Posts from — May 2008

So much of who we are is where we have been.”
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—William Langewiesche, journalist, author and pilot

Caroline and Conor have set up their own blog for the trip, where they will be able to share their unique views without Mom and Dad (mostly Dad) looking over their shoulder.

They’ll still be posting to the family blog, but they’ll have free reign on their site. Uh oh.

A Day in Pictures
St. Michaels, Maryland

We recently crossed Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge and continued on another 40 miles to spend a day roaming around the maritime village of St. Michaels, Maryland.

This little town of about 1,200 people is a major tourist attraction – more than 100,000 visitors come for the crabs, the harbor and the shops (below).

St. Michaels is known as “The Town That Fooled The British.”

On August 10, 1813, British barges planned to attack the town and its fort in the middle of the night. Fortunately residents were warned of the attack in advance; someone had the bright idea to hang lanterns in the trees to draw enemy fire. When the British attacked, they fired their cannons at the laterns, missing the town and its fort.

Today, the British are in St. Michaels on more congenial terms.

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A gathering of ocean currents just offshore makes Ka Lae (South Point) one of the most popular fishing spots on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Here, at the southernmost point in the United States, more than one fisherman has fallen from the cliffs and been swept away by the powerful Halaea Current.

We spent a day on Capitol Hill in nearby Washington, DC, working on our video production techniques. Here’s the result.

Terminal 7, Gate 78 at Los Angeles International Airport, waiting to board an early morning flight to Kona, Hawaii, two twenty-somethings in conversation:

When I was a kid, breakfast at McDonald’s and a day at the park – now that was a great day,” said the traveler as he unwrapped an Egg McMuffin.

“It still doesn’t get any better than that,” his friend agreed as he took a bite of his breakfast sandwich.

A Day In Pictures
The Ka`u Coast on Hawaii’s Big Island

A four day business trip to Hawaii is not the easiest way to travel — especially when you consider it involves two six hour time changes and twenty plus hours in airports and planes. Still, I made every effort to see a bit of the Ka`u Coast on Hawaii’s Big Island.

This is Hawaii as it used to be, before gated communities and over-engineered family resorts.

Melanesians first landed in Hawaii on the Big Island near Ka Lae (South Point). This coast is the southernmost piece of land in the United States.

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More than a year ago, when we began dreaming about and then planning our trip we made a very long list of destinations and once-in-a-lifetime experiences we thought we could cram into a year off.

I mapped out an itinerary that had us hop-scotching around the globe, taking in every world wonder we’d ever seen in National Geographic and all 1,000 Places To See Before You Die.

But as we progressed with the planning we confronted reality in the form of time, cost and distance. We began to realize: It really is a Wide Wide World. There’s only so much you can see and do in a year.

We’ve tried hard to study and learn from the many families who have gone before us. Through each family’s account of their travels, we’ve come to appreciate the value of taking your time in a place.

About a month ago, as we began to focus on our air tickets and our itinerary, we started to let go of places. I’m quite sure we’ll have to let go of more. It hasn’t been easy, but ultimately, we believe it will be worth it.

After much consideration, we purchased four OneWorld round the world tickets. We considered other options, but decided the OneWorld alliance and product worked best for us.

One important note for others who may be considering a OneWorld ticket: The fare rules are changing, effective June 1, 2008. Travelers will be limited to sixteen segments instead of twenty. There may be other changes, so be sure to do your homework.

In going with OneWorld, we have given up some flexibility in exchange for some certainty, particularly in the quality of the airlines we’ll be flying.

Under our fare rules, we have 365 days to complete our travel. We can change the date and time of our flights for no charge. We can change our itinerary (i.e., the cities we fly to) for $125 per ticket, per change. Overall, I think it’s quite reasonable.

We haven’t done a detailed plan for each country we plan to visit, but here’s a basic outline, subject to change.

(I’ll say in advance, any advice, recommendations or travel tips will be greatly appreciated).

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When we sat down to dinner I told the kids I had bought our airline tickets. They knew what that meant. Dad wasn’t kidding about this trip.

Caroline cut to the heart of the matter for all of us: “That makes me feel excited… and queasy.”

For the past 25 years my friend Jamie has given me one consistent piece of advice: “Go big or stay home.”

Depending on the context this advice has taken on different meanings. For example, when Jamie says it during a game of golf he means, “Go ahead, cut that dogleg – you can take your tee shot over those trees.”

If we were out for a night on the town, the phrase (a taunt, really) would mean something all together different. But we’ll save that discussion for another time – this is, after all, a family travel blog.

Still, Jamie’s advice was ringing in my ears when I picked up the phone to dial the OneWorld alliance to book our round-the-world tickets. I was about as nervous as a person could be. My stomach was in knots. My hands were sweating.

I kept repeating to myself: “Go big or stay home.”

So here’s what I did. I gave the ticketing agent my credit card number. In return, she gave me a confirmation number. Bottom line, we now have four round the world airline tickets.

Our tickets allow twenty travel segments and will take us to five continents. (We expect to hit our sixth continent by land.)

Here’s the basic itinerary:

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