Chris Moore

Japan, Week 1: Tokyo and Osaka

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:24:15 +0000

Trip dates: June 4–10, 2026

We spent three weeks in Japan this June. Tokyo first, then Osaka with a few day trips, and back to Tokyo for the last week. Lots of trains, plenty of food, and a few giant cartoon characters along the way. Follow along!

Thursday, June 4: Arriving in Tokyo

After leaving on Wednesday, we landed at Haneda on Thursday afternoon. Godzilla was there to welcome us to Japan.

Welcome to Japan.

We loaded up a van and headed into Tokyo. Once we got settled at our place, there was a FamilyMart stop for supplies. First order of business: figure out what to eat.

Friday, June 5: Asakusa

I tried natto. It was actually pretty mild. I think it would be good with rice.

We headed over to Asakusa for kimonos and tea. All five of us got dressed up and had some family pictures taken. A little different from our usual travel clothes.

There was matcha to whisk and drink, then more exploring around Senso-ji. Red gates, enormous lanterns, and plenty of places to stop for a snack.

Saturday, June 6: Harajuku and Shibuya

We started with a meal ordered from a ticket machine, then went out to explore. We passed the National Stadium and made a stop at an animal cafe before working our way through Harajuku.

Takeshita Street was busy. There were crepes, capsule toys, and plenty of shops to look through. We also made it to Nintendo Tokyo and got a look at Shibuya Crossing.

We were not the only people in Harajuku.

Sunday, June 7: More Tokyo

We visited Hie Shrine and walked through the red torii gates. The path makes it pretty hard to take a bad picture.

Then it was over to Yurakucho, where we found a giant white cat and a display for the Michael Jackson movie. Later we saw the big cat on the screen in Shinjuku. Quite a cat day.

Monday, June 8: Pokémon

We took the train and a gondola over to PokéPark Kanto at Yomiuriland. There were giant Pokémon, smaller Pokémon, and Pokémon snacks. Ady got to meet Squirtle and Charmander.

Katharine got up at 5 a.m. several days in a row to get the tickets. A lot of planning went into this day before we ever got on the train.

More photos and a few clips in our PokéPark Kanto post.

Back in town, we walked around Shinjuku and stopped for another family picture in Kabukicho.

Tuesday, June 9: Tokyo to Osaka

Moving day. We picked up food at the station and took the train to Osaka. A taxi got us to our next place, near Kohama shopping street.

We did a little neighborhood exploring and found curry at CoCo Ichibanya. Rice, curry, and a breaded cutlet. Works for me.

Wednesday, June 10: Universal Studios Japan

We only had one day at Universal Studios Japan, so we booked a VIP tour. Katharine handled the planning. We got the family pictures at the globe, then worked our way around the park.

Super Nintendo World had Mario Kart trophies, Yoshi, and a lot of very familiar scenery. We also made our way through the Harry Potter area and over to Hello Kitty. A pretty wide range of interests covered in one park.

Dinner afterward came with an enormous pile of fries. Long day!

I put more of the day, including some ride footage, in our Universal Studios Japan VIP tour post.

That’s the first week. We’ll stay in Osaka next week and head out to see Nara, Wakayama, and Kyoto. There’s also a birthday to celebrate.

More from Japan: Week 2 · Week 3 · Universal · PokéPark

Japan, Week 2: Osaka and Day Trips

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:24:15 +0000

Trip dates: June 11–17, 2026

We stayed in Osaka for our second week and used it as a base for a few day trips. Temples, deer, cats, baseball, and Wesley’s birthday. Plenty to keep us busy.

Thursday, June 11: Sumiyoshi Taisha and Dotonbori

We explored Sumiyoshi Taisha, including the big red bridge over the pond. There were stone lanterns all around the grounds and a few turtles in the water.

Lunch was tonkatsu with rice, soup, and a small mountain of shredded cabbage.

That evening we headed into Dotonbori. Giant signs, bright lights, and people everywhere along the canal. Quite a change from the shrine.

Friday, June 12: Nara

We took the train to Nara to see the deer. They were all over the park, including right beside the paths. The kids had plenty of company.

We visited Todai-ji and went inside to see the enormous Buddha. The building is pretty impressive before you even get through the door.

Then we walked over to Kasuga Taisha. More deer along the way, followed by rows of hanging lanterns at the shrine.

Back in Osaka, there was still time to look through a few shops around Namba.

Saturday, June 13: Baseball in Osaka

Wesley and I went to a baseball game at Kyocera Dome. We got a picture outside, checked out the food options, and found our seats.

Baseball in Japan.

There was also more exploring around Kohama, with food stops and a few pictures of the shopping street.

More exploring around Kohama.

Sunday, June 14: Kishi Station and Tama

Today we headed down to Wakayama to visit Kishi Station, home of the cat stationmasters. Tama was the reason for this side trip. We changed trains in Wakayama and rode the Kishigawa Line out through the countryside. The themed trains were part of the fun before we even got there.

The original Tama was a calico cat who became stationmaster in 2007. People started coming just to see her, helping bring passengers back to a struggling railway. A pretty impressive accomplishment for a cat. She died in 2015 and has a shrine on the station platform. Other cats have carried on the stationmaster job since then.

The station itself looks like a cat’s face, right down to the ears on the roof. There’s a Tama shop and a cafe, so there are plenty of ways to spend a little more time with the cats. The one we saw was asleep behind the glass. Tough job.

We stopped at the cafe for a few cat-themed treats before heading back. What an amazing side trip. We went all that way for a cat station, and it was absolutely worth it.

Back in Wakayama, we visited the castle. The walk up involved quite a few stone steps. We went inside and got a look out over the city.

Monday, June 15: Happy Birthday, Wesley!

Wesley turned 17 today! We also made a stop in Sakai for the crafts museum and some knife shopping. I wanted a Japanese knife, and we were in Sakai. What better place!

The salesperson was very helpful and let us hold all the knives. She had lived in Michigan for a year. I ended up with two, which they wrapped in paper with red tape. A little more useful than most souvenirs.

Wesley chose Ganko in Namba for his birthday meal. There was time for more shopping around Namba too.

Ady and I found a strawberry cake at Takashimaya, the department store in the train station. We brought it back to the Airbnb and added the candles. Happy Birthday, Wesley!

Tuesday, June 16: Kyoto

Another day trip, this time to Kyoto. We went up to Kiyomizu-dera and explored the temple grounds and the streets nearby. Lots of stairs and lots of pictures.

We also stopped to see the owls. This one was keeping a close eye on things.

The boys found Mario on the roof at Nintendo Kyoto. We finished the day back in Osaka with another stop at CoCo Ichibanya.

Wednesday, June 17: Getting ready to move

We got ready for the trip back to Tokyo. Yamato picked up our bags, and we kept things close to the Airbnb and Kohama shopping street. A quieter day before another train ride.

That’s it for Osaka. Back to the Tokyo area tomorrow for our last week in Japan.

