iOS 10 Memories - Great for Throwback Thursday

St Fredericksburg in Texas
San Antonio visit 2015

How great is the new iOS 10 Memories with the new update on iOS? It comes with the most recent update on iPhones, iPad and the Mac. It opens up great memories.

I am only discovering it now, and loving it!

I am able to see group photos, place photos, "Best of the last 3 months",  as well as certain dates on my photo album.

The throwback Thursday is from last year's visit to San Antonio in America.
Good times, and good memories!

The Red Fish Project - about living abroad as a rite of passage

The Red Fish Project, Andrew Gillmore

I love this book! It's an honest account of living abroad, but it is also advocating that life is much richer and more rewarding when taking the plunge to explore out of your own comfort zones!

This quote from the book sums it up: "Living abroad should be a rite of passage. It’s so invaluable that there’s no reason to not do it for at least a while. And it’s not enough to just visit another place. You need to live there. And to take it one step further, you need to become a part of that country."

Andrew Gillmore makes me feel that after reading this book I need a do-over in life! Maybe we can still take that plunge?

Thoroughly enjoyed The Red Fish Project! @gillmorea10 makes me wish for a do-over in life! TX @cupcakemummy pic.twitter.com/LXjRgxNON9

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) 1 July 2016

Read the Amazon Review: Living abroad should be a rite of passage! Im  convinced!


I got this book (for a honest review) also through Carol-Leigh (CupcakeMummy) at Charlie Foxtrot, but it seems the review option has ended! (?)

Wordless Wednesday #296 - Goodbye, San Antonio

San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio was placed second in Budget Travel's list of best budget places to travel to in 2016.
(What is the odds that I had my first overseas travel experience to a place that gets second best for this year?)

We visited my brother in San Antonio last year, and it was an unforgettable experience. San Antonio is a vibrant, beautiful and very friendly city soaked in history.

The San Antonio River Walk is one of the well-known city features with a 15 mile long river path alongside city restaurants and buildings and historical sights!

The well-know Texan accent of the guide was a real treat to us during the cruise.

San Antonio sightseeing near the River Walk

Walking in San Antonio city streets

The Student, Little Miss and my brother on the cruise

Statue of the patron Saint Anthony

This year marks the 180th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo and the 125th anniversary of the arts-and-culture celebration Fiesta! San Antonio, and with those come a slew of free music festivals and parades!

This is definitely a city worth placing on your bucket list!

Read more: Budget Travel

I would LOVE to go again, and this time spent even more time at the River walk, as we did not cruise the whole route, or explored more of the sights on the route!


Related posts:

- Initial thoughts about America

- Things we love about America - tourist  insights about San Antonio

- A birthday at Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio

A Mom's guide to travel the world with kids - Johannesburg included #Kindle

Around the World with Kids

This very practical guide has been compiled by local moms from  each of the 20 cities.

Guess who contributed to the South African part! This Mom, Karen du Toit!
I have actually forgotten about, but it finally saw the light of day! I was glad to see that the suggestions are still valid, and I have Maropeng included in the list!

The following cities are included: London, Frankfurt, Rome, Zurich, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Toronto, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Wellington, Dubai and of course, Johannesburg!

- This is a  very practical travel guide full of doable recommendations and tips from moms living in the cities!
- It is a great way to introduce your kids to the cities
- It includes tourist favourites in the cities included!

Tips for travelling to the USA with children

Kathleen Taylor (aka KatinAfrica from East Coast Life), promised me a few tips on travelling with kids to the USA on my blog post about What kind of tourist are you? As we are planning our own upcoming trip, these tips are really great to keep in mind! Thanks, Kathleen!


My brother lives in the USA and I have been lucky enough to visit him twice since I had children. Before I had kids, packing took ten minutes and I was happy to arrive at the airport with just minutes to spare before take-off. Now life involves planning and this is especially true of an international trip. Luckily the USA is one of the easiest countries in the world to travel to. They speak English and as a general rule, kids love American food. 

