Having a bit of a faff.

Well, the iPad mini arrived last night. It's a wonderful piece of kit. As part of the excuse to buy this was to help us to manage our photos and for the kids to write a blog in lieu of doing a journal to keep the school happy whilst we are away. I thought I should research blogging Apps.

Blogsy was very highly recommended so it is now downloaded and here is my first trial Blog using the killer combo of the iPad mini and Blogsy.

I suppose it makes sense not to write too much in case it doesn't work, so I'll leave it at that for now and see if this works. Fingers crossed!

 

Posted with Blogsy

All systems are go!

Well, I have been a busy boy. I took delivery of a new Credit Card from HSBC after swapping from my previous card. This new one is a Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum Card which comes with 20,000 miles, very good quality travel insurance and, best of all, two passes to the Qantas Club Lounge!
With this new card in hand I went to see my friend, Scott, at Jetstar Travel in Hillarys.
$16,200 later we became the proud owners of 52 flights. That is $311 per flight and there are some bloody big flights in there too!
With the dates locked in and paid for it becomes expensive to change things now, that is one of the reasons why the flights are so cheap. That said, having things now set in tablets of stone makes it easier to book accommodation, car hire etc.

So far I have booked and paid for:
Tokyo accommodation - staying at a traditional Japanese "Ryokan", which is a Bed & Breakfast essentially. We are staying at Tama Ryokan in Shinjuku for only three nights but get there very early on day one so three full days should be enough to give us a taste of Tokyo.
Car Hire in the UK - Being 'independent travellers' I had notions of using public transport with our backpacks on. The reality of public transport for 4 people in the UK is expensive and inconvenient. The flight from Manchester to New York (via Zurich) leaves at 8.40am. Getting there for 6am means getting a 4am train for which there are no buses running! A cruise around the internet revealed a Ford Focus for 29 days at a cost of $590. A bit of a no-brainer really. Booked and paid for.
New York accommodation - http://www.newyorkbudgetinn.com is really centrally located in Midtown Manhattan. We have 6 nights in NYC and have two rooms, a Double with en-suite for Em and I and a twin for the kids. So very centrally located and easy access to all the essential tourist spots. So very excited!
Washington Accommodation - http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Gallery-Inn-Hotel/Washington-DC/21986 is located in central Washington, a four bedded room close to all the sights for a relatively bargain price - only $200/night (+ tax of course).
Orlando accommodation - We have managed to score a 3 bedroomed house in Crescent Lakes, Kissimee  for only $150/night (inc tax) so we are making the most of this and having ten nights in Florida. It comes with a pool and games room for the kids but with plans afoot for a 5 day pass for Disney, a 3 day pass for Universal Studios and a one day trip to Kennedy Space Centre we won't be spending too much time at 'home'.
Orlando Car Hire - A Chevrolet Aveo (Barina/Corsa) is a good budget solution and if we can cram 4 people and 4 backpacks in for the trip to and from the airport should address all our needs. $311 for 11 days - bargain. Booked and paid for!
Vegas Accommodation - http://www.theplatinumhotel.com is hopefully going to be our freebie for the trip. Being a karmic universe our good deed of a couple of years ago may well be getting paid back with 3 nights free stay at this wonderful place. Keep your fingers crossed for us please folks.
Grand Canyon accommodation - having stayed here http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging-413.html a few years ago for an overnight stay we found it was all a bit too quick really so have re-booked for two nights. A small hike into the canyon will be in order as will having a look a bit further round the South Rim. Definitely one for everyone's Bucket List.

We still need to book flights, car and a Gite for our week in France, need somewhere to stay in San Francisco and Athens and I am leaving it in Em's very capable hands to get the family around the Greek Islands - no pressure then love!

We have bought Em & I a back pack each, mine second hand Kathmandu Interloper off eBay and Em a "Hybrid Trolley" in the sales. It does seem a bit surreal. I've been giddy with excitement for months, Em hasn't grasped that it is actually going to happen and the kids are just happy with a term off school.

Lock It In!!!

