Maldives. ... Days 1 2 3 4

At the airport in Kochi they have a shop called Kocaine, and a remote control bomb detecting robot... except the remote control is a wire about 2meters long, so it is not very remote..

We flew on a propeller plane to Maldives. It took about 1hour 45minutes. On landing we saw a harbour full of sea planes. 

The water is amazingly clear and a very bright turquoise colour. The Maldives is a load of sunken volcanoes that have grown a coral reef on top.

We had booked the UI Hotel for the firat 2 nights on Hulumale...the man made island connected to the airport. The hotel cost $55 per night.

In the airport I bought 2 simcards with 2.2gb of data each for $45 each, which are 4g so really fast, but they are only valid for 2 weeks, so I had to buy 2... Quite annoying, but they should work everywhere.

The hotel had arranged a transfer from the airport for us, but they took about 90minutes to show up, and it was too hot...so it wasn't a great start from them
They did give us $5 off the $8 transfer fee though.

Hulumale island is a building site with loads of 3 storey concrete buildings going up. There are lots if Bangladeshi workers.

The beach is 50meters from our room, and it is a bit shaded at around 4pm, so it is cool enough to play on then. The water is warm and full of dead coral. It stays about 1 meter deep and there are big balls of dead coral that Winston can stand on when in the deeper water. The visibility is not great.

We have been trying to find somewhere nicer and cheaper to stay until 30th March, and after joining some groups on Facebook, Caroline found somewhere for $40 per night, and she also found some people who are interested in selling our hammocks on to hotels.

The first lunch we had came to $52 which is a bit over budget, but then we found a local eating place for the construction workers where they have nice sri-lankan food for about $3 per person.

As a Muslim country, it is not permitted for women to wear bikinis on the beach, although we saw someone yesterday... so Caroline has to swim with a dress on.

There are women here so Burkarized that they are head to toe in black and even have black gloves... Must be roasting in there.

We took the local bus for about $2 to GT the boat for about $2 to Malé city. Not much going on there, a few crappy souvenir shops and a load of motorbikes, we had an ice cream, got some drinks and came back.

I spent a morning catching up on work while Caroline went to the beach. The internet is good here, so it was possible to make progress.

Today we went to a cash machine... They charge about $7 for a withdrawal... So I don't be doing that too often. We found a local book shop which had mainly english books from India for small kids. It was a good selection. Winston got a toy plane and a  treehouse book, and Henry got a plastic toolkit and some paper to draw on.

Winston's numeracy is coming on well... Today I asked him... If it takes 4 eggs to make enough cake for 2 people how many eggs do I need to make a cake for 4 people...he answered instantly... Not bad for a 4 year old.

It takes a while to adjust to the idea that we are not on a holiday where you have to see as much as possible in the short time you have, but that we can take our time like we would at home.

Kerala

We got up late and took a rickshaw to find a hotel with a pool we could use. We ended up at hotel Killian where they charge 700rs for all 4 of us to use the pool, and they provide towels . the pool is 1.1m to 1.4m deep with a 50cm wide step that was about 50cm deep so Henry and winston could stand on there.

We has lunch there for about 1500rs. I went and booked the backwaters tour for 2600rs. Then, on the advice of the place I booked the tour , we took a rickshaw for 300rs to see an elephant festival about 20 minutes away.  You could go right up to the elephants if you wanted, but people kept themselves at least a trunk and a half away. There was loads if noise from trumpets and drums, then the elephants walked to the other side if the showgrounds and the crowd all ran to get out of the way... No need for officials and barriers etc.

On the way back we stopped at a cheap dosa restaurant. It was full of locals. The writer chose for us, and it cane to less than £2.50 for a meal for all of us..  And the service was quick and the food was good and fresh.

Then Winston and Henry had an ice cream in the shop opposite. Then we went back to our home stay .. Coconut grove..

We got up and i booked some train tickets, then i went to book the flight tickets and it was now cheaper to fly from Trivandum to the Maldives. So, that meant I has wasted about £10 on the train ticket. It took about 2 hours to book the flights because all my credit cards didn't work as they all thought I was suspicious at the same time.

Eventually booked 4 return tickets to the Maldives for £500 with SpiceJet.

Our rickshaw driver, Shahir, had been waiting the whole time. We moved 200 meters down the road to a new home stay.  1300rs for an air con room. Very nice Christian lady called Charlot who married her house 25 years ago.

Then Shahir took us to the money changers where they wouldn't change rubles kronor or Nepali rupees.

We went to the laundry place where people were hand washing clothes. The white pressed shirts looked perfect. There was a little play park there so Winston and Henry had a go on the roundabout. 