More from Japan: Week 1 · Week 3 · Universal · PokéPark

Japan, Week 3: Back to Tokyo

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:24:15 +0000

Trip dates: June 18–24, 2026

For our last week we headed back to the Tokyo area, this time staying in Urayasu. A few more outings, another baseball game, and some shopping before the flight home.

Katharine handled the Disney plans, along with Universal and PokéPark earlier in the trip. She’s a travel advisor at Dream Vacations. There was a lot of work behind these park days.

Thursday, June 18: Osaka to Tokyo

We took the Shinkansen back toward Tokyo. There was plenty to look at out the window as we passed towns, fields, and rivers.

After getting settled in Urayasu, we went over to Maihama and looked around Ikspiari and the shops near Tokyo Disney Resort. A little Disney shopping to finish the travel day.

Friday, June 19: Costco!

Katharine, Ady, and Wesley went to Disney, and Oliver took some down time to game with friends back home. I headed out on my own to Makuhari. There was a Costco. Of course I went in. I took pictures and short videos of the food, the aisles, and the food court menu. Some things look very familiar, and then you get to the prepared food section.

The prepared food section. Still from a short video.

The hot dog made the trip too. Still from a short video.

I also explored the malls nearby and stopped for lunch. This was a fairly substantial bowl.

There were watches to look at too. I went with a blue-faced Seiko, ¥48,000 before tax. Another souvenir I can actually use.

Back at the house, pizza for dinner.

Saturday, June 20: Akihabara

We headed into Akihabara to look through the shops. Games, electronics, more games, and quite a few character shirts. There were shelves full of old PlayStation games to sort through.

It was raining by the time we were back around Urayasu.

Sunday, June 21: Tokyo Dome

Oliver and I went to Tokyo Dome for a Giants game. We had Giants jerseys for the occasion and plenty of orange around us in the stands.

Baseball, a hot dog, and a very full stadium. A good way to spend the afternoon.

Later I took a few pictures along the water back in Urayasu.

Back in Urayasu.

Monday, June 22: Ginza

Another solo outing for me, this time to Ginza. Katharine, Ady, and Wesley were at Disney, while Oliver had more time to game with friends back home. I stopped for soba and tempura. A big tray of noodles and a little more shopping.

Tuesday, June 23: Odaiba

One more full day to explore. We went over to Odaiba and found the giant Gundam outside DiverCity. Wesley was available for scale.

Inside there were more character shops, capsule toys, and food. Ady got rainbow cotton candy that was almost as big as she was.

A reasonable afternoon snack.

We walked along the waterfront and took a few last family pictures. Hello Kitty joined us for those. We also found the Statue of Liberty, with Rainbow Bridge behind it.

One more family picture. Hello Kitty included.

Then back to Urayasu for dinner.

Wednesday, June 24: Heading home

We loaded up a van and headed to Haneda. There was time for one more Pokémon stop at the airport before boarding the flight home.

Three weeks went by pretty quickly. Plenty of pictures to sort through now!

More from Japan: Week 1 · Week 2 · Universal · PokéPark

Universal Studios Japan in One Day: Our Family VIP Tour

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:24:15 +0000

Trip dates: June 10, 2026

We had one day for Universal Studios Japan during our three weeks in Japan. Five people, plenty of things to see, and no second day to come back. We booked a VIP tour, and Katharine took care of the planning.

Why we booked a VIP tour

We had arrived in Osaka the day before. Universal was our first full day there, before a week of exploring Osaka and taking day trips to Nara, Wakayama, and Kyoto. We wanted to give the park a full day without adding another one to the schedule. That was the reason for going with the VIP tour.

My wife Katharine is a travel advisor, and she did all the planning for Universal, PokéPark, and Disney on this trip. If you’re planning a trip of your own, you can find her at Katharine Moore at Dream Vacations.

First, the family picture at the globe. All five of us in the frame and ready to go.

Super Nintendo World

There is a lot to look at in Super Nintendo World. Blocks overhead, pipes, moving characters, and familiar scenery in every direction. It looks like someone took the game and built it around you.

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Trying the blocks in Super Nintendo World · 14 seconds. A short clip from my Meta Ray-Bans, with the family taking turns reaching up to the blocks.

The Mario Kart trophies needed a picture. Much bigger than the ones on the screen at home.

A fairly substantial trophy collection.

I also recorded some of the Yoshi ride with my Meta Ray-Bans. Here’s a short stretch of the ride, with the scenery passing right beside us.

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A ride with Yoshi · 30 seconds. A 30-second excerpt from the ride through Super Nintendo World.

More of the park

We made our way through the Harry Potter area and over to Hello Kitty too. There was a pretty wide range of interests covered in one day. Nintendo, wizards, and a very pink room.

I came home with plenty of short videos as well as photos. The clips are a good way to remember the parts between the family pictures: walking into a new area, looking around, and the view from a ride.

Dinner afterward

After the park, dinner came with an enormous pile of fries. Apparently we had not done quite enough walking to work through a small order.

Dinner after a full day at the park.

Long day! Back to our place in Osaka. There was plenty more of the city to see over the next week.

Planning a one-day visit

Our one-day limit was the reason we chose a VIP tour. The right plan will depend on what your group wants to do and how much time you have. For us, this was one park day in the middle of a much longer family trip.

For current options, start with Universal Studios Japan’s official site. This is the story of our June 2026 visit; check the current tour and admission details for your dates.

The rest of the week is in Japan, Week 1: Tokyo and Osaka. We also spent a day at PokéPark Kanto near Tokyo.

More from Japan: Week 1 · Week 2 · Week 3 · PokéPark

PokéPark Kanto: Our Family Visit from Tokyo

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:24:15 +0000

Trip dates: June 8, 2026

PokéPark Kanto was one of our days out from Tokyo. Getting there involved a train and a gondola. Getting the tickets involved Katharine waking up at 5 a.m. several days in a row. The gondola was the easier part.

Getting the tickets

These were hard to get. Katharine kept getting up early and trying until she managed to get two forest passes and one trainer pass. Oliver and Ady had the forest passes, and Wesley had the trainer pass. All five of us had access to the park.

There was a lot of work behind what looks like a fairly simple day out in the pictures. By the time we arrived, she had already done the early mornings and sorted the plans.

The trip to Yomiuriland

We took the train out from Tokyo and rode the gondola at Yomiuriland. The view opens up as you get above the trees, with the park and the surrounding hills below. A nice way to arrive, and another thing to take pictures of on the way back.

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The view from the Yomiuriland gondola · 17 seconds. Trees, a temple roof, and the park below, filmed through the gondola window.

There was a family photo at the PokéPark sign, of course. We had made it.

Pokémon everywhere

There were giant Pokémon, smaller Pokémon, and plenty of places to stop for a picture. Ady and I found the big Gyarados display. It was not going to fit in anyone’s suitcase.

Pikachu was out too. Snorlax had someone holding an umbrella for him. Seems like a pretty good arrangement.

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Snorlax on the move · 10 seconds. A short encounter with Snorlax and his umbrella escort.

