UPDATED! 24 April 2010 - Mediterranean Adventures of an Aussie family! Trip Report

[shushh]

The one thing I love about cruising is that it is one of the few "places" where there are still formal dinners. Weddings these days are getting more and more casual and it seems cruising is set to go that way too. But before that happens, I am taking the opportunity to wear the beaufiful dresses that I own but don't get to wear too often.

Seeing as it will be impractical to drag a ball gown all the way over to Europe, I am selecing my slim-line range, one of which is my cheong sam. My aim is to try and "squeeze" back into my cheong sam, last worn at the reception on my wedding day. Tailor-made for me with specially embroidered fabric, the photos don't do it justice. I have been yearning to fit back into this dress for long time.

The progress after baby number 3 has gone better than expected. I just need to maintain my current weight and try not to pig out too much over the next few weeks. The exercise has taken a back seat ever since I returned to work but has been resusciated as of today!

What is not obvious from the photos is that the slits on the side of the dress come up 2/3 up my thighs...so I'd better get cracking on the toning! Pity you can't do much about cellulite...

Wish me luck!

 

[lmhall2000]

Oh! That is a beautiful dress!!! It will just glow with that Mediterranean moon shining on you! Way to go on losing after #3!! Blast away those chubby little cellulite cells with exercise!! It's going to be a wonderful celebration of family and you'll all shine! Now, what are you dressing the kids up in? I just can't see packing suit jackets...no room!!

Tara

(Oh, and dh told me today that his company would actually let him work in Australia for 6 months...but with the horses I just can't see it happening! )

 

[shushh]

Oh, it would be wonderful if you were able to come to Australia for 6 months. Hypothetically, where would you husband be working in Oz?

And thanks again for the compliments! I just realised that we can bring one suitcase EACH. Wahoo!!!! We're so used to travelling light (2 suitcases amongst the 5 of us) that I've got 2 suitcases engrained in my brain. 3 suitcases will mean that I can pack the boys a jacket each. That should suffice for both semi-formal and formal nights.

What about you? Your little ones are bigger...significantly bigger!

 

[lmhall2000]

Ah yes! I remember those days when we travelled with 2 suitcases! My son (14) now weighs over 185 and is almost as tall as his Dad!! He's linebacker built! My daughters are slight but wearing size 9 ladies shoes and all those dinner dresses take up space! We think we could manage with 5 small suitcases (I don't think we'll ever use our giant suitcase again!) but it's all the extras that take up space (pirate night, autograph books, magnets, nebulizer, hairdryer, shoes, oh my!)

The Australia offices seem to be in Canberra, have no clue where that is in relation to Sydney, they have one office in Sydney but it's more HR..I think all the engineering goes on in Canberra. I guess we could fly all the animals, but finding a farm for 6 months would be tough! The idea of it is pretty cool though!! Since we homeschool it would be a neat adventure!!

Tara

 

[auntlynne]

Hey, Belinda,

I'm enjoying this pre-trippie.

Poster Tara (imhall) lives less than 30 miles from me, here in Alabama. Small world, isn't it?

And I will be on the PC 2011 cruise, also.

Lynne

 

[satish]

very nice report. We (me,wife and my 2 kids (9&5) are planning to take the 5/15 11 night cruise. I am definitely getting a lot of information from you guys. If you can share with me any insight on your tour details like which private company and what was the price you paid(was there any room for negotiations etc) that will be just awesome.

Thanks in advance

 

[shushh]

I'ts been utter chaos lately and I've had to squeeze my DISboards time in bits and bobs! Lynne, thanks for your lovely comments. Do you actually know Tara? I hope you are enjoying your holiday.

Tara, Canberra is about 3 hours drive away from Sydney. LOTS of land around. No problems finding a farm here in Australia!

satish, glad we have more med cruisers! I believe it's been rather quiet on most of the med cruise thread meets. I think I've posted most of the details so PM me if there's anything specific you want to know. Like Tara, I've emailed many, many people and companies. I'm not OCD or anything...

 

[auntlynne]

No, we haven't met - I saw her post on our Med cruise thread and saw she was from here and PM'd her. She homeschools, my sister homeschools; they use different "umbrella" schools - the groups that oversee attendance, lesson planning, organize standardized test sessions. But, Tara's kids have done debates at my niece's school.

I think it is funny - and amazing - that we both could be communicating with you half-way (? - 2/3 - 3/4 of the way) around the world.

 

[shushh]

Ah, the beauty of the internet! I don't know what I'd do without it

It seems that there are many who homeschool in the USA. It's not that common here. I can't imagine me being disciplined enough for my children! I am going to retire early tonight as we have a massive weekend ahead. A trivia party all day tomorrow for which I have made a mango-misu and brownies. This is followed by my companies annual Family Christmas party held at Luna Park, which is the amusement park right next to the Harbour Bridge on the north side of the harbour (ie the other side of the harbour from the Opera House).