Then we went to see a boring church and went back to our homestay to wait for the taxi for our backwaters trip.

The backwaters was about 1 hour drive away. The boat had a roof, 2 drivers, a guide and some plastic chairs. The drivers powered the boat with long sticks. Not bad value for about £28. We stopped at a local house to see how to make rope from coconut fibres. Winston got his hair caught in the rope as it was being made. We had to cut some hair off with a handy razor blade.

 

Last full day in kerala, Shahir picked us up at 10 and took us to a beach.. There were no tourists and the beach had loads of palm trees and fishing boats. Very picturesque and a good setting for hammock pictures. Winston played in the waves and henry dug in the sand..but it was too hot to stay long. The villagers were all very interested in us. 

Next we went to a fish farm where the fish are caught by channelling the water through gaps in to nets. The boys liked throwing stuff into the water. 

Then we went for lunch at the cheap place again, and then to Shahirs house to meet his family. He lives in a room about 3m x 2m with a kitchen next to it. They have 1 light, and it is made from plywood. His son was playing subway surfers.. One of Winston's favourite games on Shahirs phone.  He was paying 1000rs a month rent to his brother, and 5000rs a month to pay the loan to get his rickshaw... A 5 year loan. We looked at his arranged marriage wedding album. 

 

. We went hotel Killian for some swimming.

Cochin in India

We landed at Cochin airport, changed some money including 200danish kronor that are a bit too old..

We took a prepaid taxi .. Non-ac to our home stay in fort kochi. It took about 90minutes and cost about 1200rupees. The driver was asking for extra tea money when we arrived.

The hosts at Coconut Grove home stay are very nice. it costs about £11 per night which includes breakfast. No air con or hot water, but new, clean, comfortable and friendly. Breakfast is curry and noodles or potato .

We went to the closest small restaurant and it took about 90minutes until the food arrived. There was also a big rat and they seemed generally confused...

In the morning I did about 2 hours work on a terrible internet connection while the others were asleep. Then I walked to the local center to get a sim card. It was 500rs for 1 gb and 100rs of talk time... With a 12hout delay before activation.

After the others got up, we had breakfast and took a rickshaw to a nearby dentist. It looked so dirty that we didn't even go inside.

Then we went to the beach, but when we got there it was so hot and the beach was full of rubbish, so we just went to the nearby bob Marley cafe and had some lunch for about £9. There was a small papaya tree that w and h liked playing with.

Then we walked along the sea front and saw all the old fishing nets. We bought a fresh coconut to drink.. Which was exciting for the kids , but they didn't like the drink..

Then we took a few rickshaws to find a hotel with a pool. We and d up at hotel Killian and paid 700rs ..£8.. To swim in their pool.. Towels included.

We had lunch then went by rickshaw to find a shoe shop for sandals for w and h... And caroline went to another dentist. He checked her for 200rs, and would take the tooth out for about £25. But she wasn't sure.
We got 4 pairs if bats shoes for about£14

On the way back we stopped for dinner and the kids had cornflakes. Dinner cost about £10.

BUrj Khalifa - Dubai Day 2

This morning we went to 124 floor of the burj khalifa in Dubai. It cost about £50 for 2 adults 2 kids were free. We went out on the balcony and looked out of all sides then we queued for quite a while to get the lift back down.

We bought some hair bands in H&M and found the back of the Dubai Mall fish tank where you could stand right next to the glass and we got a much better view of the sharks and some moray eels.

We bought hot food in Waitrose for lunch. It cost about £20. We found a nice table and chairs just outside the suit entrance to Dubai mall where we could sit and eat lunch in the shade in comfort.

We took a taxi to a park to meet someone from Romania who is homeschooling her two children. The taxi driver took us to the wrong park but he did give us a small discount on the fare. Winston and Henry really enjoyed playing with the two girls who were 5 and 7 years old. 

Then after quite a long walk we got the train back to where we were staying and we had to walk a long way on the other side. We had a nice Indian dinner for about £25.

We got back and the airbnb people from night 1 failed to keep to the 7pm meeting so we still have the key and they still have our money.

Winston was using the lobby phone to phone the guy behind the desk at the hotel.

Airbnb have refunded us in full, and they have paid the not very hosty hosts for the night we stayed there. They have also give us a £50 voucher. So that turned out ok.

Week 1 - 3

We left sweden on the boat to Kiel in Germany . in Sweden it is illegal to have summer tyres. Unfortunately our winter tyres were the ones with studs which happen to be illegal in Germany, so as soon as we arrived in Germany we had to buy some summer tyres.