Well, the flights are booked. We now know where we will be and when. Scott, the travel agent, came back with the final itinerary and cost. I was most impressed that the final cost was even cheaper than his original quote by a few hundred dollars!! What a guy!

Sun 19th April: Perth - Tokyo (via Sydney)

Thurs 25th April: Tokyo - Athens (via Zurich)

Weds 15th May: Athens - Manchester (via Heathrow)

side trip of a week in Brittany

Thursday 13th June: Manchester - New York (via Zurich)

Weds 19th June: New York - Washington

Sun 23rd June: Washington - Orlando

Weds 3rd July: Orlando - San Diego (via Houston)

side trip to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon

Monday 15th July: San Diego - San Francisco

Friday 19th July: San Francisco - Perth (via Sydney)

I now look forward to booking in all the accommodation. We have bought Em's bag already in a sale and she has a 70 litre Hybrid Trolley Bag. Which means it has a backpack harness and a pull up handle with trundle wheel on the bottom. Perfect for her, I'm waiting to see if my bid on a Travel Backpack on eBay is successful.

The itinerary re-jig.

As per the previous post we are looking at taking up the option of the cheaper flights. The actual figures for those flights are mind-boggling. It will mean THIRTEEN flights in total. The cost per person is $2859 for flights and $1315 for taxes. This means the airlines get less than three thousand dollars, that's about GBP 2,000, to fly us all the way around the world - about 30,000 miles. That is unbelievable!

I know that they say that if something seems too good to be true, then it is. But I have all these figures in writing from a trusted, established, travel agent locally. If I could pay for the flights today then I'd be there in a flash. A part of me is waiting for a message to say that he's got the prices wrong, or there's been a price increase. I live in hope.

We have also been fortunate enough to have a bit of Karma working in our favour this week when Taylor, our Californian Back-packer friend came good with her promise of free accommodation in Vegas. That will mean having a few dollars to throw back into the pot, but with it being Vegas we have already ear-marked the savings to let us see some good shows whilst there.

How much cheaper???

I happened to pop into a travel agency in Whitfords a couple of days ago while Em & Eve checked out the hair products in the next door shop.


Scott, the manager, was very knowledgable and helpful, he took the itinerary from me and said he'd have a look at other options. I'm so glad he did 'cos he came back to me with three options.


Option 3 is:


Perth / Bangkok - Thai Airways
Bangkok / Athens via Zurich - Swiss Air
Athens / Manchester via London - British Airways
Manchester / New York via Zurich - Swiss Air
New York / Washington - United Airlines
Washington / Orlando - United Airlines
Orlando / San Diego - United Airlines
San Diego / San Francisco - US Air
San Francisco / Sydney - Qantas
Sydney / Perth - Qantas


Sure it misses out Tokyo & Cairo and the schlep to NYC is via Zurich but it is a massive $6,000 cheaper. His foot note said that we could do Tokyo on the outward leg rather than Bangkok. That is a very appealing option. He's going to do another itinerary for me today with final costings but if it's even slightly close to a SIX GRAND saving then I'm on it.


Missing out Cairo and Bangkok means that we would have another 5 days to throw back in the pot, more time in San Francisco and Southern California would be nice. 
It's very exciting now 'cos it's almost at the point where we are able to get the tickets booked and paid for.

The deranged ramblings of a mad man, who also happens to be a control freak.

I would dearly love to be a laid-back, laissez-faire kind of bloke. It would make my life so much simpler. But as I'm not I'm sat here with 11 months to go and fretting about exact dates, how long we have in each city and how much it will all cost.
It makes sense I suppose 'cos it's only a few weeks until we get to book and pay for the tickets. I'm excited but if anything is left to chance it tends to keep me awake at night. I am throwing caution to the wind in Greece though and leaving it to Em' who is happy to fly by the seat of her pants when we get off the ferry for accommodation. Which it appears is an entirely reasonable option according to trip advisor given the time of year that we will be there.
The main reason that I need to get my head around where we will be and for how long is for budgeting. Our last city that we visit is Tokyo, widely regarded as being one of the world's most expensive cities. If our budget is way off we can either be eating noodles on a park bench or actually be able to stay somewhere nice and have a few bob spare.
To that end I have done a more detailed itinerary - this of course may always change. I would appreciate your comments about whether I have allowed long enough in certain places that I have never been to before.

