Our night with Aurora - Tromso, Norway

It was our second night in Tromso (Norway) and we had planned to see the Northern Lights (aka Aurora Borealis). We took a break from Aurora chasing on our first night as we had just spent the previous 2 nights in Abisko, Sweden in the freezing cold doing the same. So when we arrived in Tromso we headed straight for a friend of a friend’s gallery exhibition opening night instead. It was a refreshing break to spend some time with people who were just going about their daily lives in Tromso that didn’t have anything to do with travel. In fact, they were more into the art scene and with the International Filmfest on that week, they thought we were in town for that. While we would’ve loved to experience that side of Tromso, we had other plans.

With Jet of Small Projects, Tromso exhibition opening night

The forecast for the next 2 nights was for a strong Lights display so we thought we had a pretty good chance of seeing it again. I was already happy with what we saw in Abisko (Sweden) so didn’t feel as much pressure to see it. We did however, get a few tips from our new friends from the night before about where we could best see the lights from and two places were suggested – Sommaroy and Tromvik.

We scouted the route to Sommaroy during the limited daylight hours so we could see what the landscape looked like and choose a place to return to late that night. The drive was scenic and Sommaroy was picturesque and freezing. However, having done the drive during the day, we decided it was too far to return to that night so we ended up on the road to Tromvik instead - it was a shorter distance but unexplored in daylight.

On the way to Sommaroy, Norway

Sommaroy, Norway

Sommaroy, Norway

We left our accommodation at 8pm and made our way towards Tromvik which was about an hour’s drive out of Tromso. Even before we had left the city lights we could see it in the sky. We had seen it a few times now so knew what we were looking for. Hubby found a dark spot to pull over by the side of the road and took out his camera and tripod to take a few ‘test shots’ to confirm. Sometimes moving clouds or the glow over mountains from city lights can look like the Northern Lights so the best way to confirm is by taking a picture of it to see if it turns green in the photo. It was…and it was getting stronger! I got out of the car and watched. Cat got her camera and tripod out and joined Hubby taking photos. Bee and Mig folded the back seat of the car, laid out their pillows, blankets, and snack food and watched from the warmth of the car.

The photographers
Cat in the foreground and Hubby in black clothes on a dark road in the background. Safety first (not).

Less than an hour later Hubby declares  “Let’s go! Let’s move to another spot!” OK, pack up the tripods, fix the seats, pack up the pillows, blankets and food and pile everyone back into the car. Before we could even find an ideal spot, the Lights were getting crazier and brighter in the sky over the mountains on both sides of the road and up above. Hubby pulled over to the next spot he saw and hurriedly got his gear out of the car, quickly followed by Cat and her gear. “But there are trees blocking the view. This isn’t really a good spot,” I said to no one in particular. I got out of the car and couldn’t find them. “Where’d they go??” I wondered. Across the road up on a snowy embankment I could barely make out 2 figures in the dark. “Hubby? Cat?” I called out across the road. I decided to join them climbing up the gentle hill to get a clear view over the trees. Luckily the snow had partially frozen and was not as soft so I wasn’t sinking too deep into it making my way to Cat who was safely perched on a small rock. The skies were starting to go crazy with the Lights getting brighter and moving faster. “Holy cow! Oh my god! Are you getting all that??!” I excitedly asked Cat and Hubby – their cameras facing in opposite directions trying to capture the action in every direction. “Bee!” I yelled to the car across the road. “Look up!” “Holy shit! Wooohoooo!!!!”. At this stage I was practically jumping up and down on our rock, swirling around with head tilted up to the sky in amazement (I’m surprised I didn’t get dizzy and fall off the rock). 

The Lights were all over, beaming from the mountains behind us, from across the lake in front of us, directly above us. Cat and I were looking up when the most amazing swirl of lights just happened right above us “Holy shit!!! Did you see that?? Oh my god!”. My vocabulary was as colourful as the sky above. It was exhilarating. Hubby and Cat just kept shooting photos. When the Light activity started dying down we decided to pack up and move to a different location, still on the road to Tromvik, for a different view.

