First Post!!! (Ileana's first post)

Ever since I was little, I have wanted to travel. I never really had an actual reason for this, and was quite put off when my daddy told me to invent one. So after he hounded me for my little essay for a couple months, and after I realized he wasn't going to shut up about it, I sat down and wrote it. Here it is:


WHY I WANT TO GO AROUND THE WORLD

I want to go around the world for a number of reasons. I haven’t yet figured out which one first made me decide to travel the world, but all in all, these are my motives

• I like vanilla ice cream :-)
• I was hit by a car
• My name is Ileana Dascalu
• I was born that way
• I want to travel and see places
• I am secretly planting atomic bombs (just kidding)
• And I want to!

Explanations may be given.

I don’t see the connection between traveling and vanilla ice cream, but it is very important, I’m sure.

Being hit by a car made me realize that life is short and I could die any second. So with this in mind, I want to do something crazy!

What does my name have to do with this? It’s my identity, it’s who I am, and travel is part of that.

I’m pretty sure “I was born that way” is self-explanatory, as is “I want to travel and see places”.

Um... The atomic bombs were a joke, so I won’t go into that....

And, again, “I want to!” pretty much explains itself.

So, yes, I am going around the world, whether or not it’s this year, or the next, or when I’m 64, I have decided and, as Maria put it,

“Ileana is like a cat. She does what she wants, when she wants, if she wants.”

And you can’t change that.

So... yeah, that's pretty much it. This is my first post!!! Yes, we're going around the world!!! Eventually.... and I just lost terribly in a game of Whist!! (just when I was getting off my losing streak...)

The First Year

It's been a year since I started this blog. It's been a little over a year since we decided to do this. How we changed and how our life has changed.  How much did the kids grow during the last few months. It is hard to describe the specifics but it is impressive. We have a goal, we are building a plan and in the same time we are still living our lives. Everybody works as hard as possible and we spend our free minutes talking, reading, learning, dreaming. 

Almost every word and every action is marked by the thought of our trip. Ioan's 10th birthday in November was the last one that he spend home until his 14th. Maria's next birthday in our house will be as an adult. We will not be home for the next three Christmases. Yesterday we installed the window air conditioners and I only have to do this once until we get back. So many major and minor things. Ileana has worked so hard on her garden, but she is getting used with the idea that it might all be lost. We had our first garage sale last month and we got rid of many things with a mix of various feelings. We made $435 (after Emma got her 10%). With Emma's help, Ileana and the children did all the work and knew all along why they did it. It is July and finally summer, it is hot and hard to work. My children had 2 weeks of vacation last month and started their new school year with determination and without any complaints. Everybody else is on vacation but they will have their time "when we go".


Maria contributed her first post to this blog and was surprised: "You had this for a year and you never said a word???" She is now the third author and the third person who knows about this web site.

We are still trying to define our theme and decide on our itinerary. I kept track of some of my ideas under the itinerary/route tab. I feel that I know what I want, but it is necessary to let the other four members of my family progress at their own pace toward finding their own way. I'm sure there will be some great ideas. There are several parts to this, not just an itinerary, but a theme, a goal, a vision. I always felt attracted by the extremes of this world, I always wanted to get to Ushuaia, Invercargill, Easter Island, Alaska, Siberia, Nepal etc. I always wanted to see all the great museums of this world and all the major monuments. We could easily aim for those places, but I think other things are more important. I want to experience the variety of cultures of this world and I will be happy if in the same time I could get to the most important touristic destinations. I was impressed to discover yesterday that Ushuaia is no longer the southernmost city in the world. We can simply just get to Puerto Williams if we decide to go to Tierra del Fuego, but I'm not sure that we want it. It is something that is just starting, the process of letting go and realizing that we cannot get everywhere. Just in the last few weeks we agreed that we don't really want to go to Israel, that we would be OK without Greece and so on. I still have a hard time accepting that we might not get to Prague, Berlin or Lisbon. Not to mention Ethiopia... A few years ago I felt so happy to learn more about Vanuatu and to realize that I don't want to go there. It was a great relief to learn that there are some places were "I don't have to go". I was hoping that soon after that I will start making a long list of places where we don't have to go but sadly a few years later there is no progress and I am questioning my decision not to go to Vanuatu!
We realize that we will need to be careful not to try to do too much. Yesterday we discussed this and decided to have our Sundays off or if not possible take another day off every week. Then we will schedule several weeks of vacation during our trip, weeks when we will just stay put in one place, going to the beach or the pool and spending just a few hours visiting. I can see a week like that in Easter Island, Malta, Mauritius, or Siem Reap. Then we will take our time when we visit a big city, hopefully rent an apartment and spend at least a week in places like Buenos Aires, Rome, London, Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi.


