We've run into our first pothole and we haven't even left Canada!! It looks like we will not be travelling to Brazil after all which is very disappointing but the visa's required to enter the country are too expensive and we are not willing to part with our Passports this close to our departure date. We are now researching another Latin American country to do our WWOOFing in!!
One week before leaving our vehicle was stolen right out of our drive-way!
We realized half way to Kelowna that we had forgot the key to the portable safe at home with all our money and passports in it. And one more trip home for a document left in the scanner (good thing we left Vernon a day early!)
Landon left JC’s phone on the plane in LA but fortunately it was found and returned to us in the airport!
The Colvin Crew has never had great luck with camera's. The curse began when before we had kids, JC & I were cycling through the Napa Valley and forgot our camera on the bus in San Francisco. Next some of our home video's have picture but no sound, like the time when Landon was 2 and he sang O'Canada at the Remembrance Day ceremony in Kelowna in front of a couple hundred people. Then in Australia 2009 Tianna was holding our camera on the sidelines of JC's first rugby match when suddenly a rugby ball came flying through the air hitting the camera from her hands and smashing it to the ground. We replaced that camera and one week into this journey it just stopped working (ok Tianna did fall with it on the tile stairs but it worked for a couple days after that?) Also, we were pretty careful on remembering to pack everything for our trip but alas we forgot the charger for our video camera. arrrgghhh!!!!!
Finding affordable accommodation in Costa Rica is definitely a pothole!
Stuffy nose, head ache and all I want is a hot shower. Moved to the hostel next door because they offer hot water. I get the kids settled into doing their homework and decide to take a shower. First the water trinkles out cold....next I see where I can change the temperature but I need a chair to do this so I take a chair into the shower and reset the temperature....now it's boiling hot so I try again this time the middle setting......now NO WATER!!! What?!? JC tells me the truck that brings the water hasn't arrived yet....I give up and go to bed.
The water truck has arrived so a couple hours later I try again, this time when I turn on the shower it shoots water straight across the room!! JC get's the manager who fixes it......I tentatively try again.....water working but too cold....I try again with the chair to adjust the temperature.....ahhhhh finally the shower I've been waiting for all day:-)
Landon's lips could be described as a serious pothole.....no sun for him in more than a week all because he forgot (refused?) to put on sunscreen while surfing.
Tianna thinks the real potholes we complain about on Mutrie Road in Vernon don't even compare to the roads in Santa Teresa !!
NO WATER!!! It's happened a few times here at Gumbo Limbo however this time it will be for 2 whole days. The water has to be delivered in a big tank however the owner's truck has broken down therefore no water for a couple days. Water is so precious that you don't appreciate how important it is until it's gone!
Our kids have a bad habit of asking for ice cream all the time!!! We've tried to tell them that they will not be eating ice cream everyday for a whole year! Today we said yes. First Landon took one lick of his cone and the whole scoop fell from his cone onto the floor then not even a minute later Tianna did the same thing. We had to buy more since they wouldn't replace it even though it happened in the store!
In Lima the kids and I were so excited to go to a movie with Katherine (Elias's daughter) but when we got there and waited in line for about 15 minutes, paid and were told that the movie was in Spanish with no english sub-titles!!!! We were all pretty disappointed however, the kids had fun eating gelatos and dancing to the music in the stores at the fancy mall we were in. Landon even tried on a pair of bright blue pumps and tried walking in them!!
NO TOILET SEATS......come on people it's 2012!!
Waking up JC in the middle of the night, not once but twice, to deal with the cockroaches in our room!!!!!!
I can't believe I complained about no toilet seats......we are now where we have to squat (just a hole in the ground!!)
We regret booking our flights through AirTreks. Zero customer service and one flight change cost us $634 and the other 2 times we wanted to change flights would have cost us more than the flights were worth! The mistakes we made booking were ours not knowing the distances between cities and having to find other means of transportation to get to our destination. However, we expected a little more guidance from our agent since that is why we booked with a ‘round-the-world specialist’. After Uganda we are on our own as far as booking flights go and we are looking forward to the freedom of choosing when/where to go and not be restricted by flights already booked.
Almost getting sent back to South Africa when we didn't have enough money for Visa's in the Harare Airport. Thankfully Deb Bachman came to our rescue and lent us the money.
Almost getting sent back to South Africa when we didn't have enough money for Visa's in the Harare Airport. Thankfully Deb Bachman came to our rescue and lent us the money.
At the restaurant in Lilongwe we had some trouble getting what was on the menu. No veggie burgers, no tuna in the tuna salad, no pineapple for the Hawaiian pizza, no chocolate milk etc.but the manager was super apologetic and didn’t charge us for the salad.
All the pop (sprite) that our kids are drinking, more than they ever have in their entire lives back home. Sometimes sprite is the best choice though when only pop or artificial juice is being sold or offered.
