#so she’d pack colouring books snacks etc

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

shenanigans 24-karat Harrison will do:

- steal a man’s moped

- sleep in a church

- chase after a man he thinks might be lonan

[aroundtheworldin18years]

TOP 18 – TRAVEL TIPS FOR A FAMILY HOLIDAY You’ve spent months, or maybe a year, planning this trip, you want to make sure you have everything you need well in advance, no one, and we do mean no one, enjoys rushing around like a headless chicken trying to pick up the last minute holiday essentials.  We have made up a list of our holiday essentials and provided a few tips to make sure your holiday is memorable for all the right reasons.  You don’t want to be up a creek without a paddle, or wandering across the desert…lost…and no hat (yes, we know, a hat would be the least of your worries should you find yourself lost in a desert).  Our holiday tips and essentials relate to car, plane and ferry travel, and it may not be the same as your holiday essentials, but…there may be a ‘Eureka, why didn’t I think of that’ moment somewhere in this list.

1.  PASSPORT TO FREEDOM What gives you the World and asks for nothing in return…a passport.  Yes it may be a little dog eared from constant use, and it may only cost a few quid(ish) to buy one, but believe us when we say your passport is your best friend when travelling, because it is, but…it’s also a complete liability, and heaven forbid you should lose it, the incalculable hassle it causes doesn’t bear thinking about.  We have covered Passport Carrying Tips in more detail in another post, but in brief, before travelling to foreign lands, make sure your passport is in date, and if it isn’t, get one ordered.  You need to allow around 3-4 weeks for a passport application to be processed, even longer if you haven’t filled in the application properly.  When abroad try to keep your passport on your person, and in some countries, if you’re stopped by authorities and you don’t have the original on your person, you can be detained, fined and even deported.  Keep it with you, but keep it safe at all times.

2.  DON’T LEAVE ACCOMMODATION TO CHANCE The flight was delayed, the kids have been shouting at each other in the hire car for the last two hours and you pull into a hotel car park in the hope of getting a room….sorry, we’re fully booked!  Looks like sleeping in the car is the only option!  Seriously, don’t leave the accommodation to chance when travelling with little ‘uns.  Book in advance, and if possible, book separate (but adjoining) rooms in hotels, it will cost more but is worth the extra money.  Consider this, you’ve booked one room and the children are in bed at 8pm, are you going to go to bed the same time, or sit in complete silence…no, I didn’t think so.  Having separate rooms means the children can rest undisturbed, and you can watch TV, read a book or enjoy each others company.  Try to keep the children in a similar routine as back home, but keep in mind time differences and excitement, after all, the kids are in holiday mode.

tip: if you do book separate rooms with a linked door, check the rooms over, make sure sockets are safe, check windows are locked and that any balcony doors are secure and cannot be opened by the children.

3.  MAKE A LIST (OR TWO, OR THREE) Lists for this and lists for that, Lynne’s lists drive me crackers!  Lynne cannot go a single day without writing a list, and in all honesty, if she spent as much time doing the things on the list instead of writing the list, she’d have them done in no time at all.  There is one exception to the ‘I hate lists’ rule, and that’s the HOLIDAY LIST, well, two lists in fact – the THINGS WE HAVE LIST and the THINGS WE NEED LIST, both equally important and vital in prepping for your hard earned holiday, oh wait, we also have a third list, the WALKING OUT THE DOOR list, items like mobile phone, chargers, toothbrushes, passports, wallets, money etc.  Writing an idiot-proof list(s) is Lynne’s key to a stress free holiday.  For some, shopping for a holiday is a much-hated chore, for others, shopping for a holiday is like being a child winning a Golden Ticket Tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  One thing’s for sure, it has to be done, so do it properly and you (hopefully) won’t go wrong!

tip: Lynne says to make sure you write a list for each person who is going on the holiday!  Sometimes it’s best to buy items from the country you are visiting, especially heavy items like lotions and potions, also, try to limit the amount of liquids, perfumes and toiletries you take, if you do need to take liquids, make sure you put them in a ziplock/sealed bag just in case they leak.  Liquids are heavy and can use a huge part of your baggage allowance, which leads me on to…

4.  BAGGAGE SIZE RESTRICTIONS AND WEIGHT LIMITS Ok, so you’ve purchased the very latest designer hand-luggage just because Victoria Beckham has it, only to arrive at the airport and find it won’t fit in the ‘check my bag size; frame, and whilst you push and shove to try and make it fit, if you look behind you, there’s a queue of irate passengers forming an orderly queue (Brits are very good at queues).  And if you’re wondering why Victoria Beckham gets away with it, she doesn’t fly budget airlines.