So here are a few tips I have learnt on our USA travels:

1. Chose the airline that you are going to fly with very carefully. America is a long (very long) flight from here. We have always chosen to fly via Europe. The long flight is overnight and the shorter hop across the Atlantic is during the day. You don’t want a long day time flight with small   people, I promise you that they will go crazy. Sleeping kids allows you the time for a movie, dinner in peace and a glass of wine. Make sure that they have back-of-seat TV’s and a selection of kid’s shows and movies. Your tablet will not last the whole flight and charging places tend to be limited in economy. Airlines that provided backpacks filled with toys, get extra stars. Check online for airline reviews and make sure that they are child friendly. As a general rule, the more things the airline offers for kids, the more kid friendly they are. Book the kid’s meal as they always get fed first. In my experience Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Lufthansa are awesome. Emirates is great but the 14 hour flight from Dubai to New York is very long for small children.  Avoid our national carrier like the plague.

2. In the USA, most airlines offer kids under 5 fly for free, ride buses for free and can get into a number of attractions for free. Restaurants often have deals that allow kids under 12 to eat for free as long as an adult is buying a meal. Google the area that you are visiting for kid friendly deals. 

3. Almost every hotel has family rooms that sleep 4 and they are often the same price or only slightly more expensive than a standard room. This makes travel with small kid’s very budget friendly. This works for as long as your kids are willing to share a room with you. 

4. Self-catering places are known as vacation homes and they are often very budget friendly for families if you plan to stay in an area for a few nights. Check out Air Bnb for ideas. 

5. Food is generally purchased in bulk containers at their supermarkets. Buy some resealable plastic bags and decant snacks and other foods. Food is cheap and the variety is huge. You will be amazed by all the kid friendly foods like Goldfish Crackers and string cheese. It is harder to find healthy food but it is there. Check out places like Trader Joe’s and Wholefoods. 

6. Hit the outlet malls. You can buy Gap, Gucci and other big brands for the same price as you would pay for Ackermans or Mr Price here. I go big and buy my kids clothes for the next two years. You should of course treat yourself and have a massive shopping spree. 

7. If you have the time and the funds, go to Disney World. Your kids will love you for it. Disney World would have to be a whole separate post but it really is worth it. The tickets are expensive but there is nothing quite like it. 

8. Let your kids eat McDonalds, Dennys and all the other junk. You are on holiday!!

9. Pack snacks and bottles of juice and water for your days out. Food and drink is very expensive at most attractions. The great part is that most attractions will let you take your own food and drink in.

10. Try to limit your trip to one or two States, depending on the length of your holiday. America is huge in a way that we just can’t comprehend. You will not be able to see everything that you would like to see in one trip. 

Enjoy your trip and most importantly relax. When you travel with kids, you can’t run around seeing things all day. They get tired quickly, so break up the day with swims, naps and calm activities. 

Photo from h3dwallpapers

What kind of tourist are you?

We got our visas approved for our overseas tour to America in June! *Happy dance!*

I stressed about all the paperwork, and we went in with four complete files proving that we have work here, with bank statements, letters from my brother, from work and from school. And more...

They did not ask for one single thing. They only wanted to know where we are going, what our occupations are (of course she wanted to know what an "archivist" is), and how we are going to pay for it.
Luckily we could say that we are going to stay with my brother.

It is a relief to finally being able to focus on planning the touristy things!

I am Googling all the free things (with kids) we can do, because our ZAR is worth nothing when converted!
Any suggestions about San Antonio in Texas?

That's why I immediately completed a questionnaire from Flight Centre in my Inbox today: "What kind of tourer are you? 
[Unfortunately it is not available on the web, but if you send me your email, I will be happy to forward it to you.]

