FAMILY REVIEW: Northern Ireland & ROI

Welcome to Ireland, land of the DUNN'S!

HADRIAN'S REVIEW: The Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

THE CLIFFS OF LAWN MOWER

The Cliffs of Moher were amazing! Didn't see any lawn mowers though.

HADRIAN'S REVIEW: The Giant's Causeway, Ireland

Hello there! My name is Hadrian. Recently my family and I went to the Giant's Causeway.

10 THINGS TO KNOW: Scotland

1. The further away you go from Edinburgh, the stronger the Scottish accent will be. Edinburgh was still strong but the higher we went up the country, the stronger it became. But even when we were in Stranraer, south-west of the country, the accent was still pretty strong. We found ourselves nodding and smiling sometimes when people talked to us and we had no idea what they were saying.

FAMILY REVIEW: Scotland

EDINBURGH

Our first stop in Scotland was Edinburgh and what a good first stop to have. The accents aren't as strong as some can be and the city isn't too big or too small.

Our very first stop though was...

10 THINGS TO KNOW: England (and Wales)

1. Expect unpredictable weather everywhere in England! It could be beautifully cloudless in the morning and stormy by night. Always take your jackets/umbrellas/ponchos. 

FAMILY REVIEW: England (and Wales) - PART II

CARDIFF, WALES

This was a spur of the moment decision to go here. We had some free time between our final house sitting and next hotel check in.

We went via one of the main bridges that has a toll. It cost £5.60 in total. You only have to pay to go to Wales and not back into England. There are ways to get into Wales without a toll but this was faster for us. There are not many other tolls around England - although we did come across a small bridge we had to pay 5p (10c) to cross which was totally worth it just because of how weird and awesome that is!

FAMILY REVIEW: England (and Wales) - PART I

LANDING AND ADJUSTING

After being in Athens for a month in mid to top 30s, it was a huge relief arriving in England and it was a nice cool 14℃!

!!! ANNOUCEMENT !!!

We have a very important announcement!


We are having....

10 THINGS TO KNOW: Athens, Greece

1. Watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding. For reals though. Even though their Greek characters were based in America, some of their characteristics are so similar. Our taxi driver would say jokes to us on our drive from and back to the airport and he said them so flatly but while smiling that we weren't sure if he was joking or not. Just like in the movie when the brother and cousin said to Ian: "We're gonna kill ya!" while smiling. Not sure if they're joking, not sure if they're serious. Humour is different guys... but you just smile through it and hope they really are joking!

FAMILY REVIEW: Athens, Greece

Flying into Greece was a sight to behold! We were lucky enough to fly in as the sun was setting behind us. The pictures don't do it justice!

10 THINGS TO KNOW: Tuscany, Italy

1. Tuscany is a large region! HIRE A CAR to get yourself around - it will be worth it! The main highway between Pisa and Florence is not a toll road (yay) but go off that highway onto the autostrade and expect tolls.

FAMILY REVIEW: Tuscany (including Pisa and Florence)

PISA (and Livorno)

LIVORNO

After checking into our accommodation in Montopoli (between Pisa and Florence), we tackled Livorno which is south of Pisa. We had planned to explore more around Tuscany while we had a car but we were exhausted so we settled for a close, smaller city to explore. 

It's not all roses...

Q: Would you recommend long-term travelling, like what you guys are doing? 

A: Yes to travel but long term? My answer would be "It depends". 

4 THINGS TO KNOW: Bologna, Italy

We didn't stay long but here are a few things to know we picked up.

1. Research before you get there if you want to go into the ZTL. Permits can be bought before driving through the no driving zone. We bought you permits at a specific supermarket but I'm sure there are some scattered around. They are €6 per day. They have a code to text to a certain Italian number with your car rego number. I'm not sure if you need an Italian number for this to work because we used our Italian SIM. If you have no need to go into the ZTL, no driving area, just don't. Parking is hard to find and it's not worth it. There are buses that go through the city that we saw.

FAMILY REVIEW: Bologna, Italy

VENICE (again)

We caught a ferry from Pula across the Adriatic Sea back to Venice. We didn't stop in Venice besides taking a bus to the Marco Polo Airport (paying full price... see rebellious trick from our Venice review).

10 THINGS TO KNOW: Pula, Croatia

1. In Pula, it says they have Uber but there are very limited amount of cars available so it's best to just use a taxi service. If your hosts can call one for you, bonus! If not, you can email them an enquiry a few days in advance and they can confirm times, day and cost - that's what we did. Also, Pula doesn't have any food delivery service.

