Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips: Overseas Flights with Kids

It's been a while but now that we're home and settled back into our routine I'm hoping to start "Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips" again.  I can't wait to hear what travel stuff you have to share.  Take a look at the rules to read more and then link up your post.

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The little Sojourners waiting at an airport; June 2009.

Recently when we traveled to the U.S. and back for a short visit to see family and friends I learned a few things that I would like to share with you.  Maybe they won't save your life, but they might save your sanity.

1.) If at all possible avoid flying after a stomach bug has hit your family.  Things could get messy.

2.) Bring lots of snacks (and an empty cup or water bottle that can be refilled at a water fountain) for use when stuck in really boring and overpriced overseas flight terminals.  (Four euros for a coke and three euros for a dry and not-so-appetizing pastry times five people in your family may give the Mom of the house a slight hard attack.  Or, maybe just a panic attack as she calculates how much of her children's college tuition she spent on a snack.)

3.) Pack a set of clothes for each member of your family- even on your return flight.  You might easily think of doing this the flight there in case your luggage gets lost or something similar.  But, it may be just as important for the flight back!  For example, if one of your children pukes on the plane all over themselves you will have a set of clothes.  Or, if due to weather your flight gets delayed somewhere along the line when your bags are already checked.

4.) When both parents are sleep-deprived, possibly due to lots of delays and two consecutive overnight flights (but even if those things are not true), make sure one parent is responsible for knowing where the baggage claim tickets are and keeping them in a safe place.  When If one or more of your bags get lost these will be extremely helpful.

5.) If at all possible fly an airline with the cool new personal touch TV screen in front of you so that your children will be entertained for hours by kid-friendly movies and games at their (and your) convenience.  Disclaimer: the person in front of them may, or may not, give you and your child evil looks from the whip lash they are getting from your child trying to use said touch screen at the back of their head rest.  You can try 731 times to teach your children to do this gently but it is probably in vain.  Remember- you will probably never see this person again in your life.  It's worth the risk. 

Have a nice flight!

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Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips: Chattanooga Zoo

Today is Thursday again and time to link up your travel posts.  I can't wait to read about your travel stories, hear your travel tips, or share your travel dreams.

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One of our favorite family things to do over the years has been to go to the zoo.  Several years we would get zoo passes so that we could enjoy it all year long.  Right before we came overseas we lived in Chattanooga, TN for five months.  It was a wonderful place and we loved living there.  Smaller zoos usually have very reasonable "membership fees" (which allow you to get into the zoo an unlimited number of times in a year's span).  The Chattanooga Zoo was no exception and we got a family pass for $55 for a year (where as it would have been $31 for our family each time we went to the zoo, $8/adult & $5/child).  This made for great and cheap entertainment for the year!  The awesome thing about zoo passes is that they are reciprocal and you can often uses them at many other zoos across the US.  This was great for us because the Knoxville Zoo was much bigger and nicer and even though the Chattanooga Zoo pass was cheaper (Just a one time visit to the Knoxville Zoo would have been $72.75 for our family to go one; more then we payed for a year's membership), we still got into the Knoxville Zoo for free the few times that we went there as well.

Chattanooga Zoo Fun

 Hank is definitely the star of the Chattanooga Zoo.  He is a chimpanzee who was once a circus act.  When you go to see him at the zoo he will come right up to the glass and play with you.  He might even give you a "kiss" or "hold your hand" through the window.  Mr. Sojourner had lots of fun playing with him and this entertained us all!

The "Misunderstood Marvels" exhibit had lots of interesting creepy crawly things to see.

There is lots of  fun animals to see in the "Himalayan Passage" including one of our favorites: the red pandas.  They have a really cool indoor/outdoor exhibit to watch them in.

The Little Sojourners enjoyed the "Warner Park Ranch" exhibit and thought the camels were extra cool (little did we know we would soon be seeing them on a regular basis in Africa!).

And they had a cute little petting zoo with lots of farm animals like goats and donkeys.  (Little did we know the streets here would be filled with them.)

We also loved to see the jaguars.  Towards the end of our time in Chattanooga they started building a new bigger and better home for the jaguars in the "Corcovado Jungle" part of the zoo.

They also had a great carousel that the Little Sojourners enjoyed a lot!  (Usually with a membership you get a few free tickets for the carousel.)

All in all it was a great little zoo that we enjoyed visiting many, many times.  My advice: find a small zoo near you and become a member to enjoy the benefits there, and at all the surrounding zoos!