Squirtle and Charmander

Ady got to meet Squirtle and Charmander. We stopped for pictures with both of them. A few more for the collection.

There were Pokémon snacks too. Ady had a blue Pokémon hat on while working through hers. Plenty of commitment to the theme.

Snack time. Still from a short video.

Back to Tokyo

After the park, we headed back into Tokyo and walked around Shinjuku. Another family picture in Kabukicho, this time with considerably fewer Pokémon behind us. The next day we were packing up and taking the train to Osaka.

If you’re planning a visit, check PokéPark Kanto’s official ticket page for the current pass names, access rules, and booking options.

More of the trip is in Japan, Week 1: Tokyo and Osaka, including our one-day VIP visit to Universal Studios Japan.

More from Japan: Week 1 · Week 2 · Week 3 · Universal

Santarém, Portugal

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 20:16:48 +0000

Last week in Portugal. We'll visit Lisbon, Nazaré, and Santarém.

Thursday, June 23: Albufeira to Santarém

Another short drive today. This one was about three hours. We left the south of Portugal and headed North. This place is about an hour outside Lisbon in a smaller city. The Airbnb was about ten minutes outside the city center. Our neighbors were sheep and cows.

Found a super sketchy swing on the side of the hill.

Our Airbnb at dusk.

Santarém from our Airbnb

Friday, June 24: Caves in São Mamede

Found some neat cave tours (Grutas da Moeda) close to our place. We drove up and explored. Everyone enjoyed this one.

Some pictures from the evening walk.

Saturday, June 25: Lisbon and Sintra

Exploring Lisbon today. It's a pretty busy place. I have to remember to look up in European parking garages. Got lucky today!

We drove over to Sintra to check out the castles on the hill. Wound up taking a tuk-tuk ride, too.

Sunday, June 26: Around Santarém

Monday, June 27: Nazaré

We drove over to the coast to see Nazaré. It's home to the tallest waves on the planet. Some surfers have ridden 100' tall waves here. It wasn't too bad today but it was still pretty rough.

The tuk-tuk owner let Wesley drive back up the hill!

Back at home and we headed over to town for dinner. We explored the Jardim do Sol a bit too.

Tuesday, June 28: Return the car and hang out near Porto airport

Today's our last day in Portugal. We're getting up in the morning and flying to Stansted. I've got a conference in Brighton to attend so we're ending the trip in Littlehampton, England.

We drove a total of 4,030 kilometers this trip. That's 2,504 miles!

One last Francesinha for the road.

The guy at the cafe gave me some kind of brandy to "clean out my coffee cup".

Wednesday, June 29: Porto to Littlehampton, England

We got up early and piled in to a taxi. No way we were legal but it was only a mile. The car wouldn't start after we all crammed in. He messed with the brake, parking brake, gear shift, keys, everything. Just when I thought we were walking, it cranked up.

Ryanair is interesting. It's cheap but boy is it weird. Line, then line, then line, the on the plane. Oh well, we made it.

Another VW!

We loaded up the new car and headed south from Stansted. Stopped in Harlow at a little cafe for some breakfast. We arrived in Littlehampton around 2:15.

Katharine and I snuck out for dinner again. She fed the seagulls some chips.

Thursday, June 30: Brighton

I took the train to Brighton and attended Brighton Ruby with a friend. It was nice to see people in person again!

Friday, July 1: London to Atlanta to Cincinnati

Travel day. Gonna be a long one. We loaded up the van and drove an hour and 20 minutes to Heathrow. I dropped everyone off at the terminal and returned the van. I caught up with them at security. It took us about an hour from the end of the queue through the checkpoint.

Our flight was a bit delayed but nothing too major. We arrived in Atlanta on time.

We made it home around 10pm our time. Everyone was excited to be back. A great trip!

Albufeira, Portugal

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 19:05:55 +0000

Beautiful beaches, wonderful climate. I didn't want to leave.

Saturday, June 18: Drive from Seville to Albufeira

This was a short drive at only two hours. We weren't in a big hurry but still managed to show up late to our next Airbnb. Oops!

We stopped in Huelva, Spain on the way. Huelva is where Christopher Columbus set sail from on his trip to India. They have replicas of the ships and a little museum you can explore. A fun little stop.

We made it to the next Airbnb about an hour late. Unfortunately for us, we missed our host. He was letting someone else in to another unit. We went ahead and grabbed groceries and came back to meet him later. We took a risk and booked a brand new listing with no reviews. It paid off this time. It was a wonderful location. The management company had quite a few listings so I figured it was a pretty safe bet.

Sunday, June 19: Father's Day (US) and the beach

We explored one of the most popular beaches in the Algarve area: São Rafael. I love the rocky coastline here. We walked the old town area with two of the kids. Explored the shops, had a drink and a snack. Later, Katharine and I had another solo dinner waterfront.

Monday, June 20: More beach

Today we drove a little farther to another beach: Praia de Galé Oeste. This one was a more typical beach: long, wide sand. Lots of cool rock formations on the East end though.

Tuesday, June 21: Albufeira Old Town

More exploring in the old town area. This place is great. Always something to do, tons of restaurants, bars, nightlife. It's basically Myrtle Beach for England.

Wednesday, June 22: The End of the World

In the old days, Sagres was known as the end of the world. It was the last land before the Atlantic. Today, it is full of amazing views and an old fort.

Just across the inlet from Sagres is a little food truck called The Last Bratwurst Before America. If you visit, they'll give you a little certificate 😆🌭.

That's all from Albufeira and the Algarve. Tomorrow we're heading back up North to Santarém.

Seville, Spain

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 18:33:48 +0000

Our next stop on the June 2022 trip is Spain. I've never been to Spain but I kinda like the music.

Sunday, June 12: Porto to Seville

We loaded up our van and hit the road early. At six hours, this was going to be the longest drive of this trip so I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for stops. We did a quick video tour of our Airbnb and left town at about 8:45am.

We made it to the hot Spanish border at about 1:45pm. We hopped out to take a few pictures. The temperature gauge just kept going up all the way to our next pool. I think we were around 45ºC/113ºF when we got there.

Country #14 for these kids. They don't now how lucky they are :D

We arrived at Teresa's Villa around 5pm. We stopped for lunch in Portugal, snacks and fuel in Spain. We were all pretty excited to hop in the pool with these new temperatures.

We took a quick trip to Carmona to get some groceries and do a bit of exploration.

Monday, June 13: Chilling at the pool

It was super hot and we were recovering from the drive. I took a walk around our new neighborhood. First time I've had olive trees and cactuses in the yard.

Tuesday, June 14: Ronda, Spain

Ronda is one of the Pueblas Blancos of Andalucia. That means "white hill town" for us English speakers. It's also the origin of bullfighting. The drive was a bit longer than I expected but it was totally worth it. Ronda is a wonderful city.

Since we had Grammie along for this trip, Katharine and I snuck out for quite a few dinners. Here's some meat from a little place in the neighborhood we were in.