Will update all with photos if I have any energy left!

 

[shushh]

We're absolutely buggered but had the most wonderful day today! We headed out for Luna Park at 930 in the morning on a beautiful sunny day at Sydney Harbour. The company had hired a room at the amusement park. It was decked out beatifully in blue and white (company colours!) with areas set up for children of different ages. There was face-painting, fairy floss, free tattoes, Santa, presents, fairies, ballons, food, ice-cream, drinks and most importantly, great coffee! The children (and us!) had a wonderful time with the unlimited rides the whole day. We were too tired to cook so had the most healthy meal to cap off the day, Macca Ds! It's time to flop...

Gonna have to improve our stamina to cope with 8 days of WDW come December 2010!!!!

Beautiful Sydney Harbour! Couldn't quite make out the name of the cruise ship docked at Circular Quay...

Entrance to Luna Park

Some 1930's fun

More 1930's fun!

Mini ferris wheel

Having fun on rides

Lara after having her face painted!

Jonah enjoying the toddler area

The big ferris wheel!

My little monster!

Enjoying our last ice-creams before going home

 

[lmhall2000]

What a PRECIOUS family!! And it looks absolutely beautiful there...I wanna goooo!! Love their face painting!!!

Tara

 

[lmhall2000]

Did you get a letter yet?? Sending pixie dust!!!

Tara

 

[shushh]

Tara, yes we got the extra OBC! DU informed us via email when we hadn't received anything by mail. We're also paid in full now so we're super duper excited!! I also managed to finalised our transport bookings in Barcelona so that's another thing out of the way! Who did you go with in the end?

 

[lmhall2000]

YEAH!!! OBC rocks!! I'm a renegade, I really can't book my transport until I know which flight we're on...haven't booked airfare yet, big sale supposed to happen in January, so holding out...yes, I'm a rebel with a budget! I did go ahead and book our Pompeii/Amalfi driver and I'm trying to book a driver with RomeinLimo or other to do a half day tour...I plan on taking the train (San Pietro) to the Vatican then spending 3 hours there...having a driver pick us up at the Vatican to take us to Rome spots...they're trying to talk me into a full day tour, but we'll be walking around the Vatican for hours while they sit in their car and wait for us at a price of 250 euro! We can take a one way ticket to the Vatican for 28 euro...but I like the convenience of having a driver to hit as many spots in Rome as we can....did I say I like a bargain??

What have you booked so far??
Tara

 

[shushh]

Good luck with flights and with booking the half day tour at Rome!!! Let me know you go. We've booked private tours so far in Tunis, Malta, Rome, Naples and La Spezia. We are pottering in Villefrance and Corsica. Still trying to nut our the specifics of Barcelona.

I am exhausted from a busy but great Christmas! Hope you had a fantastic one too.

 

[grlzmom]

Great pre trip report and can't wait to meet you all on the Med!

Love the detailed plans. We will be relaxing in Villefrance too and trying to end up with a mix of long days and short days for ports to make it more enjoyable for the kids and not too tiring.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[shushh]

We received our cruise documents today! That was a pleasant surprise after such a busy month and the inspiration to breathe new life into this pre-trip report.

My mother-in-law is finally home after 2 months in hospital with seizures of unknown cause. The cause remains a mystery but they seem to diminishing in frequency and severity which is great. We're down with viral gastroenteritis which is the absolute pits but my Disney pack is keeping me going!

More updates to come soon!

 

[Subrbnmommy]

You must be gatting excited about the upcoming trip!

I can't wait to read your trip report!

 

[shushh]

Yes we are getting very excited! I just realised that we leave in 22 days! Ok and with that realisation comes the realisation of the many many things that I have to do, including planning and packing for trip to Canberra to visit friends.

A quick update on Rome and Naples, we've changed our tour operator to Rome Connections and saved ourselves 120 Euro which I am very happy about. They seem to have good ratings on TripAdvisor and the extra Euros will always come in handy. They have also agreed to provide a carseat for free for Jonah which is reassuring for me. We are still looking into Rome carefully to make sure that we're not trying to see too much.

The FE list has been finalised and now time to get cracking to actually make the darn FE itself! Wish me luck.

 

[shushh]

Got my transfer paper to make my FE only to realise that I need to replace the ink in my printer. ARGHHH!!!

Was so fortunate to have a fellow DISer on our cruisemeet create and share beautiful journal pages for the children. Again I was all set to get the 5.5" x 8.5" binder that it was designed for only to realise that it was not a standard size in Australia and is not available! Sigh...so had to print to the closest size paper and bind it myself using a spiral binder with black cardboard on the back and clear plastic on the front. Quite proud of my efforts actually! The kids love their journals. Will post a photo as soon as I find out where the children put the darn things...