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Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips: My Trip to Kenya Pt. 3

It's time to link up your travel posts again.  And, look I actually remembered it was Thursday....on Thursday.  (Of course the 5 hour power outage and slower then molasses internet delayed things a bit.)  A novel idea, I know.  Last week I posted more about my Kenyan adventures (up close and person adorable animals) and there was also this great post about "why not to travel"; check it out!  I can't wait to check out your links this week!  (Don't forget to check out the rules.)

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My Kenyan adventure continues with a safari!  I never in my life would have thought I would get to do something so very cool.  It was amazing.

We went a few hours outside of Nairobi to Lake Nakuru National Park.  (The one thing to know about Lake Nakuru is that it is a smaller game park, with less animals, and it has no elephants because of it's size.  But, because it is so small your chances of seeing everything are great and it is perfect for a 1-2 day safari.) On our way we stopped at a lookout to see over the Great Rift Valley. 

It was a beautiful view (and this poor picture does it no justice).

We stayed at the Lake Nakuru Lodge.  The rooms were very nice and our rooms overlooked the national park with cape buffalo right outside the fence line (and the occasional monkey or baboon visitor inside the fence).  The food was delicious and we ate lunch outside overlooking the park.  The Lodge was a wonderful place to stay and we enjoyed it very much.

 Driving through the National Park up to the Lodge.

Our room and the view from it out into the National Park.

Cape buffalo right outside the fence from whee we were staying.

Our driver/guide was excellent.  He drove slowly on our way into the park and we saw many animals.  Then we had a late afternoon drive after lunch, a dip in the awesome pool, tea time, and a nap.  The next morning we grabbed a quick bit to eat, did an early morning drive, came back and showered and packed, and checked out.  On the way out our guide drove slowly again so we could see more, and we stopped at the "Out of Africa" lookout to get a last view of the park.

A quick dip in the pool. 

Afternoon tea.  I loved this about Kenya! 

The whole crew in the very cool safari van.

 Giraffe crossing in front of us.

 Lions; oh my!

 Carcass.

White rhinos; they were one of my faves.

Look Daddy; I'm up at the crack of dawn smiling at lions.

Heading to water early in the morning.

The "Out of Africa" over look.

It was a short safari, but I am so glad we did it.

There are lots of places you can safari at while in Kenya.  I would also recommend Masai Mara National Reserve or Nairobi National Park (depending upon where you fly into, how long you have, what time of year it is (during rainy seasons some areas are much harder to get to), and what kind of experience you would like).

The last place I want to share with you about on our Kenyan adventure was a cultural center called The Bomas of Kenya.  The cost is 600 ksh (about $8)/adult and 300ksh (about $4).  A group of dancers do traditional dances to traditional music dressed in traditional costumes representing each of the tribes in Kenya.  It was very neat to see the similarities and differences of each tribe.  They also have replicas of different traditional tribal villages that you can tour.

Traditional dancers.

Husband's hut of one tribe.

1st Wife's hut of another tribe.

My biggest tip for a trip to Kenya: have a really good camera.  That is my one regret.

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Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips: My Trip to Kenya Pt. 2

A day late (because I didn't actually realize it was Thursday until I was heading to bed...oops!) but still looking forward to hearing your travel stories and advice.  Maybe you want to share about a trip you have taken (like I did about Kenya last week) or you want to share about the places you would love to see like Alicia did last week?  You can read the rules and then link up at the bottom of this post.  You have until Monday to link up. 

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Today I want to share two of our favorite places that we went while we were in Kenya (they are especially favorites of the Little Sojourners!).  Both were not far outside of Nairobi.

The first is called the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  Is is a trust for orphaned endangered animals (most commonly elephants and black rhinos).  They raise the elephants until they are old enough to be able to function in a herd when released back into the wild. 

It is only open to visitors from 11-12 daily because they are trying to not allow the elephants to get too used to being around so many people.  (Except I understand that if you sponsor/foster one of the orphans you can schedule a special visit on Thursdays to see the orphans bedtime routine.)  If you get a chance to go I would suggest getting their early so that you can get in line and not miss anything.  It is 300 kshs (roughly $4) to get in which is a great price.  You can also donate more or buy some of their t-shirts, postcards, prints, etc. to support the trust.

The keepers parade the baby elephants out together in groups of size.  I believe this was the smaller sized group.  They are so adorable!

Each orphaned elephant has their own keeper who basically functions as their mother until they are weened.  They go everywhere and do everything together.  The keeper even sleeps with the elephant in it's stable.  You can tell through their interaction how attached they are to them.

You are able to touch and pet them if you are close enough.  The Little Sojourners thought this was so cool.  (OK, me too!)

