We are on our way !!!

10 01 2010

Finally we are on our way to Asia.  We are now in London sipping beers while waiting for our 10 hour flight to Beijing – and then 5 hours to Bangkok.

Elínborg ready for anything

Elínborg ready for anything

It was obvious that security has been enhanced after that guy blew off his nuts the other day in the States. We had to wait for about 40 minutes before being able to go through the security gate in Keflavík (Iceland), which is unheard of and at Heathrow we can see more policemen around than normal.  I would therefore advice anyone travelling these days to arrive a bit earlier to the airport than usual.

We had our first shock of the trip when we were checking in to the Beijing/Bangkok flight. The lady at the desk said that we needed a Visa to Thailand since we didn’t have any documents showing that we would be leaving in 30 days. Tourists do not need visas for the first 30 days in Thailand but after that we need a visa – or drive across the border and back in. She made some phone calls and finally checked us in. I just hope that doesn’t cause us problems on arrival in Bangkok. If so, we’ll just have to buy us a flight to Siam Reap in Cambodia that leaves before the 30 days are up and show that as proof.  We are though getting less and less worried with each passing beverage ;)

Until next time – all the best to everyone!


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Two days to go

8 01 2010

We are getting more and more excited about the trip every day and now there are only 2 days to go. We’ll be flying to London at 0830 on Sunday morning if the British weather allows it. I heard yesterday that the Icelandic government offered take back our weather if the British stop their Icesafe demands, so hopefully we will be able to fly :)
We have thought hard about what to take with us on a four month trip and after careful considerations I have already packed my bags. I will be taking with me 11 kg. of stuff and I suspect Elínborg to have a bit less. I know that I have packed a few things that are not strictly necessary – more nice to have – and I also added a few clothes that I will throw away during the trip. The back pack will probably weigh around 12 kg. after I have swapped the traveling clothes for shorts and flip flops and I’m happy with that weight, it is comfortable to carry around – even for extended periods.

So what will I take with me?

All the luggage spread out

All the luggage spread out

First of all I have a 55 liter back pack that I bought for our trip to Madagascar a few years back. It is not super fancy but quite good. Then I have a tiny day pack that we can use on shorter trips and a murse (man purse) for the computer, money, camera and stuff.

Toiletries

  • Toothbrush + paste
  • Roll-on + Face creme + Soap
  • Disposable razor x 2 + Small shaving foam
  • Hair & nail cutters
  • Aloe Vera creme for sunburn
  • Fast drying towel
  • Contact lenses + sunglasses + ear plugs
  • Cotton sleeping bag and toilet paper in case shit hits the fan.

Clothes for everything from the beaches in Thailand to the mountaintops in China

  • Underwear x 3 + socks x 2
  • Speedos + surfer shorts
  • Shorts + long pants
  • Flip Flops + (Hiking) shoes
  • Fleece sweater (one thin, one slightly thicker)
  • t-shirt x 3 + polo shirt + wife beater
  • Shirts x 3 (one dress-up)
  • Poncho + Buff + Kangaroo hat

This is all I will be wearing for the next four months and hopefully some of the things will stay in the bag the whole time like the fleece and the rain poncho but you never know.

Stuff for entertainment or to dodge some curve-balls

  • Pencil + Pen + Block of paper
  • USB key + USB cable
  • Swiss army knife + Spork
  • Gaffer tape + Flash light + Telescope
  • Waist wallet
  • Camera + battery + tripod
  • Lonely Planet guide + Guide to China
  • Locks x 2 (small and large)
  • Sawing kit + Plastic bags + Plastic straps
  • Big bungee cord (laundry line)
  • Water tight bag + Small air tight box
  • Net-book + charger
  • Phone + charger
  • iPod + charging cord
  • Multi-electric socket
  • Deck of cards + Games (Ludo, Backgammon)
  • Journal + Fiction book

Additionally we need passports and credit cards, visas and passport photos for visas to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and stuff like that. Elínborg is packing the medicine cabinet so I’m not sure what will be in that one but I’ll probably post that later.

Small stuff went into bags and the clothes into space bags

Small stuff went into bags and the clothes into space bags

It is amazing how few things that we collect are really necessary when you think about it. Obviously we are not going to be preparing our food too much and we are going to a warm climate but apart from that I guess we could manage with the things we are taking with us for quite a long time, even back home in Iceland. It will be interesting to reflect on this after we come back home and see if those things were enough and what things were redundant.