We also made some major financial changes in our life. In the last 12 months we were able to pay $51000 of our debt. We did not save anymore for retirement or for college, but we feel comfortable about our financial decisions and we feel optimistic that we will save enough money to have a decent trip. We might not be able to save as much as we would like, but we are not giving up on that.


In summary - it's been a very interesting year, we loved every minute of it and it's just the beginning. We only have 483 days to go.

A Slice of the World

So we're going around the world and I'm supposed to write an essay about why I want to go, so that people don't tell our parents that they're crazy.

Truth be told, I can't think of a single good reason. I have lots of mediocre ones though. Who said a reason has to be 'good' anyway? This fact alone: the fact that I don't have one single reason to go around the world-- probably makes me the least willing person in the family.

But I'm stalling at this point. So here are my reasons:

I want to drive in a camper in the Australian outback.

I want to visit Christchurch; excepting for the fact that it is in New Zealand, I have no idea what it is, but Dad's mispronunciation of the place's name and subsequent surprise over the occurrence have aroused my curiosity.

I want to relax in Malta.

I want to see the Hayao Miyazaki museum in Japan, no matter what I said when Ileana first suggested it.

I want to taste Indian food.

I want to smell a Sahara.

I want to touch an ostrich or a rock in Africa.

I want to hear the silence in a temple or the noise in a Turkish market.

Looking over the list, I suppose I want to experience the world. Not just see it-- I want to smell, taste, hear, and touch it. Because just 'seeing' is what's on the front of every postcard. I want not only a postcard, but a slice of the world.

And when I've had that slice, I want to write about it. I want to share it with the people who can't have that slice firsthand. That's my reason.

Tema

În ultimul timp am intrat pe internet încercând să găsesc alte familii care merg sau au mers sau vor merge în jurul lumii. Mihai urmărește deja câteva, dar voiam să găsesc eu, de una singură. Am căutat și în limba română și am găsit o familie de români care locuiesc in Franța și care și-au încheiat călătoria in mai 2009 peicipecolo. E ca o lume paralelă, în care toți au cunoștințe de geografie, aproximativ aceleași interese, cu oameni care trăiesc din puțin, muncitori. Te uiți si vezi pozele pe care le-au făcut, pe unde au mers, cu ce s-au transportat. Verifici listele lor de obiecte cu care au plecat, cu ce s-au întors, ce le-a folosit si ce nu. Și în ciuda faptului că citești pe toate părțile ceea ce au scris, parcă tot nu e suficient. Vreau mai mult. Nu-mi ajunge doar să citesc despre aventurile lor, vreau să le trăiesc pe ale mele!
OK. Unde mergem? Oriunde, n-are importanță pentru ca vrem să vedem cât mai mult. Dar nu putem sa mergem peste tot! Bine, dar cum alegem? Ne-ar trebui o temă. Unii urmăresc unde sunt maratoane. Alții merg unde sunt locuri sub protecția UNESCO. Alții după animale amenințate cu dispariția. Unii străbat o regiune si o studiază in profunzime, iar alții aleg locuri reprezentative ale unei culturi. Ce ne dorim noi? Greu de răspuns pentru că trebuie să ne concentrăm și să punem priorități. Știm ca vrem sa le arătăm copiiilor lumea, să fim împreună în acele locuri noi.
Îmi fac treaba obișnuită prin casă și mă gândesc: cum o să ne descurcăm, cum o să fie să dormim înghesuiți, pe o saltea cu ghemotoace (tare nu ne deranjează), eventual cu goange, cum o să mâncăm toate mâncărurile necunoscute, iuți, sau de proveniență necunoscută. Și cu lucrurile care rămân acasă ce o să se întâmple? Grădina, obiectele (va trebui să le împachetăm în vederea închirierii casei sau le vom lăsa să se prăfuiască?). Ce păstrezi, ce dai? Ce interes vei mai avea în subiect atunci când te vei întoarce? Și chiar trebuie să ne întoarcem? Pentru noi este mult mai simplu: ne-am mutat din țara noastră și ne-am adaptat aici. Ca să plecăm și de aici nu ne pune probleme.
Care-i tema noastră?

