What Is An Expat?

Well, it’s time to be off again! In a few hours we’ll go wheels up on our next vacation plans. The destination (I guess the title was kind of a spoiler, huh?) will be Japan. We’ll be based in Tokyo for a few days, seeing the town and surrounding areas, then head to see Mt. Fuji. From there we’ll move on down to Kyoto and use that as our hub for a few days, checking that area out as well as passing through Hiroshima. We might be slightly too late for the turning of the autumn leaves, but maybe we can still catch it photogenically. It’s great to be able to travel.

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Does anything about this picture look difficult to you? Does any of it look pointless? This was the most amusing of several “we’re in a ruined city with broken, cobbled pave stones and we are toting a kid in a stroller” type moments we happened across in Pompeii. Traveling with kids seems like it would be nightmare enough to avoid whenever possible. I mean sure, trips to see the folks are a different issue and point to point travel is not the same as vacation, but I am non-plussed to think that people would travel with a child for non-essential reasons.

For the first 5-6 years, the kid certainly won’t get anything out of it — won’t understand what’s going on nor remember it. They can’t really move under their own power, and if they can it’s probably the wrong direction and you’d want to avoid that. You’re looking at mobile, and therefore more difficult, babysitting. It costs the parents extra money and would dilute their enjoyment of whatever they are doing since they wouldn’t be able to focus on it. It seems like there’s only cost and no benefit. Leave the kids with relatives or stay home.

For the next 5-6 years, it’d be a little better. The kids would be generally self-motile at least, and would probably remember the vacation, though if you’re going to travel places as opposed to beach or camping trips, they may have trouble to “get” what they’re seeing. Stick to natural wonders and getting to know nature type journeys.

Once you’re dealing with teens, I think things open up more. Supervision is less necessary as they are now less dependent and not so much a danger to themselves. You can go places that take more appreciation and will broaden the kid’s world. You might be able to learn and teach something that they can grow on later on, making them a better person by seeing places and things in new towns, states, or countries. Give ’em something to have as stories back at school. Show them there is a whole world out there, full of people that are kind of like us, even! Keep them open minded.

Well, it was a little more long-winded than I’d thought, and maybe slightly preachy too, but there it goes. I’m all for travel but kids make it a whole different ball game. Traveling with 2 adults can be stressful enough without adding extra complications. 😉

Well, we’re taking advantage of one last vacation before this job evaporates. They won’t pay for airfare since I won’t be back the requisite 60 days, but at least I get the vacation time and travel days. We’re going to fly out tomorrow morning at 1 AM and at 6 AM land in Paris. We’ll spend about 5 days there and on day trips near it, before taking the night train down to Rome. We’ll be there 3 days and then spend 4 days in the Naples / Sorrento area, and one last day in Rome again, followed by a flight back home to Dubai. After we get back, Dubai is only home for about 2 more weeks and then we’ll start another chapter in our life.

We’re lucky enough to have a pretty good vacation benefit, and every 3 months we get a couple weeks to go somewhere and visit, in addition to a time or two per year where holidays can be shoved together long enough to go somewhere short. It was a little slower when living on the camps, and maybe now it is going to slow back down a bit, but we are still amazingly lucky with the amount of travel that we are able to do.

Yes, there are currently some gaps. I haven’t imported all of the trip reports from the old forum where I posted them originally. That’s slightly dull work.

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
They’ve got net access, right in the air-port…

Well, in a nutshell, Ikromjon didn’t do anything terribly helpful. Then they ran out of seats on Sunday afternoon’s leisurely flight. None til Weds…though maybe next Sunday. Eek! Then an array of other crappy choices until a last-second Turkish Airlines flight through Istanbul comes my way. It’s noticeably more expensive. It’s business class only. At least then my 3AM flight to Istanbul, and my 7PM flight to Tashkent should theoretically be more comfy. Can’t do much about the 12 hour layover, nor arriving in Tashkent at a warm winter’s welcoming 2AM. Ok, it will neither be warm nor welcoming, though the rest is true. Guli will be welcoming, and it will be great to see her. I will be bleary eyed, beat up, and probably stink. I am sure she will quite sensibly run away. Therefore it is imperative I sneak up on her.

I had meant to post the notes through Dubai, however due to a LOT of frenzied and near panicked running around today that will not yet take place.