As well as size, weight is just as important.  If your airline says 21kg allowance then they mean 21kg.  The last thing you want when you’re checking in, is to find out that your suitcase is too heavy for the hold and then have to start emptying your case in front of the other passengers, you know, the ones who were stood behind you when your hand-luggage had a fight with the sizing frame.  If your bag is heavier than the Airline allowance, you have two choices; pay a hefty oversize fee or remove items from your suitcase, but…imagine the shame and horror as you open that neatly packed case and your lime green budgie smugglers fall out.  The last thing you want is to leave behind that family heirloom shawl that your great-great granny crocheted back in 1902, and you certainly don’t want to board the flight looking like an onion with 10 layers on.  Do your homework and check the airline restrictions/allowances before you travel.

tip: purchase a decent pair of travel luggage scales, we use the Mofred Travel Luggage Scales (ours cost £4.89 from Amazon UK and they weigh up to 40kg) and weigh your bags at home, that way you can add or remove items in the comfort of your own home, plus you have wine in the fridge…don’t you?  Take the scales with you on holiday, and then you can weigh your bags again before going to the airport, just in case you have overloaded with holiday souvenirs.

5.  BAGS, BAGS AND MORE BAGS There was once a rule in our house when going on holiday, one main bag per person and one ‘take on’ bag per person, but muggings here ALWAYS ended up carrying ALL the bags, so now it’s two large main bags between us all and a small ‘take-on’ backpack each for the girls, they normally pack a travel board game (in case of delays), a few toys, colouring books, crayons, a tablet and a few snacks, things to keep them amused during the flight, ferry or car journey, we also have car DVD players for long road journeys.  I don’t normally bother with a ‘take on’ and Lynne uses her Tardis (handbag) as her ‘take on’.  She is like Mary Poppins at times, her bag just seems to hold everything and then some!  When we pack our main bags, we always use Pro Packing Cubes, they are so versatile and they come in different colours so we can easily identify our own belongings quickly.  The cubes seem to fit effortlessly and maximise the use of space in our large Karabar bags.  It’s great to arrive at our destination and now exactly where everything is.  The cubes are lightweight so don’t add too much weight to your bags.  We love them. and we never holiday without them.

tip: main bags: we use 2 x Karabar Super Lightweight Wheeled Holdalls, and inside we use Pro Packing Cubes, a great combination.

6.  PROHIBITED ITEMS This one might seem glaringly obvious, but step inside the airport terminal and there are lots of perspex/glass containers with no end of knives, weapons, scissors etc in them, items travellers think they can take on board.  Allow me to tell you a story.  Back in 2012, somewhere in our house, we lost a very expensive steak knife, the set looked lost without it, so I handed one of the remaining knives to Lynne and asked her to pick me up another the next time she happened to be in Belfast.  Time rolled by and the knife was forgotten about, that is, until Lynne had to attend a conference in London.  Handbag and briefcase in hand, off to Belfast International Airport she goes.  Checked in, Lynne heads off to the departures security, places her bag on the scanner conveyor and then walks through the detector, all good so far…but…the woman operating the scanner seems to be spending a long time on Lynne’s bag.  After about 2-3 minutes, the bag is taken to one side and Lynne is asked to attend the inspection desk.  The woman confirms the bag belongs to Lynne and that she packed it herself, and then she pulls out the steak knife!!! Horror!!!  Security are called and Lynne has a lot of explaining to do.  Thankfully Security accept Lynne’s story, and her apology, and let her on her way, but not before being placed under caution.  But wait, it doesn’t end there…