Sun 21st April - Perth to Bangkok, arrive late evening
3 full days, 4 nights in Bangkok

Thurs 25th April - Bangkok to Cairo, overnight flight, arrive in Cairo early morning
1 full day, 2 nights in Cairo

Sat 27th April - Cairo to Athens, mid-day flight, overnight stay near the harbour.

Sun 28th April - Early morning ferry, island hopping for just over 2 weeks.

Mon 13th May - Return to Athens by ferry, a couple of days in Athens.

Weds 15th May - Athens to Manchester via Munich.
10 full days in York.

Sunday 26th May - Fly to Brittany for a week.

Sunday 2nd June - Back to York

Wednesday 5th June - Drive to Tilbury in afternoon.

Thurs 6th June - London.
3 full days in London, 4 nights.

Sun 9th June - Back to York late evening

Friday 14th June - Manchester to New York. Daytime flight
4 full days, 5 nights in NYC

Weds 19th June - NYC to Washington DC. Daytime flight.
3 full days, 4 nights in DC

Sun 23rd June - DC to Orlando. Daytime flight.
9 full days, 10 nights in Orlando.

Weds 3rd July - Orlando to San Diego. Daytime flight
9 full days, 10 nights in San Diego (including trips to Vegas & Grand Canyon)

Sat 13th July - San Diego to San Francisco. Daytime flight.
2 full days, 3 nights in San Francisco.

Tues 16th July - San Francisco to Tokyo. Overnight flight.

Weds 17th July - Tokyo.
3 full days, 4 nights in Tokyo

Sun 21st July - Return to Perth

So that's it, lets have your comments please.

1 Year, 1 month

It's been a week of anniversaries this week.  We came to Australia for the first time on the 21st March, 9 years ago. It's been quite mind-blowing just how much we have done in 9 years. Jack was 4 and Eve was 1 year old. Now he's as tall as me and Eve is the proper little Aussie girl we always hoped she would be.

It's also the 1 year 1 month anniversary before we commence The Big Trip. Trips to the library now result in us bringing books back about Tokyo, The Greek Islands, Bangkok & Disney World. Jack has been appointed Destination Specialist for Vegas and Tokyo, Eve is the Destination Specialist for Disney in Orlando. Em's speciality is Greece and The Grand Canyon. I get the rest. Watching Karl Pilkington in Bangkok this week for An Idiot Abroad I reckoned that the Lingam Shrine in Bangkok was a must do family activity.

After all what is life, if not an opportunity to embarrass the living daylights out of your kids?

Life became a bit simpler this week too after I decided that the job in Tasmania was not for me after the permanant contract became a 12 month contract which I then found out meant that it could be cancelled with 2 weeks notice. So we are staying in Perth.

Em has plenty of employment options at Kingsway after a meeting yesterday, the full time option is so appealing financially but it means she's completely knackered after a week at work and it's really not good for her. I have every faith that she'll do what is right for everyone.

On the Big Trip front, we are now a lot more comfortable with the itinerary having decided to increase our time in Greece and after a visit from a couple of great friends from London leading to the kind offer of some free accommodation in London. The chance to spend a few relatively cheap and easy days in London catching up with Em's dad and hanging out with our friends getting some culture and no doubt a couple of Gay Bars for good measure, is too good to miss.

Cheap accommodation is now becoming something of an obsession for me. You don't actually realise until you have to plan a trip of this length just him much can be spent on Hotels in 3 months. There are so many other options when you start looking. In Florida it is possible to rent an entire 4 bed villa with a pool for about $100/night. Most excellent value, especially if our good friends, The Arnolds, are able to join us. The weather in Florida in July will mean that a pool will be an essential after a day of traipsing around a busy, humid park.
Hostels are such a viable option and the ones that I have researched have blown my preconceptions out of the water. There are some beautiful, well equipped. clean, friendly places in really central locations and at a fraction of the cost of a Hotel. It may mean having to have a 4 bed 'Dorm' room to ourselves in places like New York & Tokyo, but I honestly think we will be so tired after days exploring these places that we could sleep anywhere.