Whenever a mosquito finds its way into your mosquito net!
All the items we've lost, small and insignificant but annoying just the same. ie. Landon's new nike hat and Tianna's flat's that they were both so happy to have bought with their own money in Peru.
Updating to OSX Lion proved to be incredibly frustrating and time consuming. Here is what I wrote to the Apple Tech. who finally was able to help me get our iPhoto back. Warning: never believe upgrades are simple and without a lot of effort!
All the items we've lost, small and insignificant but annoying just the same. ie. Landon's new nike hat and Tianna's flat's that they were both so happy to have bought with their own money in Peru.
Updating to OSX Lion proved to be incredibly frustrating and time consuming. Here is what I wrote to the Apple Tech. who finally was able to help me get our iPhoto back. Warning: never believe upgrades are simple and without a lot of effort!
I can hardly believe but I am actually doing the "happy dance"!!
Thank you Jeffrey for finally getting me to this point......how we got here took one month, at least a dozen skype calls to apple support, 4 trips to the ishop, problems with Lion installation, trouble with internet connections and password resets, hours of downloading including Snow Leopard installation disc purchased online, sent to an address in the USA, forwarded to an address in Canada, brought to me in Africa for downloading. whewwww.....
I have to say that although this took alot of time and effort to get resolved I am very impressed with all the Apple support operators but not so happy with upgrades Apple offers since they are never as simple as advertised. Oh and I found out last night from apple support that icloud will not give me what I was hoping for anyway which was why I went to the trouble to update to Leopard and Lion in the first place!!
Losing Landon's brand new Ray Ban sunglasses at the border crossing in Israel. Also lost on our mini-vacation was his new t-shirt, Tianna's brush, & our toothbrushes! Back in Cairo Landon lost his swim shorts he borrowed from the lost & found at Maadi House.
Returning a rental car in Israel is not that simple when the office is closed and there is no key drop-off!
All the time and trouble it took in order to get on board the ferry from Jordan to Egypt. Then waiting for another 1.5 hrs. to leave the port and waiting another hour when we arrived before being allowed to disembark the ferry. Even worse was waiting helplessly while our passports were in the pocket of one of the officers and having to wait in the scorching heat until everyone was off the ferry to get them stamped. And even then there was another line which I crashed to buy our visa's to re-enter Egypt.
Having our phone/camera stolen right out of my hands by a boy on a motorbike on the street in Maadi, Egypt.
Arriving 4 hours early in Izmir Turkey after an all night bus and having to wait for our rental van which arrived with not enough seats.
Drove 2 hours longer than necessary on our way to Pasakoy Turkey.
Finding Troy(Troia) felt nearly impossible and took way longer than it should have.
Our computer crashing and having to take it to Izmir to get fixed.
All the hassle with getting our money back for the rental van that we never used which was charged to our Mastercard anyway. Then having all this Turkish Lira to exchange which Greece is not interested in doing for us!!! 8 banks and finally we were able to get it exchanged into Euro.
Running out of gas on our way to catch the Ferry to Greece!
No where to do laundry on Kefalonia Island.
Landon's luggage was pretty much destroyed on the way home, it was duct taped together! Unfortunately way too much red tape from insurance to claim for it to be replaced.
Losing Landon's brand new Ray Ban sunglasses at the border crossing in Israel. Also lost on our mini-vacation was his new t-shirt, Tianna's brush, & our toothbrushes! Back in Cairo Landon lost his swim shorts he borrowed from the lost & found at Maadi House.
Returning a rental car in Israel is not that simple when the office is closed and there is no key drop-off!
All the time and trouble it took in order to get on board the ferry from Jordan to Egypt. Then waiting for another 1.5 hrs. to leave the port and waiting another hour when we arrived before being allowed to disembark the ferry. Even worse was waiting helplessly while our passports were in the pocket of one of the officers and having to wait in the scorching heat until everyone was off the ferry to get them stamped. And even then there was another line which I crashed to buy our visa's to re-enter Egypt.
Having our phone/camera stolen right out of my hands by a boy on a motorbike on the street in Maadi, Egypt.
Arriving 4 hours early in Izmir Turkey after an all night bus and having to wait for our rental van which arrived with not enough seats.
Drove 2 hours longer than necessary on our way to Pasakoy Turkey.
Finding Troy(Troia) felt nearly impossible and took way longer than it should have.
Our computer crashing and having to take it to Izmir to get fixed.
All the hassle with getting our money back for the rental van that we never used which was charged to our Mastercard anyway. Then having all this Turkish Lira to exchange which Greece is not interested in doing for us!!! 8 banks and finally we were able to get it exchanged into Euro.
Running out of gas on our way to catch the Ferry to Greece!
No where to do laundry on Kefalonia Island.
Landon's luggage was pretty much destroyed on the way home, it was duct taped together! Unfortunately way too much red tape from insurance to claim for it to be replaced.