Photo credit: John Matias

Photo credit: John Matias

Photo credit: John Matias

Photo credit: John Matias

Photo credit: Kat Matias

 Photo credit: Kat Matias

Back in the car Bee turns quiet. “I don’t feel so good. My tummy hurts,” she says. We continue driving. “She’s going to throw up Mom!” Mig announces. “Do you have a bag with you??” I asked slightly concerned but still looking at the sky. “Oooowww. My tummy hurts,” Bee whines again. “If you’re going to throw up please do it outside the car or I’m going to throw up,” Cat requests unsympathetically. Bee starts throwing up. “Yuck!!! Lalalalala,” Cat starts yelling out loud to cover the noise of Bee’s heaving. “Bee’s throwing up. Hmmm… it smells like chicken!” Mig announces. “Shut up or I’m going to throw up. Lalalalalala,” Cat continues. I open the window to get some fresh air into the car. “Here, have some wipes. Oh wow! That’s so pretty!” I say still looking up to the sky while handing some wipes to the back seat. “Dad, can you please pull over,” Bee requests. “Hmmm… I see lettuce,” says Mig. “Mig!!!” Cat and I shout in unison. Meanwhile, Hubby stays focused on his driving through all the chaos in the back seat as the road in front of us is dark, winding, icy and on a cliff’s edge. “Dad, can you please pull over,” Bee requests again between heaving. “Bee, there’s nowhere to stop. Here, drink some water,” I offer her a bottle. Finally, we reach a clearing on the side of the road and Hubby pulls over, gets the ‘vomit bag’ from Bee and throws it over the cliffs edge. “You what??” I exclaimed when he told me what he did with the bag. “What did you want me to do with it??” he asked defensively. “I dunno. Tip out the contents on the side and keep the bag to throw in a bin later?” “Ewww! Gross!” was the collective reply. Bee gets out of the car and cleans herself up and immediately feels better. Hubby and Cat get out their tripods and start shooting photos again. We continued to watch the Lights in awe.

We packed up and continued down the road to Tromvik, the Lights continuing to glow so bright they were visible above the beam of our headlights. We had passed several cars parked by the side of the road in parking bays so a parked car was not an unusual sight. This time however, we were approaching a car that was parked on the side with a man just standing on the road – in our path. “Look at this bloody idiot in the middle of the road!” I exclaimed. Hubby slows down and to my surprise rolls down my passenger side window as he comes to a complete stop. “Hi,” I say suddenly face-to-face with this ‘bloody idiot’. Hubby leans over me to look at the guy. “Uh, I’m wondering if you can help us. We got stuck in the snow,” the man says a bit tentatively and with a slight accent. “Oh sure. Let me just pull over further up,” Hubby says in ‘hero’ mode. Meanwhile my Filipino brain kicks in. “What if this is one of those traps? Is he really stuck? Maybe he’s just pretending and we’ll get held up,” I think half out loud. Hubby, Cat, and Bee all get out of the car despite my insistence for the girls to stay in the car. I insisted (ordered) Mig to stay in the car and stayed in with him. A dark, winding, snow covered road was no place for anyone, let alone an 8-year old. After several arguments we finally both went down to see what was going on. The car was truly bogged in the snow and the man was frantically trying to kick the snow out from under it while a lady travel partner stepped on the accelerator and the wheels spun in the air. Cat was crouched down helping him dig it out with her arm half under the front bumper and tire of the car. My ‘mother mode’ kicked in. This looked like an accident waiting to happen with 2 kids bent over near the front tires of a car that was desperately trying to free itself from being stuck in the snow. I could just see everyone being mowed down if the car managed to gain some traction in Drive mode. “Is that in reverse?? Please make sure it’s in reverse. Kids! Move away from there please!” My instructions were futile. Meanwhile Mig was playing in the snow somewhere between a dark road on one side and a cliff on another. Ayayayay!