FAMILY REVIEW: Pula, Croatia

CROSSING TWO BORDERS

In trying to keep costs down, we booked a bus with FlixBus from Venice to Pula. Their website said they had free wifi and USB plugs and a toilet on every bus. They only had the wifi.

FAMILY REVIEW: Venice, Italy

Our time in Verona came to an end and our next stop was Pula, Croatia. But with a quick one-night in Venice because... Venice!

10 THINGS TO KNOW: Venice, Italy

1. Venice City (the area you would want to visit) has only one road in and out as they are a cluster or islands just off the shore of the greater Venice area. 

6 THINGS TO KNOW: Lake Como, Lake Lugano, Lake Garda

1. The roads around Lake Como are narrow! The narrower the car, the better for your health!

FAMILY REVIEW: Lakes Como, Lugano and Garda

All three of these lakes are very different!

LAKE COMO

10 THINGS TO KNOW: Verona, Italy

1. They do not have Uber or Uber Eats.

FAMILY REVIEW: Verona, Italy

Verona is a beautiful city. There are a lot of historical things to see in Verona that are completely fascinating for adults but there may not be a lot for children within the city area.

Bear in mind that Hadrian is 10 years old. So not a baby, toddler or a newly started Primary school child. He is old enough to behave himself when he has to but young enough to tell us when he's had enough - without throwing a tantrum. He's old enough to walk longer distances but only if he's carrying nothing. There is so much a 10 year old can take of walking and old buildings and cobble roads and more poses in front of another old something.

Also bear in mind, we were in Verona for a month, so we were able to do things a little at a time and incorporate things in his study. But the following helpful tips and information can still help if you're not in our special situation!

HADRIAN'S REVIEW: The Burj Khalifa

I can't believe we had the chance to go up the Burj Khalifa!

EXPLORING BY PICS: Week One - Verona, Italy

Even Hadrian loves a good explore. Nevermind that he took photos of a Mercedes instead of the church behind it.......

	Their crossing guys are just like the traffic lights: red, yellow and green

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Week One - Verona, Italy

First Impressions

Highway driving vs city driving is different guys. Even if we're following the leader. On the highway, no one uses their indicators. In the cities, they still don't unless necessary and it's much more casual. At times it seems a little free-for-all.

Why Verona, Italy?

We get asked that often.

ARRIVAL: From Milano to Verona

After rushing through the Abu Dhabi Airport, we learned we needed to do things a little differently...

STOP OVER: United Arab Emirates

The UAE (not to be confused with the EAC... from Finding Nemo), was our stop over on our way to Italy. We purposefully chose this as our stop over and purposefully chose it to be 20 hours. In hindsight, I may have made it a longer stay over to just catch up on sleep plus have enough time to see what we wanted. It wasn't enough time for both. We made do with our choice though!

But back to the stop over...

How we nearly DIDN'T get here

I like reading honest blogs so I want to tell you the honest truth.

Life is hard, man.

It may seem like we are living a grand ol' life but it's harder than it looks to up and travel for so long. It felt like everything was trying to stop us from going, or at least making a miserable time of it.

Travel Block #1: Trying to sell our car. We were so close to cutting our losses and selling it for so much less than our spreadsheets had hoped for because of some rip off artists trying to squeeze as much as possible from us. It would have put a damper on our plans and I would have had to accept the dread of shared bathrooms in hostels or worse, we may have had to push a lot of things down and even accept defeat. It was a heavy stress to carry with weeks to go. Luckily, with some much needed advice, it sold just over a week before we left. It was such a blessing!

Hadrian's Post #1: Final Two Nights

It's only two nights until we leave for Europe. Yes, two nights until we take our long planned trip to the other side of the world. This may be the longest two nights of our lives. It's quite hard to explain to everyone that we were travelling all over Europe for 10 months(or so). I am so lucky! I am also lucky to not have to go to an actual school. But homeschooling does have its downsides.

I can't believe I have to spend nearly 10 months alone with my parents. I don't even get a break at school! They're my teachers! So although I am very lucky to travel, I will definitely need a break from my parents after we settle back down.😁😁😁😁

(I do actually enjoy my time with my parents. I am just following along with what my parents think I will do.)

Final Days

This morning was our final Sunday at our ward. Our last Sunday in an English speaking ward until around August! The person who said the opening prayer said it in Spanish and of course we understood nothing. I leaned over to Nathan and said: "This is gonna be us for the next few months... not understanding a thing". He was optimistic and said: "We will understand them". Umm, acca-scuse me? Is there something you want to tell me? Can you secretly speak Italian? 

Andiamo! Allons-y! Let's gone!

4 sleeps to go!

It's looking pretty real now :)

Our lives condensed into 5 bags!

Here's how it all began...

PS... yes I do mean "Let's Gone!"