7.  PROHIBITED ITEMS…LYNNE AGAIN …a year or so later, we took Lily-Belle to Disneyland Paris for her 5th birthday, and also to break the news that Mummy and Daddy were having a baby.  Just as we were leaving Disneyland Paris, Lily-Belle asked if she could pick up a souvenir from the Disney Gift Shop, not a problem.  Little Miss chose a very small plastic toy gun which was no bigger than 7-8cm in length.  We were in a bit of a rush (as always), we are never early, always just on time or late, but never early, so, at Beauvais Airport, Lynne throws the plastic toy gun into her handbag…big mistake!!!  We placed shoes, bags, belts etc into trays and sent them down the scanner conveyor before we made our way through the metal detector one-by-one, all good so far.  The lady in charge of the scanner kept looking up at Lynne and then back to the scanner, she then summoned a colleague and again, a look at the scanner, then a look at Lynne.  We had no clue why, and when I say we, I mean Lynne.  Before Lynne put the plastic toy gun into her bag, I warned her she was asking for trouble, I also told her the shape of the tiny toy gun, even though it was plastic, would get picked up by the scanner, would she listen…oh no!  All of a sudden two heavily armed Policiers arrived and began a discussion with the scanner woman.  Lynne was taken to one side and the Policiers were as miserable as sin, they read Lynne the riot act and despite our protests the gun was a toy and entirely plastic, they insisted it could be used as a gun!  Plastic toy gun confiscated, the Policiers took Lynne away and took a photo of her and her passport and cautioned her that she was going to be added to the French Anti-Terrorism Register.  Lynne was aghast!  I was in hysterics laughing!  Lily-Belle was in floods of tears!

8.  TATTOO THE KIDS, DON’T BRAND THEM If you’re travelling through a busy airport, the last thing you need is for one of the sprogs to disappear, what a holiday-breaker that would be, right?  If you’re like us, you’re constantly on ‘child watch’ when travelling through airports, ferry ports, shopping centres etc, basically every waking minute of every day regardless of whether or not you are on, or going on, a holiday…child watch.  Now, we’re not asking you to brand your child with a red hot poker, or take them to a tattoo parlour and have a permanent inking done, definitely not, but what you can do is use a Tyvek paper wristband (the type used at event and concerts) and write your child’s name, date of birth, any allergies and the names and phone numbers of Mummy and Daddy, pop it on their wrist and that way if they do go AWOL, it should be straight forward getting them reunited with you.  Make sure your mobile is fully charged.

9.  TECH, GADGETS AND GIZMOS When travelling abroad, we also use a smart gps child locator, a simple device that we attach to the children’s clothing, and should the unthinkable happen, with the use of a smartphone, we can see exactly where our weary wanderer is and we can also activate an audible alarm on the device.  We don’t recommend bluetooth locators as these have a very limited range.  We always take a laptop and a tablet with 3G + WiFi capability (handy if you’re out and about).  You want to capture memories when on holiday so take a camera, we take a Nikon D3200 DSLR for good stuff, a couple of Vtech Kiddizooms for the girls as this encourages them to engage in their surroundings, ok, so you might get 200 photos of knees and pavement, but you will be surprised at some of the great photos children take.  We also have our latest smart phones (iphone and samsung) which are waterproof, although we have yet to try out this function…too scared!  We never go on holiday, whether UK, Ireland or abroad, without a carbon monoxide detector and spare batteries, this device could well be your life saver.

tip: don’t forget to take spare batteries, chargers and plug adapters

10.  GET ONLINE STORAGE FOR PHOTOS You are having the time of your life on holiday, captured lots of great memories on that snazzy new camera, but in the blink of an eye, the memory card is full, and you only have one with you, what do you do?  We have spent many a night deleting as many of the ‘not so important’ photos as we can, and still haven’t had enough memory to finish the holiday.  It’s not the end of the world.  Now we take 4 x 64gb Sandisk cards for the DSLR, and we also take a memory card reader for transfer to the laptop at the end of each evening.  There are loads and loads of online companies for uploading and storing pictures, we use SmugMug and Dropbox, very simple interface, easy to use and share files, what more could you, want, need or ask for.

11.  FIRST AID KIT AND MEDICINE Accidents happen, and if you have children, you already know these accidents can be anything from an easily treated grazed knee to a full on medical emergency.  We’re not saying you will be able to remove that Lego brick from your little Angel’s nose, but try to be as prepared as you can be with a basic first aid kit.  As a First Aider (St John trained) I am pretty adept at dealing with most accidents so I always carry a travel first aid kit in the car, or when going on holiday.  Basic things like plasters, bandages, gauze, scissors, a thermometer, antihistamine for stings/bites, children’s paracetamol (Calpol), sterilising wipes, hand sanitiser, disposable tissues.

tip: always take medicines such as inhalers, calpol and allergy medicines in your take-on bag.

