Monday 16 June 2008

Flying High...

This year have been somewhat of a rollercoaster for our family...last November Mike was asked to consider a position in Singapore within the company he works for. Mike served his mission in Singapore so he was excited to say the least. I had to do some hard core research first before I began to feel comfortable with it...since we had a son starting school in February...there was more to consider than usual. Singapore is an extremely expensive place to live especially when having to send your kids to intertnational schools and since Mike's company usually only does permanent moves - nothing would be financed by the company...so after waiting 7-8 months they finally gave us the financial package....which we promptly declined. I was somewhat surprised at myself to say the least...because after all the waiting and preparing and effort I put into research etc to do with moving...I thought that I should have at least felt like SCREAMING! (This isn't the first time this has happened to us!) But funnily enough both Mike and I just shrugged our shoulders and were like...whatever!...haaa there were no tantrums, PMS or screaming....in fact there has been no emotional display whatsoever...we were just happy to get on with our daily lives - where ever that was going to be!


Because of not knowing what we were doing we hadn't been able to actually plan a holiday so far this year...we have HEAPS of frequent flyers so we had been tossing up different holidays....should we take a trip to the snow (NZ), Fiji, the U.S???? but we were always undecided...within 2 weeks of us declining the offer to go to Singapore we FINALLY booked our holiday!!! So now we are showing alot of emotion....we're sooooo excited!!

I'm also feeling some anxiety to do this trip since we had to leave the kids behind...for 3 WHOLE WEEKS! I've never been away from both of them at the same time for more than 2 nights! But I'm not going to think about that for now!

So this is what we'll be doing and seeing during the month of OCTOBER!

First Stop





PARIS, France



Second Stop




Cairo, Egypt
Third Stop



Italy
Fourth Stop


New York
Fifth Stop


Chicago - the windy city!

Now it took us 3 days of hard core negotiating with each other to actually decide where we were going to go...I was willing to spend only 2 days in the States and the rest in Europe as both Mike and I have both lived in the States before...BUT Mike would have none of it...he wanted to spend practically half the time there...
In highschool more than half of my allotted units were History units...especially Ancient History - if I had gone to uni back then it would have been to become an history teacher...I LOVED ancient history...it just fascinated me. So of course when trying to plan this trip I was wanting to go to ALLLL the places that I had studied in highschool...Mike on the other hand didn't seem too interested in those places - he wanted to reminisce and go back to the places he grew up in...Germany, France, Switzerland....he wanted familiarity...he wanted 4-5 star accommodation, I wanted to Backpack through Europe....so the places I wanted to go were places like Egypt, Athens and the Greek Islands, Turkey, Middle East, Rome, Prague etc....of course the list went on....I figured since he kept the America leg - I could choose the Europe/Middle East leg...haaaaa I'm constantly amazed at his talents in the area of 'persuasion'!! The boy is gooood!
All in all it ended coming down to what flights were available and how much time we had...and Mike has promised me that in the next few years he will take me to Athens and the Greek islands since that was the one that I had the hardest time giving up!

19 comments:

The Girl said...

I LOVE PARIS!! My absolute fave city IN THE WORLD. Have to see how I find NY at New Year's. You're going to have such a wonderful time. I'm so jealous!

Elizabeth said...

World travler. Wow that is great. Have a wonderful time in those amazing places. I always wish to travel and then I remember I don't like it. :) So have lots of fun and take lots of pictures so I can live vicariously through you!

Sara said...

Holy Cow, girl!! What a trip. I am absolutely green with envy! Aaaah! And of course happy for you that you get to go. Hey, if your hubby doesn't want to do the European part, I'll go instead. ;)

Let me know if you need pointers for NY (we live close by) or Chicago (I have a friend who lives there.)

Oh the pictures you'll take...! And who in the world is taking your kids for so long? (Will they watch mine? :)

Sarah Tilley said...

jealous. yup. sounds like a crap ton of fun you'll be having. reminds me of when i was a kid and the teacher asks what all the kids are doing on their summer vacations and one kid named frank said he was going to mow the lawn. that's me, sweating behind the push mower, coughing up bits of grass and dirt. one of these days after years of nagging the queen of the harpies (me) is finally going to get a trip off north america.
i am happy for you, though. though why you picked chicago over raleigh is beyond me. :)

megcb said...

You lucky thing! such amazing destinations to photograph!! (so jealous)...

I guess Fiji can wait!

Jen said...

WOW! All that in three weeks, you may want to take a fourth week off just to recover and let it all sink in.

Wyborn Family said...

Oh Sal, this sounds fantastic. I have always wanted to go to Egypt. I am so envious. Have a great time.

Melany said...

well you BETTER get me somethin GOOD lol

Naomi Carmen Witcher said...

sals, i am so way excited for you! i love to travel and can't wait for the kids to be older so we can go on trips like these. germany will be my first stop to show them where i am from, then maybe australia, i so want to come visit you guys and see australia, can't wait for the movie to come out soon. and then just anywhere in the world would be fine. enjoy your holiday!!!

Jacobson Five said...

What no stop in SLC? How fun for you. That is so exciting, what a fun trip. I am so jealous. Have fun.

Jeanney said...

Perry!!!! THis sounds AMaZING! I am going to have to show Matthew how Mike takes his wife on a holiday.....maybe he'll be inspired ;-) Have a fantastic time!!!!!

Melissa (Catlin) Kiser said...

i am so happy for you guys. what a well deserved trip! i'm also extremely jealous you get 3 weeks away from the kiddos while on an AMAZING trip. have fun! oh, by the way...do you know shelley reynolds from the photography listings on your page? our husbands went to dental school together and he was in my branch presidency. small world. her kids are so beautiful, eh?

Mel Brown said...

I'm so jealous!

Take lots of photos!

If you need some help with a couple of french sayings let me know. They REALLY help! Even if you show that you're trying to speak their language they're more happy to help.

ALYN said...

So jealous! It took me a couple days to reply. That is so exciting, Sal. I'm so happy for you. Congrats on leaving the kids. I always think that's a great thing for the marriage! We've only left our kids for 3 nights at a time. Once was Chicago: we got a city pass and visited like 5 different museums. The art one was good! I liked the science museum and wished the kiddos were there. You'll miss them lots... Where in Italy? Rome, I see. Anywhere else? Greece and Italy are the only 2 places I've been. If you ever need any greek island recommendations, I know a few good ones! So so exciting! Congrats!

Oportos said...

Hey Perry, it's widdowson. You are too cute! How the heck are ya? Well I guess pretty good from the blog! What an awesome trip!
Love ya Terra

Kathryn said...

Lucky lady, what fun to be had.... when do you leave??? Want me to carry your luggage, or perhaps stash me in your luggage.... hehe

Kimberly Scott said...

wow! i am sooooo jealous...but i hope you have a lovely time;)

*kb

Melly Mel said...

Oh my goodness... you will enjoy yourselves. How wonderful!!!

Chris said...

we are so excited to see you guys! i guess that is one good thing about us moving to chicago!