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It’s
this month’s quiz. Sorry
but there’s no prize. 1) What have the
following things got in common? 2) Stumped? What about
these then? If any of you are googlewhackers you should be able to figure it out by
deduction. For the rest of you normal people, all these are strange
but true routes that citizens of the net have taken to reach The Family Adventure Project website. Some
poor person used Google to
track down Fransisco Pizzaro and ended up bogged down in a cycling
adventure story involving a Spice Girl loving Chilean policeman
in rabbit slippers. We hope it helped. Someone wanting dinky curlers (presumably for
their hair) was directed to a tale about Dinky, a three legged
dog, and his encounter with a skunk.
Obviously the content we’ve recently added to our
web site is of much wider interest than we anticipated. So, whatever
you’re looking for, it’s worth taking a look. Turning a dream into reality With six weeks to go before we head off on our dream
trip, we’re up to our necks in detail. Transforming dreams
into reality is essentially a practical affair; people need to
know, arrangements must be made, resources secured, equipment
prepared. Living the dream
means putting yourself and your ideas out there, and dealing with
the reactions and consequences that follow. People’s reactions
have been interesting as always, ranging from enthusiasm and wonder
to bewilderment, disapproval and ultimately horror. There
seem to be several different versions of our plans in circulation
at the moment. In part because our plans keep changing, in part
because we’ve become canny at pitching it differently to
those we sense are disapproving, and in part because some people
only hear what they want to hear. Some of the mother and baby group, who can’t
imagine taking toddlers further than the fun factory, are convinced
we’re off on a 2 week holiday to New Zealand …. ‘It
seems a long way to go for just two weeks.’
Suspicious relatives wonder aloud whether we have secret
plans to emigrate to the To fail to plan is to plan to fail With so many things to consider and so many arrangements
to be made it’s been a tricky time for two people who would
prefer to just up-sticks and go with the flow.
With the turn of autumn here in the Our dingo risk assessment identified several possible
control measures: elastic child restrainers, GPS tagging, personal
issue pepper spray, not taking a dingo or keeping an eye on the
kids. Plenty of options there.
Combatting our fear of isolation and ensuring a reliable
connection to the virtual world has meant developing a technology
pannier crammed with laptop, phone, minidisk, camera, solar chargers
and enough cables to cover all configuration possibilities, data
formats and power sources. We’ll definitely be in touch. And then there’s the journey to sort out: routes,
travel arrangements, accommodation, visas, vaccinations, insurance,
equipment, and financing. Right
now the plan exists somewhere amongst piles of books, maps, travel
guides and timetables that have invaded our house, our minds,
our lives. Rough Guide to The Family on a Bike ‘In Search of Families
In Search of Adventure Tour 2004/5’ Our current plan is to road test a few different styles
of family adventuring as we make our way around the world on a
ten month journey to While the tour is many things - an expedition, research,
writing project and holiday - our goals are simple: You can read more about it on the Family
on a Bike pages of our website. Our first leg is an independent cycle expedition to what’s
often considered the world’s outdoor adventure capital. We’re
going to pedal our way (and pull the kids in trailers) from the
southern most tip of Our second leg is an island adventure, on Our final section of this family journey is an adventure
in logistics. Travelling with our bikes and trailers we’re
going to make our way coast to coast across the The devil is definitely in the detail and some of the
logistics are still beyond us. Like how to get two bikes, two
trailers, ten panniers, two rucksacks, a tent, two tired toddlers
and four large bike boxes across New York to JFK airport on a
hot August day. Any ideas? They say anything is possible in America.
Let’s hope so. One of the challenges in realising a dream is figuring
out whether it’s possible or not or how to make it possible.
In our dreams we glide effortlessly on our bikes around the globe,
a harmonious little team, deeply fulfilled in each others company
and in awe of the world around us. In reality we don’t even know if we’ll
be able to move at all when the bikes are loaded, the trailer
is attached and a cute 25kg lump climbs in. They say anything
is possible with training. So, we’d better add that to our
to-do list. A toddler’s view A lot of people ask whether the boys know what’s
about to happen to them. Well
Matthew (3¾) knows he is going to What’s new on the website? We’ve added more
content to the website since the last newsletter and have started
to collect and publish other people’s family adventure stories. Right now we’re featuring: We continue to welcome your help and support
We welcome your feedback on all aspects of the project.
You can send us a message by replying to this email newsletter
or by mailing us at mail@familyonabike.org. Our technology
pannier means we’ll be contactable throughout our travels.
We’d love to hear from you. We’re still keen to make contact with others around
the world who are willing to share their stories and experiences
of family adventure. We’re also keen to make contact with
other organisations who support, encourage, organise or run family
adventure projects, vacations or experiences.
Send us your details and we’ll be in touch. And while on the road, we hope to meet up with others
with a love of adventure. So if you’re interested and will
be in Our
adventurous families survey is still live online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=51005471877
or without all that typing via our website. Anyone with experience
of family adventure can use it to tell us about it, so please
encourage your friends and contacts or have a go yourself. Finally, your stories, ideas and contributions for our
website are always welcome. And for a few more weeks, normal life continues
Amidst all this planning, equipment testing and fretting,
normal life continues for a frenetic while longer: work to do,
bills to pay, people to see, playgroup to attend.
But the freedom of the open road is not far away now, just
6 weeks, 3 planes, 20,000km, and 48 hours providing one on one
flight entertainment for two excited, testosterone and sweetie
filled toddlers. After that the cycling will be easy. Won’t
it? As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Whatever you do will
be insignificant. But it is most important that you do it.”
Well, as things stand, for some strange reason, we are doing it.
Until next time, Stuart, Kirstie, Matthew and Cameron
The Family Adventure Project
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