Momeala

Mihai spune sa scriem pentru ca o sa uitam si sunt convinsa ca are dreptate. Pentru multa vreme am fost cumva adormita in sensul ca luasem hotararea ca mergem in jurul lumii, dar mai mult de atat nu eram in stare. Mihai se straduia sa gaseasca traseul, pe unde mergem, ce ne-ar interesa. aproape in fiecare saptamana schimba, gasea o varianta mai ieftina, dar daca am pleca din alta parte si nu din State, pentru ca sunt prea scumpe. Imi facea mare placere sa il ascult, pentru ca imi readucea aminte ca vom pleca, dar si pentru ca el facea planuri (spre deosebire de mine, care nu ma puteam gandi la nimic). Eu aveam de pregatit scoala pentru doi ani intr-un an si jumatate. De impartit materia. De ales materiale noi pentru Maria. Cand pot sa dau test pentru clasa a 12-a daca noi terminam materia in noiembrie?
Vorbeam seara amandoi si imi spunea ca se simte lasat singur pentru ca pe noi nu ne intereseaza. El e singurul care deschide subiectul la masa de seara si nimeni nu vine cu ceva din proprie initiativa. Asa ca m-am asezat si am facut doua prezentari in key notes despre India: Red Fort si Qutub Minar. Mi-a facut placere sa caut pe internet poze si informatii. A fost mai frustrant sa le pun in pagina si sa lucrez cu un program despre care nu stiam nimic.
Apoi din nou liniste, m-am reintors la stadiul in care nu aveam timp sa ma gandesc. Ma pregateam sa termin scoala si aveam multe lucruri de facut. La un moment dat Mihai mi-a trimis un email despre tipurile de prosoape pe care si le iau oamenii si intrand pe link-uri am dat de un site "one bag" in care am gasit toate informatiile care ma interesau. amanunte despre facut bagajul, cum sa faci sa pleci cu un rucsac de obiecte necesare, indiferent de durata calatoriei si variatia climatului. M-am indragostit de site-ul asta! L-am citit din cap in coada si am fost trista cand l-am terminat. Chiar mi-am cumparat unele lucruri pe care mi le-a recomandat (mooncup). Am inceput sa devin preocupata!
Mihai a inceput sa ia filme documentare despre diferite locuri din lume, ca sa le incarcam pe iPod-uri si sa le putem vedea in drum spre ele. Printre ele si filmul despre Galapagos. Concomitent primeste un e-mail de la LAN care va zbura in Ecuador din septembrie si pentru a atrage calatori, iti ofera bilete pe gratis din Guayaqil in Galapagos. Seara eu plec linistita la culcare (dupa ce imi spusese de acest email si spusese ca e interesant, dar nu pentru noi) si dimineata ma intreaba serios daca nu as putea considera ca in loc sa mergem la congres in Florida, sa ne indreptam spre Galapagos? DAAAA! Raspunsul a venit pe loc, fara timp de asteptare, fara gandire.
M-a intrebat din nou dupa ce s-a intors de la servici. Nu mi-am schimbat parerea?
Pe scurt: mergem! Ne-am luat si bilete.
Consecinta este ca am intrat in febra pregatirilor de plecare. Caut ce haine ar fi cele mai bune pentru noi: trebuie luat in considerare ca trebuie spalate des, sa nu se sifoneze, preferabil nu de plastic (nu suport mirosul de transpiratie pe plastic) sa tina de cald (cele groase). Citesc opiniile celor care au fost cu familia, incerc sa ma inspir din experienta lor.
Toate astea ar putea fi obisnuite si normale, se intampla oricui care incepe sa fie interesat de un astfel de proiect. Dar VISEZ! Visez ca imi trebuie pentru calatorie, sau ca sunt in calatorie si poftesc o scoica mare, mai mare decat o valiza si imi dau seama ca nu am cum sa o car cu mine si deci ca nu imi trebuie, ca urmare imi spun sa ma bucur de ea chiar acum pentru ca nu pot sa o iau cu mine.
Ma gandesc ca plecam in doi ani apoi fac un calcul si realizez ca este la anul si dintr-o data ma sperii ca e prea scurt, apoi imi readuc aminte ca mai sunt 509 zile si ma simt ceva mai bine, mai am timp sa ma pregatesc.
Dar pana atunci avem de pregatit Galapagos cu un rucsac. Este momeala perfecta!