12.  SMART CLOBBER It’s the middle of December and your Australian holiday was a blast, but it’s time to return home to the UK.  You may look Uber-cool in your shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops standing at the holiday airport when it is 37oC outside, but you soon realise you’ve made a fashion faux pas when the kids are screaming how cold they are before the plane has even left the runway, plus, you land in the UK and it’s the middle of Winter with sleet and rain hitting you horizontally.  Dress accordingly for the destination, or keep a set of clothes handy to change into.

13.  ALWAYS DOUBLE UP Before we leave the house, we always take up-to-date photos of ourselves and our travel documents such as passports, insurance, EHIC, booking information (for hotels, ferries, trains, flights etc), boarding passes etc.  We then email them to ourselves (so we can access them abroad if need be) and we email them to Nana and Granda (aka Lynne’s Mum and Dad).  You just never know.  And if you’re thinking it’s a bit weird taking photos of yourself and emailing them to yourself…it’s ok, we do too, but if we get kidnapped or get lost in the desert (without a hat), at least we can be identified.

14.  EHIC ISN’T A SCRABBLE WORD A European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) allows you to receive state healthcare in other EEA countries and in Switzerland at a reduced cost or sometimes for free.  An EHIC does not replace your travel insurance, which you should always have when travelling.  Unless you want a hefty hospital bill to remove that piece of Lego from your little Angel’s nose, we suggest you make it a priority to get both before you travel, and if you already have both in place, make sure they are in date.

tip: some sites will try to charge you a fee for an EHIC.  If you apply for your EHIC direct from the Government website, it’s free.  www.gov.uk/european-health-insurance-card – I was extremely grateful for my EHIC during our recent family holiday to Spiaggia e Mare Holiday Park when I became a running-buffet for mosquitoes. tip tip:  ALWAYS purchase your travel insurance the same day you book your holiday, if you don’t and something happens in between booking and your departure date, you won’t be covered.

15.  MONEY DOSH WONGA MOOLA You’ve put in extra hours at work and cut back on the takeaways and nights out, you now have a tidy sum stashed away, so make sure you make the most of it by getting the best currency exchange and avoiding hidden bank charges.  Do your research and shop around, we normally use Uncle Google to search for the best rates.  Sometimes rates go up, sometimes rates go down, but the minute you book your holiday, start checking the rates regularly, it may pay dividends to get your currency earlier rather than later.  When we go away we take a certain amount of currency, and we each (adults) take a debit card, a credit card and also a preloaded credit card which we hold with FairFX.  The credit cards are there in case of an absolute emergency.  Lily-Belle and Matilda always get holiday spending money from Nana and Granda, and also from Mummy and Daddy, so we give them a daily allowance and we also load up a goHenry card for Lily-Belle.  Be careful using cards abroad, if you do pay for something with your card, let’s say a restaurant bill, never let the card out of your site, and always check you have been given your own card back after paying, don’t fall for the ol’ card switcheroo.

tip: don’t forget to notify your bank of your travel dates and countries you will be travelling to.

16.  KEEP EVERYONE HAPPY Whenever we are away with the children, first and foremost, the holiday is for them, it’s about making the holiday as memorable as it can be so that they look back in years to come and think, I’d like to do that with my own family.  But no matter how many activities you plan, it’s inevitable that there will be tears and tantrums during your holiday, and if you don’t get the tears and tantrums, what medication are you giving your children?  This year (2017) in Italy, some days Matilda refused point blank to eat her dinner until she had eaten either an ice-cream, or a lolly.  At home that would be a big no-no, but on holiday, rules are relaxed a little, and if it stops a 3 year old throwing a wobbler in the middle of a restaurant, then I’m happy to let her do the desert-dinner reversal.  A holiday is about give and take, it’s about compromise, it’s about spending time together as a family.

tip: give the children options, include them in the plans and some days let them decide what they want to do.  You may have booked a day out at the local ploughing championships, but is it really something the children want to do?

17.  JOT IT DOWN Get the children a journal.  Encourage them to draw pictures, write lists of the things they see or the new things they taste.  They could also ask their ‘holiday friends’ to write a small message inside the journal.  Most hotels hand out free mini-maps of places you can visit nearby, these maps are great for the children, it’s always better to give a child something visual that they can see/do rather than trying to explain it, you could get extras for the children to stick cuttings into their journals.  If you are encountering different languages on your travels, put in lists of new words learned, it’s amazing how quickly children pick up languages.  We bought Lily-Belle and Matilda a personalised diary/journal from Little Box Gifts, from order to delivery a mere 72 hours, excellent.