We went to the city centre of Kiel and had some sandwiches and cakes for breakfast, then we bought some new summer shoes with flashing lights on for Winston and Henry. Flashing lights make them easier to find in the dark!

We drove to Hamburg, went swimming in a nice swimming pool with dinosaurs and a volcano.

We  stayed in a cheap hostel in the centre by all the strip clubs and sex shops. It cost 32 euros for a room with 4 bunk beds.

We drove about 3 hours to Hannover, stopping for some rubbish fish and chips for breakfast at motorway services. In Hannover we went to the aquarium, which wasn't as good as Universeum in Göteborg and a bit more expensive. We stayed in the cheapest hotel in town which was very basic and pokey, but ok.. It was 42 euros per night for 2 nights.

The next morning we went to a launderette which was also a cafe and a pub. We had breakfast while the machines washed our clothes. It coat about 7 euros.  

We rode on some trams and went to the city chttp://centre. We walked past a jewellers and Winston wanted to ask how much silver coins cost..we went in and bought 2 for about 17euros each... Real money / treasure.

Next morning we drove to Frankfurt. We stayed in a hotel in bad soden.. Hotel taunus, it cost 60 euros per night including breakfast. Our hotel was 2 minutes walk from the last stop on the local train line which went directly to the Messe.  The trade show was all sorts of shiny crap that people fill their houses with. Winston and Henry like to touch everything, and many of the stand owners were giving them sweets. Henry did a wee on an Amazonas hanging chair. Winston liked the travelators.

We had nice dinner in a pub near the hotel with good food and miserable staff. It was valentines day, so maybe thats why they were so sour.

Next day we drove through Netherlands and met Caroline's friend in Belgium. Lovely family with 2 little girls and a 3rd on the way, the we drove to just outside lille in France. We had to stop at a McDonald's to charge up the phone and download a map on their WiFi so we could find the place. The airbnb we stayed in was a single dad with 2 kids in a house with very steep stairs. It cost about 30euros. We went to a croissanterie for breakfast where the morrocan owner spoke some Swedish. We went to depressing Dunkirk, a horrible down and had a croque Monsieur in a smelly little cafe. The only good thing was that some people were wandering around dressed as clowns.

We took the boat from Dunkirk to Calais. We were last on the boat. As Winston was in the passenger seat, he handed the passports over to the customs people in france. On the boat, henry got the shits.. After the first one we used my jumper as trousers, then he pooed in that,then we used a pashmina as a sarong. We drove to cottenham and got to hannah emily Oscar Rubin's house by 7.

We went to the science museum in London which is free, but as it was half term it was overcrowded, so we went to Hyde park instead, then debenhams, where I sent the kids hunting for different items while Caroline did some shopping.

Henry fell down a few stairs at hannah Emily houses, and he held his breath and his eyes rolled back in his head, so we took him to A&E in Addenbrookes.

The boys really enjoyed playing with Oscar and Rubin for the 5 days we stayed there..every day they say they want to go there.

We flew to Romania about £60 each
..  Would have been a lot less if we had booked earlier..Caroline arranged airbnb right in the centre for 40euros per night. 3 bedroom penthouse. Very nice. Transfer from airport was about £17.

We realised that we are spending too much on eating out.

In Bucharest we met Ada. Caroline had a checkup at the dentist. We saw the peoples palace. We went to Sanaia by train to see a spooky castle. The tours were a bit long for the kids who got restless after about 20mins. Winston said that a carving of a man holding a scroll acting as a pillar looked like it had a jetpack on. We went to a fantastic mall where Winston and henry went on little boats.

We met a lovely homeschooling family in the library ...Florian and Andrea, Octavius and ........ Hopefully we will meet up again. After about an hour Winston and Henry started to interact with their children.

Vlad , our airbnb host installed a washing machine, so we could wash our clothes, and dry them on the huge radiators.

We went for dinner with Ada, and Winston and Henry were chasing each other around the restaurant.

Bucharest airport was easy except the security person wanted to molest Winston. I insisted she at least ask nicely.. Her colleague said she didnt have to ask (because they are the ones with the guns), and then did the most minimal pointless search/molestation on Winston.. And the same on Henry. It was probably  their light shoes that set off the buzzer.

4.5 hour flight to Dubai for about £70.

We will stay in Dubai for 3 days then fly to India for about £70each... So the total cost of flights to India is about £200 each. I think we could have done it for about £160 if we had booked well in advance.

A week in Romania

We have been a week in romania. We are renting a penthouse right in the centre of bucharest. It costs 40 euros per night. Here is the view from our window. It's about a 10 minute walk to the palace of the people.

Romania

We went to a big castle in Romania today.