Lange Family around the World 2010

MARCH...

famlange — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:11:00 GMT

March 15, 2010

OK, what's new? We have received Holger's and Lucas' new passports, so next we will be able to apply for our Indian and Chinese visas. We will be travelling as Canadians.

We have been working on our itinerary in more details. For each country, we are planning on booking at least the first night accommodation, since we often will be arriving late in the day. China is proving to be quite the nightmare... October 1-7 is National Holiday week, very busy and expensive... but we can't buy train tickets until 20 days before travel time. In Shanghai, we will be going to the World Expo 2010. Last time we visited one was in Hannover in 2000 with Mumu, before Lucas was born!

So far, I have booked a guesthouse in Costa Rica, Tacacori Ecolodge (www.tacacori.com), run by a French couple. In Lima, Peru, we will stay at the Angels Inn Backpackers (www.theangelsinnperu.com)for 3 nights before flying to Cusco. In Moorea, we are going to be staying at Fare Miti (www.mooreafaremiti.com), and do nothing! In Delhi, we will be at the Nirvana Hostel...

Oh, and we took trip/ health insurance for the 6 months...

That's all for now.

The ITINERARY / ITINERAIRE

famlange — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:08:00 GMT

OK, so here it goes

23/6 - 6/7 : COSTA RICA

7/7 - 21/7 : PERU (Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, maybe Lake Titicaca)

22/7 - 23/7 : fly back to Los Angeles, overnight in LA, then onto Papeete (Tahiti) with Air Tahiti Nui on the flight coming from Paris...

23/7 - 1/8 : TAHITI (Papeete + Moorea) - scuba-diving adn snorkeling - Athina's first dives!

2/8 - 10/8 : NEW ZEALAND (Auckland + North Island)

11/8 - 2/9 : AUSTRALIA (fly to Melbourne, then overland to SYDNEY, BRISBANE & the Gold Coast, and CAIRNS / Great Barrier Reef) & Athina's 14th birthday!

3/9 - 17/9 : JAPAN (Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Nara...) - most of all, the Pokemon Center

17/9-19/9 : ferry from Japan to China

19/9 - 10/10 : CHINA (Beijing, Xi'an, Shangai (World Expo 2010), Hong Kong

11/10 - 27/10 : INDIA (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur / Rajasthan)

28/10 - 14/11 : PHILIPPINES (Manila, Boracay) to visit our friends Malou, James, Sarah & Ryan - Malou will be meeting us at the airport in Manila, and be our guide. Can't wait! Lucas' 10th birthday will be celebrated there too.

15/11 - 21/12 : THAILAND & LAOS (Northern Thailand: we fly to Chiang Mai - Chang Rai. Then to Luang Prabang in Laos, then by train to Bangkok area, maybe side trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Then off to Southern Thailand (Phuket, Kho Phi Phi, Koh Lanta...) where Lucas can get his scuba certification!

21/12-22/12 : we fly from Pukhet to Kuala Lumpur, then onto Frankfurt - arrival 6:05 AM at Frankfurt International Airport on Wednesday, December 22, 2010.

Voila!

We bought the tickets!!

famlange — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:48:00 GMT

13 Feb - After spending several weeks researching the various destinations and trying to figure out how long we should stay in each country, and what we would like to see, we finally settled on an itinerary and dates, and purchased our plane tickets from 'Worldwide Travel Inc.'.

Lucas is contributing...

famlange — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 22:34:00 GMT

Starting today, Lucas decided to contribute $3.00 from his allowance every week towards our 'World Trip' Savings. We set up the automatic bank transfer together. How sweet is that?

So, he has earned a special mention, and also 'priority use' of the binoculars for the trip!

Way to go Lucas, we love you very much!

TRIP PREPARATION

famlange — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:09:00 GMT

Although this has been a project of our for a few years, everything seems to be coming together for us to go in 2010. This will be the transition between our life in North America for the last 14 years, and a new start in Europe.

January - We are actively researching destinations and airfare. So far, here is our itinerary:

SAN DIEGO - COSTA RICA - PERU - TAHITI - AUSTRALIA - JAPAN - CHINA - INDIA - PHILIPPINES - SOUTH EAST ASIA (Vietnam, Thailand, Laos) - GERMANY

We will be leaving right after the end of the school year, and Athina's 8th grade graduation, on June 22nd. We are planning on being back in Germany shortly before Christmas.