18.  LASTLY…DON’T DO A MACAULAY CULKIN The car is packed and you’re all ready to go on your holiday adventure.  You’ve already driven 20 miles, but wait, it’s so quiet in the back of the car, the children must be asleep right…wrong!  Didn’t you do a head count before you left?  You’re already running late and now you have to go back and gather your Posse.  Are you sure you’re going to make that flight or ferry?  Conundrum…should you just leave the kids alone to fend for themselves, go off and enjoy quality time alone with your other half?  Admit it, you did give it proper and careful consideration before you decided it’s not worth the paperwork when you get back home, because the Police, and probably Social Services, will be waiting for you.  In all seriousness, do a head count, don’t ask the kids to get in the car and buckle up themselves, stand at the car door and count them as they climb in.  Better safe than sorry, and don’t worry, you and your other half will have a holiday on your own very soon (hahaha, not a chance is that going to happen when you have children).

These tips and essentials may or may not work for you, but they work for us.  Travelling with children can be daunting, but it can also be great fun, the key is to be well prepared and keep everyone involved.  If you are rushing, as we (always) often are, things will more than likely go wrong, on the other hand, if you prep well, take your time and enjoy the route and the experience, chances are, everything will go swimmingly, but always remember the most important thing….

ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY!

******LAPLAND REVIEW & PICTURES******

information, currency and prices are correct at time of post

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All views, opinions and experiences are that of The Callaghan Posse and are correct at time of publication. Photos taken by Andrew Callaghan and selected from Google for use and distribution by Around The World In 18 Years 

TOP 18 – TRAVEL TIPS FOR A FAMILY HOLIDAY TOP 18 - TRAVEL TIPS FOR A FAMILY HOLIDAY You've spent months, or maybe a year, planning this trip, you want to make sure you have everything you need well in advance, no one, and we do mean no one, enjoys rushing around like a headless chicken trying to pick up the last minute holiday essentials.  

[zacandshan]

Our last day in Baños was relaxing. We got a coffee in the morning, booked our accomodation for Quito & went for a last stroll around the town centre. The receptionist told us that buses for Quito leave every 30 minutes or so, so we caught a taxi to the bus terminal & were rushed onto the next bus out of there all within the span of about 10 minutes. 

The bus to Quito was a pleasant 3 hour trip, enough to catch up on podcasts, a quick read & in Zac’s case, going up a few levels on his Pokemon gameboy emulator on his phone. We arrived at the terminal in Quito at around 5.30pm. It was extremely overcast, thundering & raining. I have an unconfirmed theory that the thunder is louder at higher altitudes. I don’t know, it’s probably just my fatigued travel brain talking but I have never heard thunder as loud as I’ve heard it in places like Cusco & now Quito. We were in the middle of a supermarket within a shopping centre & it was still mind shatteringly loud. Anywho. *makes mental note to google that later* *zac looked at me like he didn’t want to tell me it’s stupid but doesn’t see the logic, therefore I already imagine I’m going to be eating my own words soon*

As we got in a taxi, unloading our monster packs & giving the taxi driver the address to our hostel - El Hostelito - he was looking pretty unsure of himself & getting directions from other taxi drivers. Never a good sign. We were driving for just over 30 minutes, with him checking & re-checking the address, calling people for help, driving in circles in the rain. At the last minute when we were driving down a road we’d already driven down, I casually looked out to the left & the bright sign of the hostel was looking back at me! I told the taxi driver, “Si! Hostel!” While pointing like a crazy person. He did a U-turn & we had arrived.

This hostel was pretty cool in that the beds are all “pods”. So the beds have curtains & are built to give you maximum privacy while still having a glorious hostel feel. We got a double bed too, which is a rarity in a shared room situation. It cost slightly less than having to book 2 beds, & significantly less than booking a private room. So the hostel got itself a deal. The staff were amazingly friendly, as I’m writing this I’m realising I need to give them a good review. One lady Christina basically gave us every bit of information we needed to see the most of Quito in the short time we had, while also helping us plan our next leg into Colombia. Nothing was too much to ask of her & at breakfast the next morning, when she’d just arrived to work, she informed us that it was an amazing day to hike up the Volcano. Mentioning that it was the clearest she’d seen it in a while, she suggested that we do it after brekky before clouds began to cover. At this point another hostel guest had joined us at brekky - John, who was from Canada & the same age as me. We decided the 3 of us would go & hike the volcano together, so we finished up at brekky & got in a cab up to the Teleferico (cable car) which would then take us to the top of the mountain, where we could begin our hike.