Wednesday, June 15: Beach in Cadiz

It's Wesley's 13 birthday today! Happy Birthday, Wesley. He asked for a beach day so we're heading over to Cadiz.

Pizza and beer on the beach. Works for me.

We found a great little bakery last night and snagged a birthday cake for the oldest. They even wrote his name on it for us!

Thursday, June 16: Seville

We booked a tour through a site called Withlocals. If you're traveling, give it a shot. You meet with a local and they take you around the city giving you all kinds of cool history you wouldn't normally get! Our guide was Alma and she was great. She gave the youngest two a fun task to keep them busy the whole time.

Ady, Grammie, and I drove up the road to another little town (Brenes) for some ice cream.

Friday, June 17: Costco!

Grammie is a quilting enthusiast so we found a few fabric shops for her to snag some souvenirs. I also found out Costco was near this one so we popped in to explore and fill up the car. It's always cheaper at Costco!

The checkout line is at the back of the store.

Hot dog and a drink: €1.50.

I took another walk.

That's it for our stay in Spain. Tomorrow we'll drive back to Portugal with a stop in Huelva along the way.

Porto, Portugal

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 17:53:39 +0000

On June 6, 2022, we set off for a 3.5 week trip back to Europe. The destinations this time were Portugal and Spain. Follow along!

Monday, June 6: Cincinnati to Boston to Amsterdam

Flight schedules being what they are, we had a 6am flight to Boston. I booked a van to pick us up at 4:15am and drop us off at the airport. Way too early!

We had a super long layover (nine hours!) in Boston so we hopped in a Lyft and went Downtown. Katharine and I got engaged here so we dragged the kids to see a little family history.

We grabbed some lunch in the North End and headed back to the airport. We zipped through security and spent a couple hours in the Air France lounge before the flight to Amsterdam.

Somewhere over the Atlantic in the middle of the night.

Tuesday, June 7: Amsterdam to Porto

We had another layover in Amsterdam so we killed some time at a closed Burger King. We had some chocolate and waited.

Ady making the chairs work at 7:30am

The flight from Amsterdam to Porto was only a couple hours but we were all pretty exhausted. We rented a van from a place offsite from the airport, so I hopped in the shuttle first to get things moving with the paperwork. The fam caught the next bus and we loaded the van. Our Airbnb was only about 15 minutes away in a small town called Árvore north of the airport.

We were met by the host, Maria. She was super nice and showed us the whole place. She also left us some Pastel de Nata and port wine. I enjoyed both of them.

We hopped in the super cold pool and made a quick beach trip to try to keep everyone awake until 9pm or so. We barely made it!

Wednesday, June 8: Duoro Valley

We hopped in the car and set off to explore the Duoro Valley. This is the region where the grapes for the port wine are grown. It's beautiful. I highly recommend the drive.

When we got back home, I took a walk along the beach at night. Our place was on the Camino de Santiago hiking trail. Now I want to walk the whole thing!

Thursday, June 9: Porto

We drove in to the center of Porto and parked the car on the street. From there, we took a little walking tour and explored a bit of the city center. The kids were most excited to visit the "most beautiful McDonalds in the world". We checked out the Livraria Lello bookstore which was apparently the inspiration for Hogwarts.

Friday, June 10: Chilling out in Àrvore

No outings planned today. We just relaxed at the house, did some work, and went back to the beach. I got some great pictures of the Portugal sunset from the walking trail.

Saturday, June 11: Guimarães and Braga

Another little road trip to explore some cities in Northern Portugal.

That's it for Porto. Next week we'll drive to Seville, Spain and spend a few days in the heat.

Week 15: England

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 20:33:34 +0000

This week was awesome. We had no car, went no where exciting, and we're in a great house. It was the closest thing we've had to normal since before we decided to sell the house.

Sunday

We took a walk around our new town and explored the beach.

The rest of the week was super relaxed. In fact, I don't even have any good pictures to share or stories to tell.

On Halloween we found out that our ship was going to be delayed. There were four low pressure systems in the North Atlantic bringing 70mph winds and 35-40 foot waves on the west coast. We lucked out and extended our stay in the house.

Series of Four strong storms coming across the North Atlantic is blocking @RoyalCaribbean #ExploreroftheSeas from being able to get back to #Southampton on time. Pretty unusual to be this delayed, but due to upcoming swells around 10 meters (30 feet), we’re staying back. pic.twitter.com/zDKseAzL8z
— James Van Fleet (@JamesVanFleet) October 31, 2019

Week 14: England

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 20:20:39 +0000

It's Oliver's birthday this week. Happy 8th birthday! 🎂

Sunday

We loaded up and left Belle Grove around noon. Driving took a couple hours. We drove across the Dartford Crossing on the way. It's a high bridge over the inlet from the sea. I think we paid around £3.50 for the pleasure.

Photo Credit

We arrived a little earlier than expected in Brighton so our Airbnb wasn't quite ready. To kill some time we drove down to The Lanes and walked along the beach.

Brighton reminds me of San Francisco. It's hilly and progressive. Our place was about a mile from the coast up a steep hill. We had a three story building and our bedroom had a west facing skylight. England has no shortage of great sunsets.

Monday & Tuesday

It was pretty cold and rainy so we had a couple "chill days" as the kids are calling them.

Wednesday

It's Oliver's eighth birthday today! He asked to go to the Pier. We arrived just as it was opening. Some of the rides were having issues but we still had a great time.

Thursday

Rainy and cold again! We're getting some proper English weather now.

Friday

We're outta here. We're checking out of our place and moving a bit further west. Since we had six hours to kill we decided to drive up to Stonehenge. Last time I had the chance to visit the clouds broke and the sun came out just as I parked the car. That wouldn't be the case today.

We tried to move some stones ourselves. They're a little too heavy.

We had a late lunch and dried out at Toby Carvery. It turns out you can get a Sunday roast on any day.

Our last Airbnb in England was in a little town called Rustington on the Channel. Our house was built by American soldiers during World War I. It was a guard house for the airfields that were here.

Complete with 🍏 tree!

Saturday

I had to return our car to Heathrow this morning. I think I took every possible mode of transport. I drove there, took a bus to the tube station, and took the Picadilly line in to the city. I met some friends from Cincinnati for a late breakfast in Shoreditch.

From there, it was the tube to Victoria Station. One last train to Angmering and I was back home. Long day!

I kept a log of miles driven and fuel purchased for this rental car. We had a 95 mile per day limit that I didn't want to exceed. We drove just over 2,000 miles in the UK on this trip and spent £320 ($400 USD) in fuel.

We're in England for one more full week and then we're hopping on the Explorer of the Seas heading for Miami, Florida.

Week 13: England

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:52:26 +0000

We moved to the East Coast this week to visit some old friends. James' family runs an amazing little retreat called Belle Grove Barns. It's full of character and smack dab in the middle of some of the most beautiful Suffolk countryside.