Hubby drove off to find some guys we had passed on the road to get more muscle power to try and push the car out of the snow. He returned with another car full of travellers and together everyone tried to push the car out of the snow. Nothing. More digging. The front wheels just kept spinning. The car was wedged up under some hardened snow. Meanwhile other tourist-filled vans slowed down to see what was happening. One stopped, others drove on. Pretty soon there were about 10 or 12 people on the side of a dark road trying to free this car out of the snow. I stood back and held the torch for those who were digging while trying to make sure none of my kids were putting themselves at risk trying to free this car! The whole thing was just making me too uncomfortable to be effective. Dark road, bogged car, spinning wheels, everyone clueless…

A van pulls up and a guy leans out. “What’s the problem?” he casually asks with his arm half out the window. Most of us ignore him given the number of ‘rubber necks’ that had passed without so much of an offer to help. “Stuck in the snow,” someone replies. He hesitates as if deciding whether to help or keep driving. He moves his van where it’s safe to park and gets down, then reaches for a shovel in the back. He approaches the stuck car and starts shovelling under the front tires. He looked like he knew exactly what he was doing and had the tools to do it. I provided light for his efforts. “Well, I guess I don’t have to tell you anything anymore. Stay on the roads,” he says in general. “Is this a rental car?” he asks. “I believe so,” I reply having gathered that much information from the stuck couple so far and trying to defend myself from his accusatory tone. “Who IS this guy?” I wondered. I notice a patch on the arm of his jacket. “Aurora Chasers” it read. I quietly mention it to Hubby. Oh thank god! A local! Someone who knows what they’re doing! “Normally we would just tow you out but we’re not allowed to do that anymore. If we damage the car, the rental car company will send us the bill”. “Oh. That’s a shame.  How do you get a car out from the snow then?” I asked still wondering who he was. I figured he must’ve been a guide on his way back from a tour. “Like this. By digging,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Did you see the Lights at least?” he asks. “Yes, it was amazing. They’re still up there,” I reply politely. Then in the middle of everything that was going on Hubby says to me “There’s a baby in the back of the car. Can you get the baby?” “What??! What baby??” I go to the back to see a lady pulling a baby out of a capsule in the back seat. “Oh my god! Is he your baby?” I ask shocked that we had been there for more than half an hour by now and no one knew there was a baby in the back seat. “Yes,” she replied. I offered to take them to our car to keep the baby warm - it was minus 14 degrees outside -  but she politely declined.

More digging. More pushing. I was a bit more relaxed now that I knew there was someone (Mr. Aurora Chaser) in control of the situation and there were more capable adults on the scene. One guy suggested that everyone try to lift the front of the car whilst someone puts it on reverse. OK. Ten people get a grip on the front of the Toyota Corolla. “Ready? One, two three,” someone calls out. “Hmmmmppphh” was all we heard followed by scattered laughter at the failed efforts. The car didn’t budge. “I think I just farted,” Hubby jokes. More laughter.

The baby was getting restless and Mum was trying to settle him. I offered our car again in case she changed her mind. This time she agreed so I took them back to our car, cranked up the heat while she fed him and we got to know a bit more about each other away from the commotion of a car bogged in the snow.

A few minutes later Cat and Bee came back into the car and announced their success. After what would have been an hour and a half, the car was finally free! The baby was sufficiently fed and now all smiles. A lot of oohing and aahing at this cute smiling baby from the back seat. After exchanging introductions now that everyone was more relaxed we said our goodbyes and went our way. Everyone else that had stopped to help free the car had already disappeared into the night as quickly as they appeared. Unfortunately, there was no pub in sight for a celebration.

What a night! The adrenalin in the car was pumping and because we were only 5 minutes away, we continued on to Tromvik before turning back to make our way home. On our way out of Tromvik we came across Lizzie, Richard, and baby Noah again – the travelling couple in the stuck car. After a bit of roadside chit-chat about our year away (I had mentioned it to Lizzie while we were keeping Noah warm in our car), Richard and Hubby exchanged email addresses for a Holland connection and delayed pub celebration if we ever found ourselves in their part of the world.

After more Aurora watching we were exhausted and decided to call it a night at about 1am.

