Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

Recap: On Sunday we flew to Christchurch (easy taxi ride at 6:15 am) and got a shuttle to our remarkably lovely hotel (Commodore). On Monday, we obtained our RVs, ate lunch and got on the road around 1:30; after a 4+ hour drive we arrived at our campground in Dunedin on the southeast coast. On Tuesday afternoon we toured 150 year old Larnach Castle. We also went for a moderate hike down to (and back up from) Tunnel Beach. On Wednesday morning, Elise took Ali, Cate and Henry for a walk along the beach while Liz, Wally and Lily toured the Otago History Museum. Meanwhile, Jon replaced a dead laptop. On Wednesday afternoon we drove out to the tip of the Otago Peninsula to visit the Royal Albatross Centre. We're a long way from everywhere but at least this sign mentions places we've been (New York, Santiago, Public Toilets) and others we haven't (and won't), like the South Pole. Observation #1: Emirates is a really, really, really nice airline. Our Qantas flight was a ...

This post is probably not interesting to anybody except my future self. Feel free to skip this one if you visit this site to see pictures of our cute kids. I don't mind. Tuesday, December 10, 2019 (Santiago, Chile). Wake up with alarm. Elise's back hurts. A lot. Finish packing, showers, etc. Breakfast at excellent hotel buffet.  Discover flight is two hours delay. Reschedule airport shuttle. Kids watch more TV. Easy shuttle to airport. Easy time checking bags, going through customs, etc. except that Lily's visa is invalid on account of a typo in her passport number that I didn't catch. The application fee is mysteriously waived so, you know, whatever. The kids are getting pretty good at this. Even have time to change remaining Argentine pesos into Chilean pesos to spend on souvenirs.  Fail to mail postcards from Chile because 'open" post office in the airport is unstaffed (as warned). Eat lunch at Ruby Tuesday in Santiago Airport because, well, w...

Technically speaking, we visited Santiago, Chile. In truth, we took a shuttle to an airport hotel where we swam and played in the gym; we took a cab to a mall that is attached to the tallest building in South America (300m, 62 stories) and ate in an American restaurant; we spent more time in the hotel pool; we ate five meals in the hotel. It's more than we expected to do, especially because there is political unrest in the city right now. But it's much less than this city deserves and we hope to come back, especially if we can combine it with skiing in the nearby mountains.