Sunday

Katharine went off to explore London. Grammie, the kids, and I walked around Henley. We explored the dam and the lock, walked the tow path, and played on another playground or two. A late lunch and some tea at The Chocolate Cafe was enjoyed by all.

Tuesday

We're out of here. As much as we hated to leave Henley-on-Thames, it was time to drop Grammie off at Heathrow.

We were headed East today toward Suffolk. We made a pit stop in Luton (that raised a few eyebrows from local friends). For dinner we drove twenty minutes or so to Letchworth. It's the UK's first Garden City and the home of the first roundabout in the UK!

Wednesday

We stopped by to visit some friends I worked with last year. They run a laser engraving shop and treated the kids to some personalized torches (flashlights for the folks at home). Thanks Craig!

Next it was a two hour trip to Belle Grove. We stayed in two different houses and enjoyed every single minute. They are fantastic. Walking paths, spaceships, giant crabs, dragons, and fairies.

Thursday

We stayed close to the farm except for lunch. We drove over to Southwold to get fish and chips at The Harbour Cafe. They were the best I've had so far. I didn't take a picture because I was too busy eating them.

Friday

We had to move houses today. Fortunately it was 100 yards away. The kids played while the parents packed.

I'm going full English over here. Tea and crumpets, fish and chips, and now this: beans on toast.

We don't have these beans in the US even though they come from there.

Saturday

We drove up to Bungay for an English breakfast. It's a neat little town. We walked through the old graveyard and explored the castle ruins.

I screwed up. This would have been perfect if it had beans.

Bungay Castle

After Bungay we drove back over to Southwold to see the pier. It was great. They have a normal arcade and a bunch of one-off artist designed machines as well.

Then a short trip a little further south to see Dunwich. Apparently the town was swallowed by the sea a few hundred years ago. Now the coastline is eroding and even more buildings are slipping over.

We've got two more weeks in England. We're heading South for the rest of the trip. See you next week Brighton.

Week 12: England

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 20:56:21 +0000

We're packing up and leaving Scotland behind on Sunday morning. We're off to England for the rest of this leg of the trip.

Sunday

We loaded the car for what seems like the hundreth time. We hit the road towards Queesnbury. We're crashing there for a few nights to break up the trip South.

We stopped in a small Scottish town on the border called Gretna Green. Apparently that's where all the kids run off to get married young. I needed shoes so we were there to check out the outlets.

Just a few miles away from there, we stopped in Carlisle to see the town and Carlisle Castle. I enjoyed this one for two reasons. First, it was quiet. There were maybe ten people inside. Second, it was more of a defensive castle. Built for work.

We'd been driving in heavy rain all day during a Yellow Warning. That's the UK's way of identifying heavy rain. It's different from the normal rain.

Just before we entered the Yorkshires the skies cleared. Boy am I glad they did. We stopped along the highway to snap these pictures with my phone. Amazing.

Our Airbnb in Queensbury was a bit off the beaten path. It did have this view and blazing fast fiber internet though.

Monday

A grocery run, school, and work.

Tuesday

Beatlemania! We drove over to Liverpool to see Penny Lane and all things Beatles.

On the way back we stopped in Manchester to see John Rylands Library.

Wednesday

Heading South to Henley-on-Thames. If we had known what we were in for we would have stayed there longer. Henley is a lovely little town with lots of pubs, parks, and transit.

First a stop in Oxford to see the colleges and the town.

Thursday

I took a little walk around Henley to explore. There's a dam and lock and a walking path where the tow path used to be.

Friday

School and work. We had dinner at a local pub.

Katharine, Ady, and I also went to explore England's wild Costcos.

Saturday

We're taking the train in to London. Time to show Grammie the big city. We arrived at Paddington and had to take some pictures with bear himself.

We stopped to check out the toys at Hamley's. There were five floors of them. It was a nice break from the rain too.

We walked through Picadilly Circus to St. James Park. We'd hoped to go through the Horse Guard but recent protests had shut the gates.

We headed toward Buckingham Palace in hopes of hearing the guards yell at someone but no luck today.

We strolled up Whitehall in the pouring rain. Past Trafalgar Square and in to Covent Garden. We watched the street performer juggle knives on a ladder for a while.

Then we went down the 193 steps to the tube. Back to Henley for this tired and soggy crew.

Week 11: England and Scotland

Sun, 06 Oct 2019 20:19:23 +0000

Countryside, medieval castles, and engineering marvels.

Sunday

We left our hotel in Leicester after a tasty English breakfast and a swim in the pool. We've got about 325 miles to cover today to get to our home for the week just north of Edinburgh.

We were planning to make a stop at Alnwick Castle. When we were getting close it was too close to closing time. We saw a sign for the Northumberland Coastal Drive and decided to explore that instead. It was not disappointing at all. Amazing views of the North Sea and lots of hills and countryside all around. We stopped in a little town called Seahouses to take a look at the water. It was rough and cold. No way I'd want to be in there.

We crossed the border in to Scotland and had about an hour and a half to go. We made it to our home for the week in a small town called Inverkeithing.

Monday

We woke up to this view of Forth (and Edinburgh in the distance) from our living room.

My Mom is coming to visit for a couple weeks. We have to go pick her up at the aiport this morning. Later in the day, we took a short trip to see the Falkirk Wheel.

Tuesday

We took the train to Edinburgh. High Street and some food were the order of the day. We walked through many closes and visited Gladstone's Land. It's a 500 year old house and shop owned by a merchant. We lucked out with another amazing sunset too.

Wednesday

School and work. Staying close to home today.

Thursday

Back to Edinburgh to see the Castle.

Friday

School and work again.

Saturday

We're driving up to St. Andrews today to see the ruins of the Cathedral and Castle.

On the way back we stopped at Anstruther Fish Bar. It was rated best fish and chips in the UK. They were pretty good.

Our drive today.

Edinburgh (and Scotland) were a big win. I thoroughly enjoyed the country and everyone we met. Definitely worth a visit.

Week 10: France and England.

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 12:02:39 +0000

We're in Saint-Chéron this week until Friday. Overall a pretty quiet week for us. Then it's travel madness for a few days.

Sunday

Rest day. We stayed in the house and watched the rain.

Monday

Katharine and the kids were off to Disneyland Paris. I'd sooner have a root canal so I dropped them off in the morning and picked them up when the parks closed. It was nice to have a quiet day to get some work done.

Tuesday

Home with school and work.

Wednesday

I had a meeting with a client in Paris, so I took the train in to have lunch. The rest of the family stayed home and caught up on school.

Thursday

The calm before the storm. We had three days of travel ahead of us for our next destination. Time to catch up on laundry, eat all the food that was in the house, and rest up for the craziness.

Friday

It begins. We packed the car Friday morning and left our Airbnb at 9:00am. It was such a great place! We were sad to leave this one.

First stop was the Hilton in La Défense. I'm dropping Katharine and the kids off here and taking our car all the way back to Hannover, Germany. Driving in Paris is no fun.

La Grande Arche de la Défense.