The cat’s out of the bag

Yesterday for the first time I posted the photo of the LEASED sign on my FB page because a) it was such a big milestone I just had to share it and b) I’ve been boring everyone with precious finds from our de-cluttering exercise I felt I just had to put it in context.

So I think it was time to let the cat out of the bag... not that it was ever really in a bag (except with work friends maybe) as I feel like I’ve been thinking and talking about nothing else for months on end, but now that more people know, there are more questions. 

So… here are some answers.

What are we doing?

We are going to Europe for a year. The original plan was to immerse in Spain - to live there - but as we started planning the details of our trip we soon realised that was going to be a tough ask. There’s just too much to do and see over there and we want to see it ALL. We have still chosen Spain to be our base, and will need to establish our residency in Seville (as per visa requirements) before we can start moving around for the rest of the year.

For now, here is what our itinerary looks like:

Dec/Jan – Germany, Austria, Czech Republic (Prague) – finding the spirit and origin of Christmas tradition. And to have a White Christmas!

Jan – Finland, Sweden, Norway (Arctic Circle) – visiting a tired Santa in Lappland and chasing Northern Lights and Polar Nights.

End Jan-Mar – Spain (Seville) - defrosting, catching our breath and speaking Spanish!

Mar-Apr – Spain (Seville), Portugal, Morocco (Chefchaouen)

May/June – France

June/July – Italy and others. Switzerland is in here somewhere – to offload all our winter gear and enjoy free accommodation for a few weeks in a particular place called Zug! Oh and of course to see Switzerland!

Aug – December – Have no idea. Will need to head back to Spain at some stage due to visa restrictions and to speak more Spanish. Anticipate this would be Northern Spain and Balearic islands maybe. If we run low on funds we may find ourselves heading for the most southern island of Spain called the Philippines. That’s a joke btw – the fact that the Philippines is an island of Spain – not that we may head there if funds run low.

All these plans are of course up in the air and the key to this whole journey is our freedom and flexibility - being able to go where we want to when we want to.

Why are we doing it?

There are so many reasons why. The reasons don’t seem to have changed much from when we were planning to do this back in 2013.

With our kids growing up in a multi-cultural society in Australia I feel it’s important for them to be exposed to the world and different cultures. In doing so I hope they come to understand and be more tolerant of cultures and people who are different to them. I want them to have their stereotypes challenged and be educated firsthand about people – not just from a book or someone else’s opinion – but because they have experienced it for themselves in their home environments where we are the foreigners. Where we are the ones who don’t speak their language.

The world and its people are a beautiful place… it feels like a crime not to experience it all. As the famous quote by Saint Augustine goes… “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Then there’s family bonding. Our day to day lives are filled with routine. Wake up, get to work/school, come home… do it all again tomorrow. On winter weekends our days are filled with sporting commitments. When we’re at home, everyone is glued to a screen – a TV, the computer, or a phone. (Warning to kids – those devices will get ‘stolen’ if the same happens on our travels.) We needed something to short circuit the routineness of it all and reconnect with each other. Which is why I feel conflicted between sharing our experience with everyone (which many have requested) or keeping it to ourselves. Not that I don’t want to share it. I can be an ‘over sharer’ at times and I personally love and get inspired reading about other people’s experiences, but it does take time to write and upload photos and I definitely don’t want that to take away from the actual experience. The jury is still out on this one. Although one day I’d love to be able to write a book about it all.

I also think the best test of a relationship is to be able to travel with people. You’ll either end up closer or you will want to kill each other – if not during the trip - by the end of it. I’m hoping we won’t all want to kill each other.

Lastly, Cat is at the age now where she will start making her own decisions, making her own way in the world. Luckily Bee is still a bit of a homebody, and Mig doesn’t get much of a choice. If we don’t do this now, we may never be able to do it as a family.

Life’s too short to wonder about ‘what ifs’. More importantly no one is guaranteed a tomorrow. My Dad passed away suddenly at 46…. yes 46. Our age. One day he was there, next day he was gone. No warning. At the time I remember being grateful that his youngest (me) was already 18 – at least my mum was not left with young kids she would have to raise by herself. Now I realise he was way too young.