We purchased our tickets for the teleferico  which cost us about $8 USD each, but that included the trip back down so it wasn’t too bad & off we went. We shared a cable car with 3 people from America who were also in Quito for a few days, because there Dad lives there. We made small talk about where we were all from & it was pleasant. They’d hiked the volcano before & said we’d picked a good day, though they wondered whether we’d freeze since the 3 of us were all in shorts & at its highest the Volcano is over 4,000 metres above sea level. We started to get nervous but tried to be optimistic about the sun being out & talked ourselves up as being tougher than we really believed.

Initially we thought we’d go up just to the top of the mountain & not do the hike to the Volcano, see a few viewing platforms, maybe wander a little way up but not fully. We started walking & talking, before you know it we’d walked for an hour. Stopping to take photos & catch our breath because the altitude & walking up a constant incline is difficult but also makes you feel pathetic. To stop and look at the incline your thinking “this is going to be a BREEZE!” but with the altitude being so high, you walk for 50 metres & have to stop, drink water, have a snack. Eventually we’d walked for about 2 hours & got right up close to the Volcano. It was tough, but we enjoyed every minute of it & John turned out to be a kindred spirit who we got along with really easily, almost as if we’d known him forever. After we all agreed we couldn’t hike any farther, we made our way back down, which took all of 30 minutes or so.

A man approached us offering a lift back down the mountain for $1 each in his taxi/van. We didn’t really know where it would drop us off, but we were too tired to question it & got in anyway. Typing that out I know it sounds super creepy, but I’m happy to report, there was no candy bribes involved. He actually conveniently dropped us in “New Town” which was a hip area of bars & restaurants everywhere & only 1km away from our hostel. LUCKED OUT THERE. There were a bunch of other travellers filling the van also, a couple of Canadians who had just visited Venezuela! We were so shocked because of course you only ever hear about how dangerous it is there & absolutely out of the question to visit - despite the out of this world scenery you’d get to see. But he said of all the places he’d visited he felt more safe there than other places. He didn’t witness anything dodgy & said it was one of the best countries he’s ever been too. So there ya go!

We arrived in New Town & the 3 of us walked into the first restaurant we saw, eager for burgers & beers. We ordered our food & guzzled down our beverages, feeling like it was a victory meal for such a strenuous & unexpected hike - albeit an amazing & rewarding one too! We hadn’t planned anything for Quito so to have such an awesome first day there out of complete spontaneity was a win for us.

We headed back to the hostel & each took a 3 hour nap. What? We’re on holiday!

At lunch we’d inevitably discussed our favourite movies, movies to quote, etc. We began talking about Superbad & decided we’d watch it that night if we could snag the TV at the hostel, which had Netflix. Thankfully when we awoke from our nap, it was free. The boys went & got pizza & booze, while I guarded the TV & set up the movie. We got a little tipsy, ate our pizzas & laughed all the way through the movie. It was pouring down with rain outside now & it was a great night in.

The next day it was still sunny outside, but high in the mountains looking at the volcano, you could see it was engulfed in clouds. John had mentioned that some people he’d spoken to said they’d hiked it a day or two before us & couldn’t see anything because they were surrounded by clouds & moisture. We were so much luckier than we realised!

John was flying back to Canada that day so we said our goodbyes & went off to explore the city.

A great thing about South America is the fruit & how naturally massive it is. We stopped first at a cherry stand & bought a bag to munch on. They are seriously so much bigger & juicier here, I don’t know how we’ll go back to the fruit at home! And cheap, so cheap. *cries a little*

Quito is seriously pretty, with most of the buildings in the city painted pretty pastel colours. Think peach, mint green, baby blue, pinks. Its like a cute, real life doll city. Every time we turned a corner we were awe struck by the pristine buildings we saw. We went to see a Church which we’d read was the most stunning & colourful of all the churches in Quito, which while pretty, wasn’t really much in comparison to some others we’ve seen.

