the top of the list as I am back dating them to match the timeline of when they occurred.

Pizza and Cozze

We discovered a delightful pizza place five minutes walk up the road from our home that reminded us of Luke’s Kitchen in Kuaotunu. 

Quelli di Piana Grande Pizzeria is a family run business tucked away off the road and difficult for foreigners to find. It opens about 8.30pm in the evening and sells great pizza and cozze (mussels) and seafood antipasto.

Each time we went we were the only non-Italians there and the owner’s sister came out to take our orders as the designated English speaker.

We realised here that the greatest compliment we could pay an eatery was to forgot to take a photo because we were so enjoying the food! Hence the photos here of empty plates.

Wedding in Agrigento

During lunch today at Trattoria Il Vicolo in Agrigento we were intrigued to have a bride and groom walk up the steep stairs past us - bride in a gorgeous Italian gown and groom in glamourous military uniform - followed by a crowd of paparazzi. We had no idea if this was normal for an Italian wedding, or if we were in the midst of celebrities, and had no way of finding out with our limited Italian.

They waved and smiled at us and the owners responded affirmatively to my gestures that I would like to go and join the paparazzi, so I took some pics, including the one here that deliberately includes some of the photographers.

Nice memory and we went on our way after a great lunch.

When we returned to the carpark - deserving another story and salute to Russell safely negotiating crazy building - I noticed the church next door was now covered in flowers and had a huge florist van outside. It looked like preparation for a wedding, so, after checking with the custodian, we headed on in.

The flowers were stunning and reminded us of the work done by our friend Nat, of Flora May floral design in Auckland. We could not believe how many flowers were festooned around the church. So lots of photos were taken. 

We scuttled off as soon as we heard the first guests approaching.

Add caption

Note the little containers for rice/confetti

Selfie Sticks

“Lethal Weapons” 

or 

“Weapons of Mass Destruction”

(Yup - we’ve even seen them pulled out during Mass!)

It’s been five days since we’ve seen a selfie stick! Gotta love Sicily.

On arrival in Hawaii we realised that the selfie stick was a much bigger deal in the USA than in NZ.

And we commented then that some people only seem to see the sights through the screen of their phone, But with their own face obscuring a proportion of the view!

Then landing in Europe we realised that we hadn’t seen nothin' yet! From Paris to Rome and 8 countries in between we learnt to watch out for crazy people brandishing their sticks. Something about a S-S seems to make the owners oblivious to oncoming cars, bicycles, people, hazards, animals and small children. The worst place on earth to encounter them has to be around the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

And almost without fail, people using them look like they’re having fun, or present an appearance of fun.

One of our tour guides a couple of weeks ago did a quick survey of our group and pronounced, “Good, no selfie stick users here. I can make this an interesting tour!” Then went on to make some un-PC comments about <insert>Ethnicity<insert/> people whose focal point is the end of a stick.

Negative attitudes are probably enhanced by the number of Hawkers who approach you every minute if they notice you don’t have a S-S, trying to sell you one in neon pink, green or yellow.  It leads to some pithy responses after a while.

In searching for a photo to link to above I discovered this article in the Daily Mail discussing the EU considering banning selfies at major European landmarks. So, have the oldies become a bunch of killjoys or are they really a menace?

Dining in a cafe in Paris, the waiter offered to take our photo!

I will admit that I do like the selfie sticks that telescope into a small tube AND can be turned into a sturdy tripod. That would be a useful gadget.

And to really show my status as a technophobe or late adopter, we have enjoyed moments on this trip meeting new people when either they have asked us, “Would you like us to take a nice photo of you two together?” or we have offered to do this for others.

Loving the selfie-stick free Agrigento region of Sicily.

The face of Europe

Travelling companion or stalker?

Everywhere we have gone since arriving in Europe this woman has been there before us, occupying enormous billboards in prominent places.

I have noted the billboards and never could figure quite what she was marketing. She became a game on our tour buses - a bit like counting sheep or horses - spotting how many times we saw her.

Until today, in Agrigento. The woman on the billboard was nowhere to be seen in this town, but her name was on a clothing store.

NB: the image above of the billboard is cropped!

Professionals at Work

Anyone of the teachers who have worked with me on making film and teaching children movie making skills will be in no doubt about my passionate advocacy for the simple tripod.

I was thinking of my colleagues when I took these photos (no tripod, but elbows on the railing in lieu) on the Ponte Sant'Angelo spanning the Tiber River in Rome.

Professional photographers were lining up to capture the magnificent sunset followed by the evening illuminations of Castel Sant'Angelo and other buildings.

I couldn't resist grabbing my phone and capturing this unexpected sight on our evening stroll to the Vatican.

They all had set-up tripods and I think one would feel uneasy joining their lineup without one!

Right now across our Manaiakalani schools our clever teachers are up-skilling themselves to create a movie with their learners to share on the BIG screen at the Manaiakalani Film Festival 2016. Every year we dissect the difference between the movies that are a hit with the audience - because that is the ultimate test, right? - and the rest. It is always the same answer.

Three things:

• A compelling story, to paraphrase Kevin Roberts. Engaging the audience' emotions whether through humour, pathos, sympathy, joy, adrenaline or whatever. The story is essential.
• Vision. Are we going to feel sea sick watching this? Did you use a tripod? Did you keep your back to the light source (windows, fluro lights)? These are not fancy techniques for frazzled classroom teachers. Just common sense tips.
• Sound. Consistent sound levels. Clear speech. Background music only used if needed and used well. The post production team can do a lot to improve the sound you if you keep the sound clear and consistent.

And yes, I do recognise the irony of using inferior 'snaps shots' to illustrate this piece :)

Cross posted on Manaiakalani Blog

Trevi: worth a good look

The Fontana di Trevi - or Trevi Fountain in English -is a fountain in Rome, Italy. It is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and the most beautiful in the world.

I can’t imagine going to Rome, whether for the first time or the 50th, without visiting the Trevi Fountain. It is entrancing. And this trip we were the beneficiaries of Fendi having spent millions of dollars on cleaning and restoration work. Visitors during the 18 months it was closed would have been keenly disappointed. Read more about that here.

It must be frustrating as a Roman citizen to have this stunningly beautiful taonga in your home town constantly swamped by teeming crowds. Millions of people visit every year and not only is it impossible to take in an unimpeded panoramic view, but it is so busy there is no space to sit and contemplate either.

I took a photo this time of the people rather than the fountain, and you may notice as I did that the majority actually spend most of their time with their back to the fountain. The point of the visit appears to be being recorded in a photo at it, rather than soaking it up. Even those who contribute to the 3000 Euro gathered daily by tossing a coin over their shoulder spent very little time facing it!

Click on photo to enlarge to original size

Cows in MainStreet Budapest

I heard the cows before I saw them as I was walking down one of the main streets of Budapest!

I have no idea what this is about at all, only that I was standing at the traffic lights and heard some distressed mooing.

I looked around and saw a light truck transporting a couple of cows. For the rest of the morning I kept noticing them - sometimes in horse floats, on trailers and once a larger truck with around a dozen quite agitated beasts making their presence known.

It may have something to do with the farmers who brought their cows into town on April 4th 2016 "to protest cheap imports and tax evasion which they say are destroying fair competition and blocking their access to local markets".

Or it may not.

It attracted my attention.