They share some of the stories of the elephants.  Some of their mothers were killed by poachers, others got lost from their herd, many different sad stories.  But, it is really neat hearing about their rescues also and how they are thriving now.  (Of course all of this is in Kenyan English which takes some getting used to.)

Little Sojourner still talks about the elephants even eight months later.  She asks to hear about their Mommys and Daddys.

The next place we went to was called the Giraffe Center.  It has a viewing deck where you can feed and pet the giraffes.  The cost to enter was 700 kshs (about $9-$10)  for adults and 250 kshs ($3-$4) which I thought was a bit steep for what it was, but it was still very worth it.

 Right on the land of the sanctuary there is a hotel called Giraffe Manor.  I think it would be an amazing place to stay.  Though I am sure it is way out of my family's price range, it is still fun to dream right?!

 The giraffes come right up to the observation deck and eat out of your hand.  Their tongues are very long and feel kind of like sand paper.  If you are really brave, you can kiss a giraffe.  I was not that brave.  Neither was Mr. Sojourner.  Neither were the Little Sojourners.  But, we saw lots of people do it and it is a very popular thing to do.  We are just not trendy enough.

The Little Sojourners were up and down, down and up the observation deck following the giraffes and trying to get another turn feeding them.  This was Daisy.

She was the hungriest giraffe there and the Little Sojourners fed her about ten tons of food, I think.

So, if you ever get the chance to go to Kenya; check these places out.  If not, you can just dream about kissing a giraffe or petting an elephant.
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Thanks for linking up!

Kind regards,

Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips: My Trip to Kenya Pt. 1

It's that time of week again!  (Sorry it's a little late.)  Link up your posts about travel: places you want to travel, travel tips, or stories about past travels.  You can read the rules (or more details).  You can also see last week's posts including mine about the North Carolina Mountains and Alicia's get-away with her hubby to a great B&B.

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Our Kenyan Adventure:

In January Mr. Sojourner had some meetings to attend in Kenya and so the Little Sojourners and I tagged along (poor us!).  When we got off the plane and started driving to Brakenhurst International Conference Centre (where we would be staying for our first two weeks) the Little Sojourners (and me!) were in awe of just how different it was then where in Africa we live.  Ms. Sojourner said, "We are still in Africa?!  It's so GREEN!"

Brakenhurst was a wonderful place to stay.  They staff was very helpful, the food was delicious and reasonably priced, and the grounds were gorgeous!  We stayed in one of their cottages which worked perfectly for our family. 

The cottage we stayed in was called "Mapacha" which means "twins" in Swahili.  Apparently someone gave birth to twins there years ago.

For dining they have two choices on the grounds.  First, is a dining room with buffet style food (which I think they only use when enough people are staying on the grounds), but really, really good buffet with produce grown on the grounds and some of the best soups I have ever had in my life.  The other choice is the cafe with a menu of really great priced and yummy foods.  We used both while we were there.  The grounds and surrounding area are beautiful and are really great for hiking, walking, and running. 

One of the trails we walked right beside some beautiful tea fields.

They have a great gift shop with very reasonable prices if you aren't going to hit the Massai Market or don't want to deal with negotiating prices.  The one issue I had was there laundry prices (which would not have been so bad if it hadn't been the 5 of us), but other then that it was an amazing place to stay and if we ever have the opportunity to go to Kenya again we will be heading back there!

Near by Brakenhurst is the Kiambethu Tea Farm. 

Middle Sojourner on our tour of the tea fields while visiting the tea farm.

The girls and I spent a delightful afternoon there with new friends we met during our vacation. 

The lunch spread.

We had lunch and afternoon tea.

Ms. Sojourner sippin' on some tea with her milk and sugar at tea time.  (I loved this British influence there!)

We heard the story of the farm, learned about tea, and took a tour of the grounds (including a forest).

An adventure walk through the forest; exciting!

 Oh--- and we fed monkeys!!!!

Little Sojourner getting a little help feeding the monkey a banana.

Of course I was in awe of all the malls in Nairobi (after not living in a country with such things for seven months) and visited several while were there (1,2&3 and we went to each multiple times!).  That's probably not that interesting to you, but it was hugely fun to us with food courts, reasonably priced items, put-put golf, and movies...in English!  But, one thing that may be interesting to you is that all of the malls I went to host the Massai Market once a week and so you can go there to get some beautiful African items at really great prices; if you negotiate prices! 

Not the greatest pic (but the only pic I took) of the Massai Market on the roof of Westgate Mall.