I left the hotel at 10:36am. I crossed the border in to Belgium at 11:56am, The Netherlands at 1:37pm and Germany at 2:30pm. I pulled in to the airport at 7:12pm. I stopped once for fuel and restroom just outside Hannover. I'll miss driving on the autobahn.

I took the train back in to the city center to catch a bus right back to Paris. One last stop at Bavarium for schnitzel and beer. I left Hannover at 10:35 on a Flixbus headed for Paris.

I woke up a few times in the middle of the night. I'm not sure what happened, but the bus was taking a bunch of random small roads with roundabouts. I think the motorway was closed. At 2:22am we pulled in to a rest stop. The smokers got off for a cigarette and we were back on the road soon after.

Saturday

We arrived at Paris Bercy bus station at 8:35am, one hour behind schedule. I hopped on the train to the hotel to meet the family, grab a shower, and get some breakfast.

From the hotel we were headed to Gare du Nord to take the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel in to London. Dragging our bags and backpacks through four train stations was no fun but we finally made it.

Gare du Nord was a bit of a challenge to navigate. We couldn't find the Eurostar terminal right away. Eventually we made it up the stairs and found the check-in. Taking the train was a lot like arriving at the airport. Ticket checks, passport checks, security and baggage screening, and finally waiting in the terminal.

Around 12:50pm, we loaded on the train. We left the station at 1:15pm headed for London.

We arrived at St. Pancras at 2:40pm and changed time zones. At St. Pancras, we took an Uber to our rental car facility near Heathrow.

We're crammed in there.

At 4:55pm we were on the road. Our final destination is a little town outside Edinburgh, Scotland called Inverkiething. It's been a long day already so we're making a pit stop in Leicester tonight. We arrived at the hotel in Leicester around 8pm.

Until next week!

Week 9: France

Sun, 22 Sep 2019 10:03:03 +0000

Sunday

Let's go to France! We crossed the border in a little town called Charriére. Hardly even a sign letting you know that you were in another country. Today was another driving day with four hours between Middelkerke and Saint-Chéron. We opted for the scenic route this time. The French countryside is stunning. Even the highway drives were beautiful.

But first, a stop in Dunkirk. If you've seen the movie or heard about the Dunkirk Evacuation, you have to stop here. It's impossible to imagine what it must have been like compared to what it is today. There's a memorial and a museum worth a visit. Over eight days in 1940, hundreds of civilian British ships rescued hundreds of thousands of surrounded British, French, and Belgian soldiers from these beaches.

After a fuel stop in Hardivilliers, we found Paris.

Rest stops in Europe are very nice. Playgrounds, good food, lots of amenities. Road tripping in Western Europe is fantastic.

Traffic in Paris was no joke, even on Sunday afternoon. A little confusion allowed us the opportunity to experience the longest urban motorway tunnel in the world not once, but twice.

We missed the exit we needed at the end of the tunnel so we also got to experience a 30 minute French traffic jam. Driving through Paris wasn't great for us. We crossed the 2,000 km (1,242 miles) mark on our trip while sitting still.

We made it to our AirBnB in Saint-Chéron around 6:30pm. Navigating the little streets here was a bit of a challenge but we found it. Our place and our host here is fantastic. We can walk to the train station and hop on the train right to the center of Paris. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a courtyard, and the fastest internet we've had so far. Oh, and this is out on the main street.

Monday

School and work. A little walk around town to explore.

The walkway to the train station. That's our AirBnB in the middle.

The view from the courtyard in the evening.

Tuesday

Let's take the train to Paris. The helpful representative at the station hooked us up with five day passes for all zones (1-5) in Paris. Total cost for two adults and three kids was €125. Not bad for trains to and from the city plus the Metro in Paris!

We bought tickets online for a river cruise and saved €15 over walking up to the ticket window.

From Pont Neuf, we took the train to Trocadero for views of the Eiffel Tower.

There's a playground just down the steps here. We played for a while and hopped back on the RER C train back home.

Wednesday

Haircuts for the boys. The barber didn't speak English and I don't speak anywhere near enough French so I just showed him some pictures and hoped for the best.

Thursday

Back to Paris. Ady, Oliver, and I climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Katharine and Wesley are down there waving to us.

We walked down the Champs-Élysées to grab some lunch at McDonald's. Wesley wants to eat at McD's in every country we visit, so we had to add France to the list.

I don't know why he gets the same stuff we can get in the USA though.

Pricey.

We popped in to the Apple Store also.

Then a short train ride down to the Tuileries Garden to find some playgrounds.

Then we strolled down the riverbank back to the train station.

Friday

We drove to the nearby town of Étampes for lunch. We also figured out how to operate a French car wash. I filled up the car here as well. €94,84 for a tank of diesel. That's $104.

I stopped by the bakery that's too close to our place.

Saturday

Big driving day. We were headed to the Loire Valley to see some châteaux. That's the plural of château. I learned that this week so there's that.

Our first stop was Clos Lucé. Leonardo da Vinci's last home. Francois I invited him here to live and put him up at this place. Not too bad.

It's a great place for the kids to visit as well. The house is full of models of his inventions and the gardens have interactive exhibits.

We drove North along the Loire river to visit Chambord. That was Fran's hunting cabin. I now understand the French Revolution.

On the way back home, we stopped at another cool rest area. This one has a pedestrian bridge across the motorway.

Just playing some games over the median.

Busy week!

Week 8: The Netherlands, Belgium

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:36:59 +0000

Sunday

We're staying in a "campground" in Voorthuizen. Camping in The Netherlands isn't at all like camping anywhere else. Our place is a small chalet on a pond. There's a pool, a cafe, and laundry faciliites. We're going to use all of those amenities today.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

School and work. Oliver lost more teeth. We made an attempt at an Amsterdam visit but Ady got sick on the way. That was a bit of a bummer as we had tickets to both the Van Gogh museum and Anne Frank house. Van Gogh allowed us to change the tickets but Anne Frank was just too busy.

Thursday

It looks like all the sickness has passed. We had dinner at a super cool little pancake restaurant near the house. I love finding places like this. There was an entire playground and little table-huts in the forest. The servers were super helpful and brought the kids chalk and balloons. It was called Cafetaria-Eethuisje De Heuveltjes. She told me how to pronounce it, but there's no way I could do it again. We tried lots of different pancakes.

Gnomes everywhere.

We had to stop by the egg and cheese vending machine we found also.

Friday

Let's go to Amsterdam. We drove to one of the Park and Ride lots the city has. We picked the Zeeburg location since it was on the West side of town and that's where we were coming from. It was super simple. Find a spot and buy your tickets in to the city center. Four stops and about fifteen minutes later, we were in Amsterdam Centraal Station.

We screwed up a bit here with our P+R ticket though. They're only for getting in and out of the city center. We used our return trip in the city and had to buy one trip out. The trams have information desks (!!) in them to help you navigate. The lady got us new return tickets and we were good to go!

When you get back to the lot you insert your parking ticket. The display read something like €32. You then scan your transit ticket and the reduced rate parking shows up. Boom! €1 for all day parking! It's a great deal and you don't have to try to drive in Amsterdam.