Everything packed and ready to go (except the travelling clothes)

Everything packed and ready to go (except the travelling clothes)

I’m going to keep this blog open to everyone so please share it if you know of people interested in the topics discussed here and please post your comments if you have any!

Cheers everyone!

——————————————
A quick update on the medicine cabinet.  It contains the following items (not that I know what all the tablets do)
  • malarone, siprox, norfloxin, imodium, canesten, mildison, monotrim
  • loritin, ibufen and panodil
  • Thermometer and latex gloves
  • Anti bite and mouth wash


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First leg of the adventure …to the starting point

26 12 2009

We have been staying in Florida for the past couple of months but are now back in Iceland. We really enjoyed the slow pace in Florida and loved the weather up until late December, when it started to cool down a bit. The highlights were:

  • Going to St. Augustine, which is a really beautiful town just north of Orlando. St. Augustine is the oldest town in the US, dating back the 15th century. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to properly explore the town but will be back for sure.
  • Going to the MGM Park (Disney Hollywood Studios) and testing our nerves in The Tower of Terror and The Aerosmith Roller-coaster and calming our selves in The Puppet Show 3D cinema.
  • Seeing the Orlando Magic play the Utah Jazz in the Amway center. The game was not that great, the players seemed to be worrying about what to get their wives and mistresses for Christmas rather then playing basketball, but it was fun to experience the atmosphere and seeing the fans.

We also got to see two of my classmates from the MBA. We met Laura in dueling piano bar in downtown Disney. We had never been to a dueling piano bar before (or even heard of one) but it was great fun and a great concept. The entertainers made fun of us being from Iceland, which never seems to get old. Preston took us on a tour through Cocoa beach. We saw almost the original Ron Jon shop, surfers surfing in the cold see and Elínborg was almost eaten by a pelican.

On the 23rd we flew to Reykjavík for the holidays. Christmas eve is the main day for gathering in Iceland when we have a family dinner and open the presents. We spent the evening at Elínborg’s sister’s house where we ate a wonderful traditional Icelandic Christmas dinner – smoked pork loin, brown sugar potatoes, cream and fruit salad, red cabbage and canned green pies. After wards we opened the presents where my sister in law and her husband took center stage by carefully disguising their presents by wrapping them in multiple layers of paper. On Christmas day we went again to Elínborg’s sister, Ásta, for a family dinner party with her in-laws.

It was kind of strange being back home and a couple of things that I had forgotten about or not thought of for a while. Firstly the darkness was darker and longer than I remembered. It isn’t properly bright until just before lunchtime and sunset is around 15:00. I also felt that people are pretty fashionable and current over here but perhaps most places look fashionable compared to Orlando :)

Now we are in the small air-plain on the way to Egilsstaðir where my mother and her husband live. We will meet up with my brother and his son over there. Egilsstaðir is an hours flight from Reykjavík and is the biggest town in the eastern part of Iceland with almost 3.000 inhabitants – so pretty big in Icelandic terms. The plan is to stay there until the 29th.

I’ll put in some pictures on facebook to match…

The bird that Threatened to eat Elínborg

The bird that threatened to eat Elínborg


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First post…

1 12 2009

Hi all

As you might know, Elínborg and I are going on an almost four months back-packing trip to Asia in the New Year.

I plan to use this venue to blog about our trip and write about the places we see, people we meet and the memories that we create. I hope this blog can be entertaining and hopefully a great channel to communicate with people that want to comment on the things we experience, offer tips or ask us questions.

So where do we stand now?
We have just bought flight tickets that kind of form the main structure of our trip. We bought the tickets through AirTreks (www.airtreks.com) and they were very helpful. The tickets are for Reykjavik-Bangkok-Hong Kong-Beijing-Reykjavik cost only $1.677. We will be heading off on the 10th of January and are back again in Reykjavik on the 30th of April. We will have almost three months to explore Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before flying to Hong Kong for three days and then we will have three weeks in China.

We are still reading a lot of blogs and travel guides to work out more details so all tips and suggestions are welcome. We will probably stay in the southern (hotter) part in January and February and explore Southern Thailand, Cambodia and Southern Vietnam and head to northern Thailand, Laos and northern Vietnam in March and April.