The next day we decided to visit the “Middle of the Earth”, or where Ecuador gets his name sake (Equator) the place where the Northern & Southern Hemispheres meet. It was about a 45 minute drive out to the spot where Christina, our saviour of a hostel guide organised transport for us & for the driver to wait an hour while we went & explored. It was super cool! I mean its just a painted line going across a monument, but we had fun jumping back & forth & being in different hemispheres at the same time. But what was really cool was that inside the monument you could walk up to the top, with each floor on the way up hosting different stuff. From Ecuadorian history, to solar system displays, it was like being at Sci-Tech. The view from the top was really cool too. It took a little over an hour & we decided to treat ourselves with Japanese food after. Zac found an amazing restaurant where we had delicious vege dumplings & sushi, pad thai & Mango martinis. 

it was time to head back to hostel & plan our next leg to Colombia. A 4 hour bus ride to Tulcan, the town on the Ecuadorian side of the border, walking across to Ipiales, the first town on the Colombian side. Christina helped us do all of this & when we awoke the next morning, 2 of the other staff were headed to the bus station & said we could tag along with them rather than take a taxi.

The buses are very straight forward & not intimidating in Ecuador, & for only 25c no matter your destination it’s sort of a no brainer. We did have to walk to our first stop though which proved challenging -and then our bus stop was a while away so it did take us what felt like 100 x as long to reach our final bus station, with heavy packs & backpacks (I swear at some stage I will get a photo of us with them on- I catch our reflection occasionally & laugh about how we are even able to stand), not enough room to sit down on the bus, switching buses, it was a mission. I considered a number of times just getting off & getting into a taxi. But the lure of cheap transportation was too much. Even if my shoulders had never hurt this much before.

We got to Ofelia bus station at about 11am, with the first bus leaving in 10 minutes. Perfect! We bought some snacks, one in particular that is becoming my absolute favourite which is lemon chips. They are something else entirely, super zesty & zingy. I wish we had them in Aus & fully expect to have lemon chip withdrawals the moment we leave South America. It took us about 4.5 hours to get to Tulcan & only cost us roughly $6USD each.

The border crossing much to our despair was quite busy & there was a big line streaming outside the office. To make us more on edge, you had to leave your packs outside of the office in a pile. There was one incident where we saw a guy try to leave with a small black backpack, but a security guard stopped him & got it back. Someone else eventually snaked in & got it- so we can only imagine what its contents were. In front of us was a couple with a child  & a dog. The man only had 1 arm so as the line moved we helped them move there bags. We think the man mustn’t have been leaving the country as he waited outside with their dog & bags, & thankfully watched ours for us too. We got our packs back & waved goodbye to Ecuador.

As we approached the Colombian border, my heart sank. The line was much longer than on the Ecuadorian side & our backs were already aching from having our packs on. We must’ve only been in line for 2 minutes when one of the officials approached us & asked if we were leaving or entering Colombia. “Entering” we’d said, & he ushered us up to the front of the line where we only had to wait a further 15 minutes to get through. Sometimes our luck really astounds me. Like I have to actually pinch myself. Then sometimes our bad luck makes me want to punch myself. In the face. Repeatedly. Like what happened after we got across the border.

So our plan was to visit Ipiales Church, as it was right there on the border & one of the most stunning Churches to see, then jump on an overnight bus to Cali. There was a guy advertising a buses to Cali & Medellin standing right at the Colombian side, so we asked for prices & it turned out to be cheaper than the bus company we’d planned to go with, so we agreed to it. We only had enough cash on us to pay for half of the bus fare, so he even offered to pay for our taxi into the bus terminal / township & said we could pay the rest once we got there. Happy with that, we got into the shared van/taxi he’d got us, pulled out of the park & got stuck behind a truck that had broken down. I mean in a single lane, that is the only road crossing the border, with eventually hundred of cars backed up behind us honking. If we’d left 2 minutes before we would’ve missed it completely. I mean, shit happens. We were still in good spirits, I was just getting nervous that we’d miss our window to see this beautiful church that we’d been so looking forward to seeing. Zac remained optimistic & hopeful.

I don’t really know how long passed but it felt like a long time. In reality it was probably a slow 20 minutes to half an hour. You know when you’re just so eager to GO though, it feels longer. A good practice in patience I guess. We pulled up to the terminal & asked the first taxi we saw to take us to the Church. Not before a homeless (Not meaning to be presumptuous! t was an assumption based on his cleanliness & clothing but said without judgement, okay?) came up & asked for my hand  & kissed it while saying something I of course couldn’t understand. Zac gave him a handshake after too but sadly no kisses for Zac.