So the simplest way to answer the question why we’re doing this is… why not? 

Many people have expressed envy, wishing they could do it too. The truth is if you really want to, anyone could. There's nothing special about us. We're not "loaded", some distant relative hasn't died and left an inheritance nor have we won the Lotto. The one thing that we do have going for us though is our health (although for some even an illness doesn't stop them). So if you want to do it - go for it! There is nothing stopping anyone from doing the same - not the money, not the time, not the career.

That’s it for now. I need to get back to packing. I will save the ‘How’ for next time.

I will end this with a corny but apt quote - one that I've had on my FB profile since I created it as it succinctly explains how I want to live my life.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover" - Mark Twain

The LEASE has been signed!

Today we hit a milestone – we found a tenant for our home and the lease has been signed!

I came home from work and the FOR LEASE sign had been pasted over with a LEASED sticker – sending me into a split-second “What have we done??” moment. Of course, this was no surprise as the agent had texted me as soon as the contract had been signed, not to mention the numerous texts and conversations in the days prior about approving this particular tenant. Nevertheless, seeing it on our front lawn was a bit of a reality slap in the face. I can’t imagine how I would have felt if it was a SOLD sign!

The tenants look like a nice young family – mum, dad and a small child. They reminded me of how we were when we moved in 17 years ago. The Universe has a funny way of working. When we had the first (and only) Open Home, there was a group of 10-12 people waiting to come in as we were leaving. In front of the group I spotted a young family with mum carrying a young girl in her arms. We got in the car to leave and I turned to Hubby - “I want them”, I said referring to the young family. I then forgot about them and we went about our weekend wondering how on earth we would keep our house spotless until the next Open Home the following week – until I got an email with all the details for an application from the agent late Sunday night. It was them!

In the days following there were other applicants from that Open Home but the agent and I ruled them out in favour of this one.

Tenant selection is an interesting process, one which I thought would be way harder for our beloved family home. While the usual boxes need to be ticked, I tend to rely heavily on gut. Luckily we had a strong candidate that ticked all the boxes AND felt right so we didn’t want to lose them to another home.

I’ve since stalked them on FB (they really should improve their security settings) and they seem just like the people I’d be happy to entrust our home to while we’re away…so I’m relieved to have that uncertainty resolved. The real estate agent has done all the other background checks to make sure they’re good tenants as it will be his problem to deal with if they aren’t.

SO…we will officially be homeless a few days before we fly out and start our journey on December 3.

Spanish Residency Visa granted

Today I picked up our passports with long stay residence visas for Spain! Woohooo!!!!

After what felt like the end of the world a few months ago (or the end of our year away at least) has managed to sort itself out – like it always does. The Spanish Consulate in Sydney eventually opened in late July and I quickly got our application underway conscious of the 3-month lead time required. 

The email approval came through 3 weeks later! So we went from a risk of not having enough time (to allow for a French visa application as well) to suddenly having too much time and being at risk of the visa being issued too early. Thankfully I somehow became ‘best buddies’ with my contact at the Spanish Consulate and she advised she could delay the issuing of the visa for another 30 days to the end of September, then delay the visa start date to the end of December… after which we would need to enter Spain within 3 months to establish our residency. Since we were planning to be in Spain by end of January that worked fine!

Cat and Bee’s Spanish passports were received a few months back as expected so they’re all set. In theory, they will be able to travel and work without restriction while in Europe… except on this trip they’ll be stuck with us so they’ll just have to save that for another time.

The French long stay visa was a ‘no go’. We went to the French Consulate in Sydney ready to lodge our visa application only to find out we couldn’t do it from Sydney. The visa requires us to enter France 3 months from the date of issue and since we don’t plan to be in France until sometime in late April or May that wasn’t going to work. The other option for us would be to apply for our French long stay visa from Madrid which is still a possibility but may require the cancellation of our Spanish long-stay visas. So we’re not sure about that one.