We don’t have anything scheduled after arriving in Beijing but we’ll probably go to Xi’an for a few days but apart from that we haven’t really looked at China.

We are trying to figure out what to pack and what to skip and I think that we have managed to buy or borrow everything except fast drying towels and underwear and a wallet that you carry inside of your clothes so we are still on the lookout for those items :) I’ll hopefully at some point post what we took with us, what we never used and what we severely needed and should have taken with us.

We have already managed to get all the necessary vaccinations except our last rabies shot. I never imagined that vaccinations would be so expensive!!! We got most of what we didn’t already have in Switzerland except that rabies shot, which we planned to have here in the US but at the cost of $270 per person we are having second thoughts. Hopefully we can have it in Iceland where it “only” costs around $120, which is about the same as in Switzerland.

So the plan is to buy a Netbook (we’re looking at the ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA-MU17-BU for those that are interested) to write down our travel journal and then (fingers crossed) upload it here weekly or so including some pictures and videos. I hope that our friends and family will post comments, questions or what ever they want here to enrich the blog.

Until next time…
– Ö r n –


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Icelandic – Malagasy dictionary

14 10 2007
Íslenska Malagasy
Halló Salama / salam
Bless Veloma (Velúma)
Takk fyrir Mizowt (Misáltra)
Einn Ræ
Tveir Róa
Þrír Telu
Fjórir Efata
Fimm Dim
Sex Hinn
Sjö Fitu
Átta Valo
Níu Sivu
Tíu Fulu
Lítill / Stór Kele / Lehibe (lebe)
Bjór Biera
Hvítur (eins og við) Vasa (vesu)
Rólega, rólega Múra múra
Please Asafat
Hversu mikið? Otreen
Velkomin Tongasoa
Vatn Ranú
(Takk) Kærlega (Misoltre) Bisaka
Og Si eða ary
Hefur þú það gott? Salama vi
Mjög gott, frábært Tsara be
Hvað heitir þú? Isa mia mara má

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Going home

14 10 2007

Morguninn eftir var svo keyrt til baka til Tana sömu leið og við komum. Við gátum haft smá bækistöð á Tana Plaza og einhverjir höfðu leigt herbergi í hálfan dag til að geta farið í sturtu og svoleiðis fyrir flugið sem var um kvöldið. Við fórum svo á markað sem seldi allskonar handiðnað. Það er ekki hægt að skipta peningum aftur yfir í dollara þannig að maður þurfti að skammta sér áður en við fórum á markaðinn og sumum fannst við fara með of lítin pening :) Elínborg keypti náttúrulega dúk eða tvo og við keyptum okkur líka málverk, ekkert meistaraverk en samt handmáluð mynd af sólsetrinu yfir nokkrum Boabab trjám. 

IMG_2417 Boabab looks like it is upside down

Síðan var komið við í í Hagkaup þeirra heimamanna sem var afar fróðlegt. Þar keyptum við tónlistardiska með Malagasy tónlist. Þeir reyndust reyndar vera tómir þegar heim var komið :) Við keyptum líka kaffibaunir og svoleiðis smáhluti. Við höfðum áður keypt bæði vanillu og ferskan kanil.

Við komum svo til baka á Plaza og þá tóku við gönguferðir til að drepa tímann áður en farið var á flugvöllinn. Á flugvellinum gekk allt mjög vel og heimamenn voru með skipulagið á hreinu. Meira segja var bara þokkaleg fríhöfn miðað við það sem maður átti von á.

Við fengum svo fínustu sæti í vélinni og flugið til Parísar gekk bara vel. Fólk fór svo til Bretlands með hinum ýmsu flugum þannig að við kvöddum flesta á vellinum í Tana en restina kvöddum við í París.

Það var erfið tilhugsun að þessi ævintýraferð væri búin en þó var nokkur tilhlökkun að fara heim því við höfðum verið lengi í fríi og Örn að byrja í nýrri vinnu og svona, ferðin með Flugleiðavélinni var því tregablandin en þó var nokkur tillhlökkun í okkur. Ferðin var líka búin að vera framar öllum vonum og hverrar krónu virði. Það er bara vonandi að við förum í fleirri svona ævintýraferðir á framandi slóðir.


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