The trains are super deep under the earth in Amsterdam.

We counted lots of bikes.

We tried bitterballen, cheese souffle, and raw herring. Well, Wesley and I tried the herring.

Scavenger hunt at the Van Gogh museum.

Then we went for a canal cruise.

The Dancing Houses

Anne Frank House

We stopped for dinner in Amersfoort.

Saturday

Time to check out and head for Belgium. We decided to break up the drive between The Netherlands and Paris with a stop at the beach. We drove three and a half hours to Middelkerke and found the North Sea.

We took a little break at the hotel room. Then we drove 25 minutes to check out the city of Bruges. It was impressive but also filled with tourists. It's what you imagine when you think of Europe.

The sky cooperated for these photos.

Look at this place!

That's it for this week. Tomorrow we're going to France!

Week 7: Berlin, Tropical Islands, The Netherlands

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 13:42:56 +0000

This week we added another country with a road trip across Germany to The Netherlands. We also visited the crazy German waterpark from Casey Neistat's video. We found a super cool amusement park for kids too.

Watch on YouTube ↗

Sunday

Irrlandia is an amusement park like I've never seen before. I found it on Google Maps looking for stuff to do nearby. They have crazy cool slides, bumper wheels, tube rides, water balloon fights, and a tasty snack bar complete with beer. If you're near Berlin with kids I highly recommend checking it out. They are cash only. For our family of 5 it was about €40 for the day. Food is extra and you can bring your own as well. Lots of places to play in the water during the heatwave too.

A barrel horse.

Human powered ferris wheel.

Monday

I've been wanting to check out Tropical Islands ever since I saw the Casey Neistat video. It's a waterpark inside a huge old Soviet aircraft hangar. It was totally worth the trip. The kids had a blast and the parents did too. There are about a dozen slides. A new outdoor park just opened with a whitewater rapids slide. It's made from concrete. The boys and I went down it probably 100 times.

It's massive. You can lay the Eiffel Tower on it's side inside.

Tuesday

Nothing too exciting today. We've had enough fun. A little work and some school.

Wednesday

Let's check out Berlin. We drove to a train station and parked on the street. We must have found an okay spot because the car was there without a ticket when we returned.

Riding the train in to Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstag. We had tickets to go up top but they got canceled due to a political event.

Checking out the US Embassy. It was a little ☀️.

The Berlin Wall Memorial kept a portion intact.

Checkpoint Charlie

Thursday

Flat tire! We woke up to a flat on the rental car. I walked up the street to the service station and bought some ReifenFix which is the German equivalent to Fix-A-Flat. I was able to get the tire inflated enough to drive to a service station. I talked with the shop employee using Google Translate. He couldn't patch the tire because it was a staple and it was too close to the sidewall.

I found a tire shop a bit farther down the road. They were able to get us up and running in an hour or so. Big thanks to Marvin and Uwe for helping us get back on the road!

Friday

Road trip! Time to leave Germany and visit The Netherlands. We packed the car and drove across Germany. We enjoyed the rest stops in Germany. Very clean and super tasty food! At this one, the food was prepared to order. Everything was hot and delicious.

Katharine's salad at a Rasthof.

Our next AirBnb is in sort of a campground. Camping in The Netherlands is not like camping anywhere else. They're just smaller houses with all the comforts of home! The houses are sort of small vacation cottages. We're on a small pond filled with carp, lilypads, and a fountain. It's pretty great!

Grocery shopping was a little harder in Voorthuizen. Everything's in Dutch!

Saturday

Let's go see some windmills. We drove about an hour to Rotterdam. Filled with cool architecture and a new Markthal we were in search of some lunch.

After lunch we drove to Kinderdjik to see the windmills. Built in 1738 and 1740 to pump water out of the lowlands they are still spinning today. We were too close to the end of the day to buy a ticket to get in to the musuem windmill but the attendant told us we could go check it out. It was great. We had the place to ourselves.

Until next week!

Week 6: Germany

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:56:59 +0000

Our last week in Hannover. We leave for Berlin on Saturday.

Sunday

We rented a car and had our first Autobahn experience. I didn't realize we were on one at first. Then a car flew past us and I looked at the GPS. Yep, found one!

Our destination was a small town in the Harz Mountains called Goslar. The Brocken, the highest mountain in North Germany, was also on the list. Goslar is interesting because it was preserved during the war. There was a Prisoner of War hospital there so it wasn't bombed. A visit feels like stepping back in time.

Goslar is the home of the Gose beer.‌

Monday

The heat wave continues. It's in the upper 80's here this week. As Americans we aren't used to living somewhere with no air conditioning. The heat in the apartment is pretty bad during the day. After the sun goes down things cool off a bit. Fans aren't very common here either. I found one at the Saturn store near the train station. Saturn is a lot like Best Buy. I bought a small oscillating fan for €30. In the US, it would have been $10. Totally worth it though.

Tuesday

Gotta drop off our plastic at the REWE. Germany has an pretty cool system for plastic recycling. When you buy a plastic bottle, you pay pfand. Pfand is a "pledge" that you'll return the item for a credit. It's like the deposit system in some US states. Most bottles have a €0,25 pledge. You bring your empty bottles back to the store and pop them in to the ATM for plastic. It spits out a receipt that you can use for a credit at the cash register.

Wednesday-Friday

Super hot again. We just hide in the apartment on these crazy days. It's unbearably hot for us American wimps. After the sun goes down, we sneak out for a break in the evening breeze.

Saturday

Moving day. We're off to Bestensee. It's a little town about 45 minutes south of Berlin. We pack the car and start our first German road trip. Rest areas on the Autobahn are almost exactly like the ones in America.

Before we leave Hannover we stop to visit the Herrenhausen Gardens. They were a big hit with everyone. I never would have guessed that to be the case.

Week 5: Germany

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 21:28:09 +0000

We're still in Hannover. We've got one more week here after this. I had a business meeting in Toronto on Thursday and Friday so Katharine and the kids were solo in Hannover most of the week.

On Friday we're picking up a car. We'll have the car for the rest of our time in Europe. I expect we'll be moving around a bit more then. The cost was about the same as buying five plane or train tickets every time we want to go somewhere. It will also be nice to have a "home base" even if it's on wheels. Dragging our bags and backpacks through airports and train stations on travel days isn't much fun either.

Sunday

Sundays in Germany are both nice and super frustrating to a foreigner. Everything is closed. You'll see some gas stations and Döner shops open but all the grocery store are closed. I knew this ahead of time so we stocked up on Saturday night.

Ady loves mac and cheese. Her favorite is the Velveeta Shells and Cheese. This was the closest we've found. She still didn't like it but Katharine and I did.

We chilled out around the house on Sunday. It was a nice chance to unplug and relax a bit.