Galapagos

LAN airlines sent me an email that they offer free tickets to Galapagos with a purchased ticket from United States to Guayaquil. I noticed this and moved on, mentioned it to Ileana on Saturday as just some piece of news, but why do we care, we are going to Galapagos in February 2012 anyhow. Sunday night I thought to myself that I should probably check this out. It turned out to be true and the terms of the offer couldn't be better. Buy a ticket before June 21st for travel after September 16th. LAN is starting this new service and it is likely to be just a one time thing. A couple of months ago I played with the idea of taking one week off to Galapagos while we are in Florida in November. It was too expensive and the time on the islands would have been too short. Now I could buy tickets from New York for $3137 and from Miami for $500 less.
Monday morning when we woke up I asked Ileana if she would like to go to Galapagos. I have an annual conference in Orlando the week before Thanksgiving and this could be a great two week vacation, including some time on our favorite beach at Caladesi Island. She didn't need more than two minutes to decide. We did some calculations and realized that it might cost us just $1200 more to fly from home, instead of going during our RTW trip. We both admitted that we are afraid that Galapagos might be cut off as we get closer to our trip because it is such a huge expense. Better go now when I am still employed and we can count the money differently. The Florida vacation would surely cost more than $1200 and we gain 2-3 weeks on our trip next year. We could spend more time in New Zealand and Argentina and we could make it to Brazil.
It is Wednesday now and yesterday I spent two hours buying the tickets to Galapagos Islands on November 11! There were two agitated days on my part but the family reaction was very enthusiastic. Maria is happy about the "bragging rights", it sounds so much better than Florida, her sister is happy that "this means we can go to Brazil" and Ioan was unhappy with any option because he won't be home for his birthday and won't have a birthday party. Again.
It took less than 48 hours to make this major decision and it might seem an impulsive one, but I don't think it is. Surprisingly I had much more anxiety about this issue than I would have expected and the last two days I almost fell sick. We spent an entire year thinking everyday about our trip next year and by now there is a level of impatience, it seems too long to wait another 509 days. And suddenly we find ourselves having to make plans for November, we can buy some equipment and test drive it right away, we can get a glimpse at how we'll travel next year. We have time to learn and prepare and we also have a "distraction" to make the wait for the big trip much shorter. And we can tell everybody right away. I can only imagine the surprise as this is might seem to come from nowhere, how can someone suddenly decide to go to Galapagos? We just watched the BBC movie (the islands that changed the world) [Blu-ray]  [DVD]   [book] last week and we've been talking about it quite a few times in the last year, but we cannot say it yet.

It is also interesting to note that the purchase of the tickets was much more painful than it should be. After spending almost an hour to start a household account for frequent flyer miles on British Airways, I went to lan.com to buy the tickets and on the last screen I got an error after entering the credit card data. I tried again, got another error and called their customer service. Their representative, Fabian, apologized and explained that they need the passport numbers to issue the tickets, I gave him that and then he tried to charge my credit card and got a denial. We tried another credit card and got another denial. I called the first card to unblock it, called Fabian again to buy the tickets and called the second card to unblock that as well. This morning I got another call from the security department at Chase to verify what happened last night. Bottom line, they block these transactions thinking that they protect me from unauthorized charges. I can only imagine the pain of buying $30000 plane tickets next year. Well, we'll get through that...