I am really keen for your advice on such places as Disney & Tokyo so please let me have your tips.

Getting there.

The time is steadily creeping upon us when we need to book, and pay for, four round-the-world airfares. I now have an app on the iPhone and it reliably informs me that today we have "1 Year, 1 Month and 2 Weeks until the trip. Which equates to about 29 pay days.

Our local Travel Agent at Whitfords was most useful and suggested an itinerary that will keep us in a lower fare band. It only means reversing NYC-Washington-Orlando but saves us about $3,000!

It's amazing the things that you can find out when it's quiet at work and the internet is readily available. I chanced across a website called "Australian Frequent Flyer"  and I was able to discover that if I register with Aegean Air's frequent flyer programme, Miles & Bonus. This means that if I book the trip with Star Alliance then all four of us will be eligible to be Star Alliance "Gold Members" - No Austin Power references please.
There are a host of benefits with this, most notably the use of all their Lounges at Terminals world-wide and a very useful additional 20kg luggage allowance, each - Result!

I check out the exchange rates daily and try to see how it will affect our ticket prices 'cos once you have booked and paid for the tickets the price is fixed. I'm a little concerned that the Aussie Dollar could weaken and the price of oil looks like getting a bit silly, this will undoubtedly combine to bump up the price a fair bit. Fingers crossed.

Rather disconcertingly I tried to check out the current cost based on 2012 flights for the same dates as 2013 and the itinerary that I had saved showed that four of fifteen flights were no longer available. I'm guessing and hoping that that was due to trying to find four seats on small planes at short notice and not due to them cancelling flights.

My attempts at saving for this trip have been remarkably fruitful thus far. It has meant a major change in mind-set that I should have adopted years ago and due to us paying ourselves weekly the kids now have to accept that we can't afford it and they can't do everything that our hearts desire. They are starting to accept it and it was difficult over the school holidays but when you sit down and look at your expense it is quite remarkable how much money you can blow on utter crap. And guess what kids, you are getting luggage for Xmas this year!

The difficult bit starts here - $$$$$$$$$$

Well, it's the start of a new year and with that comes the realisation that it is only 15 months until we start The Big Trip. That is only 32 more pay days and I sat down the other day to put together a rough budget based on where we will be and for how long.
The itinerary is getting firmed up somewhat. The current plan is

Bangkok - 4 nights
Cairo - 2 nights
Greece - just over 2 weeks
UK - 5 weeks (including a trip to France for a week)
Florida - 10 days
Washington DC - 4 days
New York - 5 days
California 12 days (inc. 4 days in LA & 3 days in San Francisco)
Tokyo - about a week

All up that is 13 weeks of adventures. By way of a compromise we have been given permission to take the kids out of school for term 2, which is 20th April to 21st July 2013.

I hope to get your ideas for each place about the must-do activities.
The budgeting for each city and the research into that has been quite interesting and www.hostelworld.com  has become my new favourite website. I initially budgeted for AU$200/night in most places except NYC & Tokyo when I allowed AU$300/night. I also allowed AU$150/day for food, $100/day for 'activities', $50/day for contingencies and a few hundred here and there for travel. Still the overall figure (without airline tickets) was pretty eye-watering.
It certainly seems that the Aussie Dollar is very strong right now and I hope that may continue. Greece is looking like being the bargain destination right now with comfortable double rooms casting about $50/night with en-suites. My eyes have been opened to the world of Hostels and I have found amazing places in SanFrancisco overlooking Alcatraz, The Golden Gate Bridge and next to Fisherman's Wharf for $100/night. Ryokans in Central Tokyo and Hostels on Broadway near Central Park in NYC all at pretty reasonable prices.

I have handed control of Greece over to Em 'cos I am far too much of a control freak and I'm keen to land in Athens and have no control whatsoever to get me into the laid-back island hopping groove.

So - we have some serious saving to do and some serious planning to get the most out of our adventure. Your comments are always welcome and I shall get some more posts up soon.