I got the following result:

"You are a Youth Tourer!
This is for the young and the young at heart! Party like a rock star in the Greek Islands, leave what happens in Vegas in Vegas, or explore the exotic beaches of South East Asia. You make every minute of your holiday count with the coolest sights, activities and places to go specially selected so that you get all the best parts of each country you visit. You believe life is about making memories, visiting inspiring places and living in the moment."

You can also go and do the following quiz from The Science Channel: What kind of tourist are you? 

This quiz got the following result:

"34 - 66 Proceed with CautionColumbus you're not, but you definitely like to get away from time to time. You appreciate the comforts of home even when you're on the road. Not that we're saying there's anything wrong with that."

Please share what kind of Tourer (not an actual word for tourist?) are you?  


Photo: taken in Publicity on Friday at Silverstar while we were on our date night for our anniversary.


Disclaimer: I am very excited about finally going on an overseas tour. (You will probably see some more touristy things here.)
I was not paid to mention Flight Centre.

Currently...

I found this on Cat's blog: Juggling Act of Life

Listening to: Hozier - Take me to the Church
And I love this ballet version




Reading: Library Advocacy Unshushed MOOC, but struggling to keep up...

Thinking about: My wonderful Hubby who made Valentine's special with a date and movie, and he even bought flowers for the girls!

Looking forward to: Our trip to Texas in the middle of the year. Very scary, but also very exciting!

Anticipating: A very good and busy year! We are doing it!

Planning: The overseas trip (well, we should be starting...!)

Wearing: Cool summer clothes. It is the best time of the year!

Drinking: Coffee. A bit too much!

Eating: A bit more healthy. I am kilojoule counting with My Fitness App on my iPhone 6. Loving it! It seems it is starting to work as well!

Thankful: For being invited to the first International iPad Summit in South Africa the previous two days. My head still spins with all the possibilities. I am also feeling a bit more optimistic about South Africa's educational future with all the bright teachers that attended the conference!

Wishing and praying: Always my children. But it seems they are sorted this year. Little Miss has settled in nicely at school, and waves us goodbye with smiles in the morning. The Student is also enjoying her business classes this year!

Not looking forward to: My birthday! (Getting too near a big number... AAArgh!)

Dreaming about: New possibilities! In my career, mostly!


What's happening currently with you?

Wordless Wednesday #244 - Clouds from above

See you on the next plane!

My travel vision board

I have a vision board on my computer about the places I want to go. It has been there since the start of 2012. It is mostly local South African places, not even overseas destinations…

(Maybe that is the problem?)

In my future vision I am going to Mozambique to swim with the dolphins.

I am going to Cape Town to eat fish at the Waterfront and at all the Bays. I am going to travel on all the wine routes, and taste wine and champagne and wine and champagne. (I have done a little bit of it, but it is something to do on a regular basis! Tick!)

I am going to the Drakensberg Mountains, and climb a few of those chain ladders again. (I have done it before. Tick!)

I am going to spend lazy afternoons on the beach at the Dolphin Coast in Kwazulu-Natal. (I have been there, this year at Umdloti, but it is still one of my favourite local destinations for a great family holiday! Tick!)

Up until now I have been doing vicarious travels to overseas destinations through the pages of books. And magazines. And blogs. And Facebook.

I have been sharing in the glorious travels of family and friends.

I have been soaking in the sun from pages glaring from destinations from white beaches and aquamarine water and mountains touching the clouds and open bush spaces littered with roaming wild life, and bustling skyscrapers and churches and castles bursting with history.

But I haven’t been there myself…

I wish that I could say that it is enough to have quelled my travel-lust, but of course we all know that it does not work like that!

Instead it fuels the desire to board the next plane to an exotic destination with an exotic name that needs to be Googled when you hear it first!

I want to go “there”!

I realize I desperately need to upgrade my vision board, and what a better way than to start today with this kick-in-the butt inspiration from the Travelstart Blogger Experience Contest being run.

Thumbs! 

See you on the next plane!