Given our current status, the plan is to base ourselves in Spain while using the maximum 3-month stay in every 6-month period travelling through other parts of the Schengen and non-Schengen areas visa-free. We’ve had to shuffle around some of our plans and will need to keep an eye on how long we are in the Schengen area but I’m no longer too worried about this. We’ll make it work… somehow. I feel incredibly grateful that we’re even in a position to do this and we’ll just have to make do with what we have.

On the work front, Hubby has had is career break approved. My one is in progress and looking good. This is a bonus! I wasn’t sure whether we would both be lucky enough to get this but it looks like we will. Knowing we have something to come back to - especially since I actually like my job and the people I work with, not to mention we’ll probably be broke - is definitely a bonus.

Packing is well underway. Hubby and I have had to divide and conquer with exactly 2 months to the day before we fly out on December 3. December 3?! 2 months?! Yes! We’re booked! One-way tickets to Frankfurt, Germany where we start our year away!

Hubby has been glued to his laptop finalising flight and accommodation bookings for the first couple of months until we arrive in Spain towards the end of January to catch our breath, while I’ve been covered in dust and boxes trying to rid ourselves of the clutter of the past 17 years in this house. After 4 car loads to Salvos to donate items and 19 boxes packed for storage (do I even want to keep that many boxes?), it looks like I’ve done nothing. I knew we had a lot of crap but really??!

With the Salvos furniture donation pick up already booked for next week, the next step will be to schedule the Council pick up and skip bins for anything that can’t be donated. It’s been such a liberating experience getting rid of all that “stuff”… the material baggage that weighs us down and keeps us anchored to a location. I can’t wait until all we have left are the suitcases we will be taking with us for a year on the road.

Speaking of suitcases… Cat almost had a conniption when I announced we would have to make everything fit in 2 large suitcases and 2 carry-on bags… for all 5 of us! Just her make-up alone would take up an entire carry-on - I don’t know why when she doesn’t even need it! Needless to say the jury is still out on the family baggage allowance which will be way less than the airline baggage allowance if we want our things to fit in a rental car without having to hire a trailer. So packing our bags will be interesting…

A lot has happened over the past few months with even more to happen in these final 2 months. Our to-do list runs a mile long. Our conversations are centred around what needs to be done, what to get rid of, what to keep. When I’m not at work, I’m doing something in preparation for the trip – whether it’s selecting the agent to manage the rental of our home while we’re away or finding out what to do with our mail or finalising details for Bee and Mig’s schooling there’s always something to do – which is partly the reason why I’m writing these updates.

When we finally leave, to the outside world it may look like we’ve just quit our jobs, packed our bags and jumped on a plane. While I wish that were true, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. When a family of 5 goes away for a year, it’s simply not that easy – but it’s not impossible either. Everything about preparing for this trip has been carefully planned - the timing, the savings plan, the schooling, the visas, and to a lesser extent the itinerary. Ironically, planning and preparing for this trip has taken as much time, if not longer, than the actual trip itself.

Which leads me to end with this thought…will a year away really be long enough?

Visa dramas continue...

A lot has happened in just over 2 weeks. Sometimes it feels like it’s been longer than that so it’s great that this blog gives me some perspective.

The Spanish Consulate General in Sydney is still on strike – going onto a month now – and Canberra has been forced to take on the Sydney load. We drove to the Spanish Embassy in Canberra last week to get Cat and Bee’s Spanish passports renewed which went without a hitch thanks to all the prep work before the 6-hour return trip. I was told they should arrive in the mail within 3 weeks.

Our visas on the other hand are another story… and right now I just want to crawl in a hole and cry. I won’t go into the details here but long story short is that we will need to apply for a Spanish long-stay visa (no work) and we’ve decided to apply for a French long stay visa as well. The reason for this is so we can break up our year using both Spain and France as our base, while travelling to the other Schengen countries using the 90-day visa free period allowed to Australian citizens.

At this stage I'm too emotionally exhausted to even write about it. I'm just thanking my lucky stars that we weren't counting on Hubby finding work there to make this plan work. The biggest frustration comes from thinking how much easier this would have been if Hubby just had his Spanish citizenship rather than facing what is. I need to work on that one...