My advice: know what you want to pay for it, start lower then that, and don't go above what you want to pay.  Walking away works well too.  "No thanks, I'll keep looking.  Have a nice day!"  Don't worry about going to low; they will not agree to a price they don't make money on.  They usually try to get double or triple the fair price of an item because they think you don't know any better.

A few words of caution: Pick-pockets love places like this with lots of tourists, lots of people, and lots of chaos.  Keep your money close.  Also, if you name a price and they agree to it then you are obligated to buy so only name a price if you are serious about buying it.

Lastly (for today at least), I discovered my love for Kazuri beads as I visited the factory and shopped at the Kazuri store at each of the malls we went to (and the airport!).  You can order them online, but they are a lot cheaper in person.  I can't properly express the beauty of each unique bead.  If you go to Kenya: buy something Kazuri!

Surrounded by lots of beautiful and unique creations.

Come back next week for Pt. 2 of our Kenyan adventure; we haven't even gotten to animals or safari yet!

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I can't wait to read about your travel dreams, stories, or tips!

Dreaming of travel,

Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips: Week 1!

Welcome; so glad you could stop by! Today is the day I take the plunge and start this linky party (hoping there will be others out there who want to come and join me!).  I'm so very excited (yet a tad bit nervous)!  I can't wait to hear all of your travel tales, ponder your travel tips, see pictures of your past trips, and/or dream with you about future trips. 

Don't think it has to be exotic!  It can be anything from tips about car or airplane travel with children, packing tips, past vacation pictures, a story of one of your travel adventures, sharing about a trip you are planning to take, or giving us a glimpse of one of your dream travel destinations.  It can be local sights in your city, something in your home state, cool places to see in the US, or overseas destinations.  Be creative!

The rules:
1.) Make a post on your blog about travel. (Or, share an old post that fits the theme here.)
2.) Put a link in your post linking back here to Mrs. Sojourner's Monologues (or you can link directly to Thursday's Travel Tales & Tips, whichever you prefer).
3.) Share your link below. (Link directly to your post [not your blog homepage] in the "URL" kine.  Put your name/name of your blog and/or the name of your post in the "name" line.  The email is self explanatory.  Pick an image to share in your thumbnail.)
4.) Check out the other links. (It's not mandatory, but everyone loves some comment love!)
5.) Tweet about it another the hash tag: #TravelTales (Optional!)
6.) Have fun!

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Here is my post for this week:

In honor of the beginning of Fall and just how very much I am missing the mountains of NC I am going to share about an amazing trip we took before we left the US in the fall of 2008.  We met some of our best friends at a cabin in the woods (at the time they were between houses and we had already moved out of our apartment so there was no where for us to get together; at least that's how we justified the expense at the time!).  We look around at cheaper cabins that could fir our families and found one we thought would work.  The rental company gave us this amazing cabin for the same price (since it wasn't already booked).  {Sometimes God does unexpected things like that and I am always reminded when I look back at them of His goodness!}  We really didn't realize what an amazing cabin it was until we took the steep windy road up to it and got out of the car.  Wow!

Our "Up Above the World So High" Cabin complete with built in BBQ on the deck.  You better believe will grilled some great meals in the crisp fall air!

The kids had a great time playing in the great big yard.  (Also another view of the house.)

Seriously, the most a-m-a-z-i-n-g view!  Breath-taking.  And a cool lookout to boot.  The view was of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park; so awesome.

It had a fire pit and this is where we spent a big part of our evenings; roasting s'mores with the kiddos.  What could be more fun?!

One day we went for a hike and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors all around us.

I tried to savor every moment knowing this was our last time to enjoy fall for many years.

We got to see a really neat waterfall.  The Little Sojourners really enjoyed all the outdoors stuff we did.

(I had to include this picture of me and Little Sojourner on our hike that my friend took.  It's one of my favorites of Little.)

One day my friend, her oldest daughter and I walked around Bryson City, NC and looked at the shops, ate lunch at a little sandwich place, and had coffee and checked email at the Mountain Perks Expresso Bar/Cafe.  (They made a pretty good mocha!)  It was a fun girls afternoon.

Most days we stayed at that cabin, enjoyed the peace and quiet (besides our munchkins), sat in awe of the beauty that surrounded us, played card and board games, ate my friend's amazing cooking, chatted our heads off, and other such shenanigans.  The day we went hiking we did go to Pasqualino's Italian Restaurant.  The service was great and the food was delicious.

It was a wonderful trip that I will cherish forever.  I am so glad I got to share about it with you!

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Thanks again for stopping by; hope to see you again next week!

Dreaming of travel,

*Linking up with Alicia's Try New Adventures Thursday at Alicia's Homemaking!