Galapagos is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador. There are several inhabited islands, several villages and two small airports. It is mostly a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some people call them "the islands that changed the world". Everybody knows about Charles Darwin and the giant tortoises but I'm sure not much more. They are much bigger than they seem and much more difficult to explore than one would think. There is a $100 charge to enter the National Park and you are required to have an approved guide in the park at all times. Most people would visit the islands on a cruise, but the cruises are expensive, they only have 2-bed rooms and they also waste a lot of time getting there and in between islands. A regular 9-day prearranged trip can have only 5-6 days on the islands and can cost as much as $2400. We will try to read as much as we can, book the first night on our arrival and then decide on the spot how we spend the next 14 days. We'll see.

Inceputuri

Sir Ernest Shackleton ... a încercat să traverseze Antarctica trecând pe la Polul Sud în 1914. Corabia a fost prinsă de ghețuri şi distrusă, după care a urmat un an și jumătate în care el si echipajul au trăit pe ghețuri și în final au reușit să se salveze. Mihai a citit cartile despre călătoria lui, printre care și "Endurance: Shackleton's incredible antarctic expedition" de Alexandra Caroline . Cartea avea la bază jurnalele de călătorie ale membrilor echipajului, dar ceea ce o făcea deosebită erau fotografiile lui Frank Hurley (pe placi de sticla si pe film!) care au fost redescoperite din întâmplare. Unele din ele le puteti vedea pe wikipedia la Endurance-vessel. De aici a urmat o altă carte "Ocolul pământului în 80 de întâlniri" și încă o carte, apoi niște situri de web....și așa a încolțit ideea de a pleca în jurul lumii... binențeles cu copiii, inițial pe șase luni, apoi pe măsură ce ne gândeam unde ne-am putea duce, pe un an și deja ni se parea prea puțin.
Argumente pentru : suntem inca sanatosi si tineri, vrem sa vedem atat de multe locuri despre care doar am auzit sau am citit, vrem sa fim impreuna, noi doi unul cu celalalt si noi doi cu copiii nostri,vrem sa ne si ii expunem la situatii noi pe care nu avem cum sa le intalnim in viata noastra obisnuita, vrem sa ne si le fie putin foame si putin frig, in speranta ca toata aceasta experienta ne va imbogati sufleteste si ne va deschide orizonturile.
Argumente contra: mai avem timp, intrerupem ritmuri stabilite, pierdem "trenuri", e o nebunie, ne putem imbolnavi, e periculos si lista ar putea continua, dar cumva partea asta mi se pare prea generala si fara substanta.
Dar inainte de carti şi filme a fost altceva... Era vară şi mă pregăteam să dau la facultate. Ne-am dus la Argeş cu familia Popa şi prietenii lor şi după o amiază superbă a venit ploaia şi n-am retras rapid la tanti Nuşa acasă unde ne-am aşezat să bem o cafea. Aveam 17 ani şi eram deci preocupată de viitorul meu, deci nu am ratat ocazia să mi se ghicească în cafea. Tanti Nuşa mi-a spus că poate să-mi spună doar lucruri în general şi nu ceva imediat. Îmi aduc aminte că aveam o piedică (am căzut la facultate) apoi urma să mă mut cu casa peste o apă (m-am mutat în Statele Unite) dar după o vreme urma să plec cu bagajele, probabil să mă întorc de unde mă mutasem. Pentru o vreme m-am temut că după ce ne vom face viaţa în State, va trebui să mă întorc şi să o iau de la capăt. DAAAR acum ştiu: voi pleca în jurul lumii, asta este ce a văzut tanti Nuşa.
Ce interesant cum ajungem să realizăm viitorul care ne-a fost "prezis".