Overcoming obstacles...

I feel like I’ve been talking about this plan forever. It’s been 3 years in the making. Ever since our last trip to Europe in 2013 we always knew we wanted to go back – for much longer. 

We decided 2018 was going to be the year. Cat would have finished Year 12 so this could be her gap year before Uni, Bee would be in Year 9 – not a critical high school year, Mig would be in Year 4. If we didn’t do it in 2018 as a family, it was unlikely we’d ever be able to do it once the kids started going their own way.

To kick start that plan many things were put in place. For starters, I sold my business and went back to permanent part-time work so we could start saving. So you could say that this plan (although sometimes it felt like a pipe dream) has been bubbling under the surface for quite some time.

We’re now in July, 5 months before our planned departure of December 2017 and I’m starting to freak out. Just typing that sentence puts butterflies in my stomach. The last 12 months has been nothing short of an emotional roller coaster with us finding out Hubby's mum was sick, then losing her a few months later to cancer. I’ve never had any experience dealing with someone so sick, let alone a parent, so this is something that I felt pulled the rug from under our feet a bit. So much so we were suddenly uncertain if we could still go ahead as planned. As it turns out, going away has now become a need rather than a want.

By the time we returned to our routines after Hubby’s mum’s passing, it was already May. And to help Hubby heal from the loss, I felt like we needed to focus on what was ahead of us. It was time to get things into gear for our year away. So while we’ve technically been planning this for 3 years, I feel like we’re behind the 8-ball a bit when it comes to logistically pulling it off.

And as with all great plans, there are always a few good curve balls that test your resilience. And as if we needed another one thrown our way, we got one anyway - when just over a week ago we found out that Hubby had lost his Spanish citizenship in 2006. Yup! In 2006! Heaven knows what we were even doing or thinking in 2006! So 6 months out from a trip we have been planning for the past 3 years and we find out that the very foundation that would enable our entire trip does not exist.

How could we not have known this before, I hear you ask. Don’t worry. I asked myself the same thing. You see, Hubby renewed his Spanish passport in 2010. Then in 2011, our marriage was registered with the Spanish Consulate in Sydney and a Libro de Familia was issued – an official document that registers the marriage and births of children to a Spanish citizen. In 2012, all 3 kids were issued their Spanish passports. To us, everything looked normal. We knew the kids’ passports needed to be renewed so I started the process a few weeks ago with the Spanish Consulate in Sydney. Plenty of time I thought. It was only June, we are planning to leave in December.

I’ll never forget the moment I read the email from the Consulate advising us that Hubby was no longer a Spanish citizen – and neither was Mig. I was in Melbourne for work and was shaking. I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day. How could this happen?? They both had Spanish passports. J’s was still valid. M’s had expired so they wouldn’t renew it. Luckily Cat and Bee have managed to retain their citizenship so renewal will be allowed.

This is still an open dilemma with no clear solution. In what is almost a comical twist of events (if I don’t laugh I could cry), the Spanish Consulate in Sydney went on an indefinite strike 2 days after delivering us the blow leaving us in limbo. They are still closed and the Spanish Embassy in Canberra has advised they’re unable to assist with citizenship enquiries as Sydney is outside their jurisdiction. Watch this space!

Morocco - Erg Chebbi Dunes, Sahara Desert

Exactly 2 years ago to this day, on 1 March 2013, we were making our way to one of the many highlights of our European/North African adventure - an overnight stay and camel trek to the dunes of the Sahara Desert in Morocco. This was another non-negotiable on the trip. I wasn't going to Morocco without a trip to the desert.

We left the city of Marrakech behind and had been travelling for 3 days by camel through the Moroccan country side... just kidding (we were in a 4 x 4 Japanese camel - Toyota Prado). From the snow-capped High Atlas Mountains to the numerous kasbahs that littered the country side, to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ait Ben Haddou - one of the most famous Kasbahs in Morocco.

