has moved to a foreign country
Dear friends,
We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope you had a good year and that 2014 will be even better. Our
year started with adventures in New Zealand and Australia and ended
with building a new life in Lucerne, Switzerland. It has been quite a
trip and we have enjoyed every step of the way. 🙂
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones,
Angela and Andy
Usually in the beginning of the week I start thinking about what I want to do on the weekend. Of course in my mind we do great things outdoors in the perfect weather. Picture the intro to Sound of Music and you get the feeling. In the middle of the week I look at the weather forecast which of course decides what kind of activity is possible at all. Way too many weeks this autumn it has been looking like this:
And so also this weekend. Bummer. Here goes my hiking trail discovery plans out the window and shopping and “fika” plans becomes reality. On the agenda this weekend is shopping (in desperate need of shoes and new glasses), dinner with friends and Sunday Afternoon Tea at Hotel Palace also with friends. Not too bad after all. 🙂 Just have to remember to bring the umbrella.
Enjoy your weekend!
Finally we found a place that offers truly free wifi with no data restrictions. So I took the opportunity to upload some photos. Usually when there is “free” wifi here it is limited to 20 or so Mb which makes it impossible to upload pictures. Enjoy these, I am not sure when I can upload more. 🙂
 |
| Auckland – Northland |
It is now time for us to leave main land America where we have spent almost 2 years. First 1.5 years in Phoenix and then 5 months on the road in the States and Canada. We are looking forward to our “vacation in the vacation” on Hawaii before going on to New Zealand for new adventures. It feels good to be on our way, the past weeks has been a bit just waiting to go on. We have spent time selling the car and giving things away that does not fit in our bags. This means leaving has been on our minds for a long time.
Our stay in the USA and Canada was the first part of our trip and the second part, New Zealand, is coming closer. We will be traveling with a different car, still one you can sleep in which is necessary for the budget to work, in a new country. We need to find out where it is ok to spend the night, where to shop and what food is good. It has been easy in America since, after living in Phoenix, we were very familiar with everything and knew what to look for and expect. We are looking forward to everything being new and exciting.
This was the last place we visited before returning the rental car. It is the boardwalk at Redondo Beach, LA. A very nice place I had never heard of before but really worth visiting. A nice pier with restaurants and shops and less touristy than Santa Monica.
It has taken us about a month to go from Vancouver to Santa Barbara where we are now. In just a few days we are leaving main land America and will fly to Hawaii for a few weeks. During this month we have done a lot of different things. We have visited cities, beaches, wineries and friends. I have collected photos for you to look at instead of text to read. Enjoy!
 |
| Vancouver to LA |
Yesterday we crossed the border and came back to the USA after spending about 6 weeks in Canada. We were both surprised that we got the feeling we were coming home. It seems that the 1.5 years we spent in Phoenix made us appreciate everything that we used to have around us. There was Olive Garden, Jack in the Box, Five Guys and other things we passed every day. Not that we liked or visited these places often or ever but just the sight of them made us feel just like home. Our home in Phoenix was the first one we had together which makes it special.