Escaping China To Be Sick in Thailand

Chinese New Year began on January 23, 2012.  It is the Year of the Dragon.  The Year of the Dragon is one of the most revered years of the Chinese New Year calendar, and those born under the sign are regarded as innovative, passionate people who are colorful, confident and fearless.  No plans for any McVeigh babies so moving on....

Like October Holiday, Chinese New Year is a national holiday where everyone gets the week off.  That means E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E....as in 1.3 billion Chinese who absolutely adore fireworks (they invented them, ya know?)  It is very common for foreigners to leave China to escape these holidays.  In October, you could stick around (we did in 2010) because the weather is usually nice but no one has ever said that about January in Beijing.  Add non-stop fireworks/firecrackers on top of the massively cold weather, dash a bit of pollution on a few of those days, take out your helpful ayi and your driver (they have the week off) and you have a recipe for a trip....how about a trip to Northern Thailand?

Christmas on a Boat

We departed Beijing on December 15th on a direct flight to Sydney.  We arrived on the 16th very tired but ready to see New Zealand.  Here is the boat we will spend the next 13 days living on....

The Dorky Charlie Angel's Pose is Patrick's Idea....

Departure Party on the Top Deck was lovely as we cruised through Sydney Harbor.

Opera House in the distance

Farewell Sydney....for now....

Merry Christmas from the McVeighs

This will be the first year in a very long time where I am not sending out a Christmas card.  I looked into having them printed and spending $1-$1.49 each to have them addressed and mailed but in the end, I ran out of time.  You can not expect me to update this blog (months behind schedule) AND organize Christmas card deliveries from China!  I imagine all of you understand and it's not like you don't know what we have been up to in 2011... thanks to this blog.

But for the sake of my guilty conscience...please imagine this is a postcard, addressed by Shutterfly and mailed on time to arrive in your mailbox before Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the McVeigh Family

We are off on another adventure tomorrow.  We leave for Sydney where we will catch the Sea Princess to New Zealand.  After spending 13 days on board seeing Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin and Fiordland Nat'l Park, we will return to Sydney in time for New Year's Eve overlooking the Sydney Opera House.  Very excited but I've got to start packing!!

My new year's resolution is to be better at keeping this blog up-to-date.  Let's see how long it takes me to post pics from Down Under.

Merry Christmas to all of you...I wish we would be seeing you this Christmas.
xoxo

October Holiday to Vietnam & Cambodia

I am the McVeigh Family's travel agent (non-paying gig but I get to tag along to some amazing places).  Some thought I was crazy to book Halong Bay AND Angkor Wat in ONE week!  They said it couldn't be done...'way too much to see in such a short time.'  Well...'they' were wrong.  It can be done but it was not terribly relaxing, oftentimes stressful and there was NO kids club.  So we needed a vacation from our vacation but it was AMAZING!

We flew into Hanoi, Vietnam on October 1st.  We were booked on a 3 day/2 night Junk Boat cruise.  Why is it called a junk boat?  It took this blog for me to google that little question.  Here's the scoop.

The type of Chinese sailing boat called a 'junk' derives its name from the Portugese 'junco' which came from the Malay 'jong', which is thought to come from the Javanese 'djong'.  The word 'junk' in this sense has been used in English since at least the fourteenth century and probably earlier.

Now that I have educated myself and you...let's get to some pictures.

Summer 2011 - Trip to Texas & Durango

(This post was written on September 19, 2011 - I saved it and three months later, am finally sending it.)

Let's start from the beginning.  As in the ignorant bliss I was experiencing while packing and then boarding the plane. I assumed the plane from Beijing to Chicago would have TV/movie screens on the back of each head rest.  The plane had it in December from Beijing to Newark so why would it be different this time?  I didn't bring any electronic entertainment device (except my Iphone) and only a few activity books.  I was counting on those little screens to kill time until the girls fell asleep.

So imagine me standing in the aisle of a humongous United plane, with a hundred people in front and a hundred people behind me, and the realization that there were NO little screens to save me from my bored children.  I seriously had a little panic attack and wanted to run away...but there was nowhere to run...I was trapped!  And then I see we have the seats that don't recline...you know the ones...backing up to the toilets.  Oh, goody....this is really going to suck!!

It did suck but not as much as I imagined.  A very nice lady named Gigi sat next to Fiona while I sat next to Isla.  She was very helpful during dinner and spent time playing games with Fiona.  One of Fiona's Girl Scout friends shared her Ipad for about an hour which was a lifesaver.  Fiona fell asleep across Isla's and her seat while Isla fell asleep on me.  Yep!  Isla slept on top of me for S.E.V.E.N. hours.  I would occasionally have to shift different parts of my body to keep the blood flowing.  Thankfully the movies playing on the aisle screen were new to me so time went by less slowly than otherwise.  I think I finally was dozing off when they turned the lights on to feed us 'breakfast'.  20 minutes of sleep...and no feeling in my bottom or my right side.  Wonderful!!

The layover in Chicago was fine and the Continental flight to Houston was uneventful (because they had the little screens!)  Continental rocks and United can kiss my...seriously numb bottom.

Reunited with Mimi and Pops