We ended up using our taxi drivers Google Translate app to get across where we wanted to go. So handy that he had it in the end but he got super excited about being able to converse with it that he was not really watching the road & writing things to us like “there are many cars today”. We are like, we know, watch the road dammit. Haha. But of course we replied being as nice as possible while still fighting daylight & wanting to get to the church asap. Did I mention we had roughly an hour to get to the church, see it & get back in time for our 8pm bus? Yes, there’s that. Well there was some kind of festival in the town that night, which meant there were cars backed up to the town, thousands of people all walking around weaving through cars. It took us half an hour for what should’ve been a 10-15 minute drive, but we arrived. We had agreed the taxi would wait for us while we made the mad dash to the Church & back. It was completely dark by now, so many times I asked Zac if we shouldn’t just turn around & at least make our bus, convincing myself the Church wouldn’t be as pretty at night when you couldn’t see it. Zac assured me he’d seen photos of it all lit up & it’d be worth seeing. I am too punctual for these kinds of adventures & absolutely detest rushing. I was growing more & more anxious with every minute that passed & couldn’t completely enjoy seeing the church which was a further walk than we’d planned for also. Never the less we took our photos - & I can say now that I’m not stressing, it was still pretty at night. Not AS pretty. But pretty.

We begin running back up the hill to meet our taxi driver. When we arrived to the spot he parked, he was GONE. Nowhere to be seen. In a car that held our packs, filled with items we’d bought all the way back in Argentina at the beginning of our trip. We just looked at each other completely shocked but also feeling so stupid for leaving our packs with a complete stranger, we hadn’t paid him which we thought meant he would wait for us but then realising he might’ve found something more valuable in our bags we felt like dummies. I can’t tell you the emotions that played over us at that moment. I had to sit down & try to process that we literally had nothing on us now. In one dark way, I felt relieved I didn’t have to carry that f***ing thing another step! But in another, realistic way, I was gutted. The only relief we could muster was that the one backpack we’d brought down with us held our PASSPORTS, laptop & cameras. The expensive & necessary items. We paced around for about 10 minutes really not sure what to do. I checked the time & it was 7.45pm. So we were going to miss our bus also. In my head I started planning, okay so we’ve lost our bags but we will just get the next bus & have to make do with less. No shampoo. No soap. No underwear. No shoes. It was becoming harder & harder to imagine. We were in the midst of feeling sorry for ourselves & angry at the world when a taxi driver called out to us. It wasn’t “our” taxi driver. We thought he was just asking if we needed a taxi. Reluctant to leave on the off chance he was coming back, we said no. He kept saying something & pointing up the hill. I still have no idea what he was saying, but we’ve gotten pretty good at understanding context haha. We ran up to his window & he was motioning for us to go up the hill, when we thought we heard him say bags. So we just started running up the hill, further & further down the traffic jam, a car starts flashing its lights at us & can you believe it was our taxi driver? He hadn’t abandoned us after all!

He got in & we started heading towards the bus terminal. He starts writing on his google translate app “were you scared?” And laughing at us, I wanted to reply & say “can you please concentrate on driving & not giving us heart attacks?”, but his relaxed humour was infectious & just what we needed at that moment. I’d already accepted that we’d missed our bus so we weren’t really rushing so much anymore. We talked over the app for a bit while we gradually came down from a huge adrenalin hit. I also realised he must’ve said over the radio “look for 2 panicked gringos & send them my way” or some derivative of that.

We got to the bus terminal & went to our bus company, hoping we could just get on the next bus without having to pay twice. There was no-one in the box office so I sent Zac out to run & see if any buses were there with our company while I watched the bags. He runs back 30 seconds later & would you believe our bus was still there? We were rushed on, bags stowed, & low & behold we’d actually made it onto our original bus & were out of Ipiales & on our way to Cali. We just kept looking at each other like, did this night really happen? Expecting to wake up & it be either a nightmare or a very lucky reality.

The overnight bus to Cali takes about 12 hours. We arrived in Cali & as there isn’t MUCH to do there & we only have a couple of weeks left of our trip we wanted to spend most of our days in a place with lots to see & do, we decided to just keep bus-ing through to Medellin. It was a 10 hour bus ride about an hour after we’d just gotten off a 12 hour bus ride- it is occurring to me every day that we are batshit crazy people. But time is of the essence & we wanted to be in Medellin. So off we went. And I’ll explain more on that later. For now, it’s time to wake the old Z boy up (hey, it’s 2.30 & he’s been napping since 12.30pm!) & go find food & perhaps a beer.

Lots of love <3 x