We had seen a lot by this stage and were slowly falling in love with the country with the help of our driver and guide - Fahid (not his real name). Incidentally, Fahid was originally from Merzouga - where we were headed as the base camp for this desert adventure. He used to be a camel guide at the dunes until he traded his 4-legged camel with the 4 x 4 Japanese version we were now in. He was fluent in Arabic, English, German, and French... which seemed like no big deal for people in this part of the world. Fahid was a character, always polite but with a quiet confidence that told you he was in control. He knew our itinerary and the distances we had to cover so he was sure to keep us on schedule without unnecessarily rushing us. We had hours of driving time with Fahid and because we were keen to know as much as we could about the country and the Moroccan people we had many questions for him. He filled us in on Moroccan culture - stuff you wouldn't necessarily get from travel books - do's and don'ts as a visitor, the anonymity between the locals and the French, his love of country, stories about the many travellers that had ridden his Japanese camel, even his religious views (he appeared to be as Muslim as I am Catholic). I was impressed by his intelligence. Not the academic type of intelligence gained from years of formal schooling but worldly intelligence gained from life experience and interaction with different people and cultures.

Despite all we had seen I couldn't help but feel the best was still yet to come...and I wasn't disappointed.

Finally arrived at Base Camp, Merzouga aboard our 'Japanese camel'.

Bee and Mig excited by all the sand... what else is there to do but make sand angels of course?! Our bivouac accommodation in the background.

Our bivouac accommodation for 2 nights at Base Camp. We originally only planned to stay 1 night but made a last minute change to our itinerary to add the extra night and skip our next destination - a town called Chefchaouen. I don't regret the extra night in the desert as it gave us a better experience and I would recommend 2 nights to anyone who asked but I do regret not being able to visit Chefchaouen - a good reason to return to Morocco.

Mud packed toilet block at Base Camp.

Leaving Base Camp for a camel trek to the Erg Chebbi dunes, Sahara Desert. 

Camel crossing. Our destination Erg Chebbi dunes in the distance.

That's us... except for Hubby who chose to ride the Japanese camel to the dunes.

View from top of the Erg Chebbi dunes out to the Algerian border.

Resting with our camels after the long ride to the dunes.

Mig would slide down the dunes on the snowboard screaming in delight but his little legs couldn't make the climb back up. Our poor guide from Base Camp went beyond the call of duty and trekked up the dunes with Mig on his shoulders... every time. If he wasn't only 3 years old at the time I would have said Mig was taking advantage of the situation.

On top of Erg Chebbi dunes, Sahara Desert, Morocco. The Algerian border in the distance.

Base Camp at Merzouga. Erg Chebbi dunes in the distance.

I mentioned to Fahid that I wanted to learn how to cook Moroccan food so he arranged for us to help in the kitchen. This is cooking couscous the looonnngg way. They laughed at me and didn't believe me when I told them we had a 5-minute version in Australia. This took about an hour. Vegetable tagine which we helped prepare cooking in the background. The cook didn't speak English (and I don't speak French or Arabic) so there was a lot of sign language involved in this cooking lesson. It didn't matter... I'm sticking to my 5-minute version.

Evening bonfire at Base Camp... we were entertained with local songs and bongo drums under the desert stars.

Waiting for the sun to rise at Base Camp...priceless.

Hubby mesmerised by the flame and trying to keep warm at sunrise.

Another day exploring on camel-back.

One of the many wells scattered around the desert that serve as a source of water for the surrounding communities. Our guide must have thought we were crazy getting a thrill from pulling the 'bucket' up and down... me included. I had never seen a working well before, much less one in the middle of the desert.

It was our turn to teach our guide something new... stress relief. He had never heard of the term before. Mig started throwing hardened bits of clay from the ground onto the side of the well and it shattered like a ceramic plate. I instinctively tried to stop him then thought why not... so we all picked up pieces of dried earth and started hurling them at the side of the well watching them shatter. It was quite therapeutic and I told our guide to try it. He really must have thought people from Australia are crazy. 

Sad to be leaving our camels and the friendly staff at Base Camp after 2 nights in the desert but looking forward to a good shower. Next stop... Fez.