Ireland with Children: Reasons to Visit Ireland in 2012
I’m Irish so naturally Ireland is always going to be near the top of my list of places to recommend for family travel but right now is a particularly good time to visit and here’s why… Legacies of the Celtic Tiger Boom Dublin Airport’s new Terminal 2 opened in November 2010. It is, as BigB Read the Rest…
More Than A Library
“A library is an optional extra.” So said my husband last year during the Passports with Purpose fundraiser. I didn’t have a meaningful come-back. When I was growing up there were some books in my house but not many and certainly not a lot of extra money to feed my bookworm habits. Our Saturday morning Read the Rest…
A School Playground Sign in Zambia
I have two sons: one 12, one 16. If I had the time I’m sure I could write for a day on the differences between life for a tween/teen in Zambia versus the life my children are lucky to live in Seattle. Instead of all those words, the top picture, of a playground sign in Read the Rest…
Seattle to Lusaka: Cognative Dissonance
I returned from Zambia barely 48 hours ago. I’m happy to be home with my family. I enjoyed being fussed by my boys on Mother’s Day. But. Today I’m back at work. My stomach is tied in knots and I’m nauseous. I work for Google. I like working for Google. I usually enjoy what I Read the Rest…
Lusaka Bus Station
On our last day in Zambia I had a family errand to run in a town called Mazabuka about two hours south of Lusaka. Initially I’d planned to hire a taxi although given that the half-hour taxi ride from the airport into Lusaka cost ~$25, I was worried that my round-trip to Mazabuka would be Read the Rest…
Lusaka Experience Township Tour
We spent yesterday morning on the three-hour tour of the Garden Compound (township) hosted by the inspirational folks from Lusaka Experience. This neighborhood of 26,000 people crammed onto unserviced, unpaved streets where their 2-room cinder block homes are built on what was once a garden is an example of the environment where most of Lusaka’s Read the Rest…
Seattle to Lusaka: First Impressions of Zambia
I may pretend to be a blogger/writer but really I’m a list-maker. Honestly, any time you’ve read a blog post that I’ve written there’s a 99% chance that it started it’s life as a list. Here’s a sample of the lists I’ve written about Lusaka and Zambia in the last 24-48 hours (links to stats Read the Rest…
Seattle to Lusaka: Zambia Family Ties
Now that I’m in Lusaka, and before our visit with the Room to Read people starts, I thought I should explain the other reason for my excitement and interest in being here: my husband and four of his siblings were born here. The lived in the very region that I will be visiting over the Read the Rest…
Seattle To Lusaka: 1st Stop Dubai
Last May I walked into a little guesthouse in rural Uzbekistan. The grandmotherly proprietor briskly showed me the rooms she had available and then, after we agreed to take them, she only hid her excitement at having guests with difficulty and fussed around us getting out typical Central Asian welcome fare: tea, fruit and sweets. Read the Rest…
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