Monday

We took a long walk across town to the grocery area. It was about 1 mile. We found three bigger stores there: Edeka, Rewe, and Lidl. In Germany, Edeka is known as the expensive grocer. They have cafes in the store, wide aisles, lots of selection, and brands everyone knows. Aldi and Lidl are the more budget friendly shops.

This guy wrecked his house in to a utility pole. Rough night.

Germans love to smoke. These cigarette machines are randomly placed on buildings along the sidewalks.

After that, we walked back over to the Maschsee to finally take a ride on the pedal boats that look like Volkswagen Bugs. Oliver has been asking since he saw them.

Here's more info on that statue from the Third Reich. The swastika was removed in 1945 but the art remains.

We are also enjoying the vivid signage here in Germany. This one, for example, indicates that your dog should not poop here. It is complete with droppings!

Tuesday

This is where we split up. I got up early (like 3:30am early) and took the train to the airport. Today was a long day for me. Heading to Toronto for a meeting with some old friends and current clients.

One nice thing about leaving the train station to go to the aiport at 4:11 am is the lack of people.

I was on to Amsterdam and then Toronto. I had a luxiurous breakfast at Schiphol Airport.

This was the "Liverpool" combo at McDonald's.

Katharine and the kids stayed close to home on Tuesday. A trip to the bakery, some school work, and eating lots of the peanut butter we found at Edeka.

Wednesday

Katharine and the kids continued the exploration with a trip to KFC. Wesley lost another tooth – that's three on this trip so far.

I had a down day in Toronto, so I caught up on some work.

Thursday

Katharine and the kids headed back to the playground. An attempt at a cooked dinner didn't work out so well, so a quick trip to grab some dinner instead.

[Photo unavailable in recovered files]

I was in a meeting all day in sunny Toronto. We went to the Canadian National Exhibition at the fairgrounds Thursday night. It's like a giant state fair in the US. Lots of fried things, street food, beer, and games.

Friday

A trip to the Museum. The rest of the family visited the Lower Saxony State Museum. Lots of interesting exhibits and new insights gained for everyone.

Another day of meetings for me. We ended the day with pizza and beer on the rooftop. That was a nice touch. For the first time, I got to fly out of Billy Bishop Airport right on the lake in Downtown Toronto. It's super tiny. I showed up for an international flight that took off at 7:15pm at 6:45pm. I thought I missed it. Nope. I walked through security and waited another 15 minutes.

Love hanging out here with this group!

Saturday

I traveled all day long. A bit of a bummer but Turkish Airlines does food well! The service was fantastic also. After a stop at the new Istanbul Airport, I made it back to Hannover at about 9pm. Long week!

Katharine and the kids checked out the play area at another American favorite, Burger King. We're learning that it's sometimes easier to just let the kids have their favorites while they adjust to the new stuff. For what it's worth, Oliver enjoyed the Weinerschnitzel!

Week 4: Germany

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 08:58:44 +0000

Sunday

Our first Ryanair experience was a success. I upgraded our tickets to the Family Plus package which scored us two 20kg checked bags and assigned seats. You have to print your boarding passes at home or pay a €40 fee at the airport. That meant trying to figure out how to use the printer at our AirBnB that was low on ink.

Success! Katharine found a Youtube video that saved the day.

We found the rental car return after a few trips around the perimiter of the airport. I have never been as lost as I was trying to find Enterprise at the Dublin Airport.

It's a good thing we had the checked bags as we needed both. Ryanair's budget approach to flying is pretty nice if you pay attention. I was worried we'd be buried with additional fees but we made it with no trouble at all.

Our flight landed in Cologne around 4:30pm. From there it was a short train ride to Köln Hauptbahnhof. With a couple of hours to kill before our train to Hannover, we dragged our luggage outside to the square to take a look at the Cologne Cathedral and chase some pigeons.

This took 700 years to complete.

Our train arrived right on time. Since I knew it would be a long travel day for the kids I splurged for First Class. I think it was a difference of €20. Seems like that's worth the cost to me! We hopped on the train and found that we had almost the entire car to ourselves. Checking out the dining car was high on our list. Unfortunately there was an issue with the refrigerator so the menu was limited.

The train pulled in to Hannover Hauptbahnhof around 9:20pm. One more quick subway ride to our apartment for the next three weeks. We found it with no trouble and got settled quickly.

Monday

Let's explore Hannover! First order of the day was Frühstuck (breakfast). The bakery up the street had something for everyone. Oliver had a chocolate muffin, Wesley a Zuckerkuchen, and Ady a pretzel. Whatever floats your boats I suppose. I had a coffee and gained enlightenment.

We walked toward the city center to see what was available. We found a fantastic area with shops, restaurants, and cafes all around.

German food is all about the meat and potatoes so it was time for us to tuck in! Some pulled pork french fries and currywurst had everyone excited.

More walking led us to the old town of Hannover and the Rathaus. We took a detour through Marschpark and found a playground.

I wanted to see the Machsee, a giant man-made lake in Hannover. It's not too far from the park so we followed the road and popped out on the Northeast corner. Fortunately for us we're here during MachseeFest! There are food and drink vendors all along the perimeter of the lake.

There's also this statue left over from the Third Reich.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung: German for "the enduring confrontation with the past."

We strolled along the water watching the pedal boats. Oliver wants to come back and ride them. A left through a walking path leads us back to our apartment. Time for work, then dinner.

Our bedroom windows.

A view of Hildesheimer Straße. It's a pretty busy road!

Tuesday

Another slow day. Lounging around in the morning and doing some work for Mom and Dad. We took a short walk and found a few more Spielplatzen (playgrounds). The playgrounds in Europe are amazing. The kids love them.

In the evening we walked back over to the Machsee to check out the food. We had a meat skewer, a pretzel, and some tasty fried dough with powdered sugar.

I don't know what American crepes are. Do you?

Wednesday

First day of school. Since we're on the road full time, we'll be homeschooling the kids. Katharine put together curriculum and loaded up everyone's iPad with their workbooks and reading material.

A few lessons later and it was time for lunch.

Let's go to IKEA. Why? Food, of course. We also needed some more USB chargers for all the gadgets. We took the train 10 stops south to Laatzen. From there a walk across the motorway.

Steps to nowhere around the expo center.

We had schnitzel, meatballs, hot dogs, ketchup, and desserts until we couldn't have any more. We found our chargers and started back toward the train. Oliver has been playing a lot of Pokemon Go on the trip and found an interesting stop on the way back. It looked like a slide so we decided to check it out.

We found a gravel path off the road. In my American brain, it looked like somewhere you wouldn't go with kids. I spotted a Spielplatz sign, though, so we decided to explore anyway. I'm glad we did. It turned out to be one of the coolest playgrounds we've seen! A slide that had to have been 60 feet long appeared at the top of the hill. Behind that, a rope bridge.

We played for thirty minutes or so then stopped by the Rewe for some groceries. I took German for a total of about four years between high school and attempts at college. It's been sort of useful here. We've only met a few English speakers. I wish I had learned more conversational German. We ordered some ham at the deli counter and that felt like a pretty big success. "Ich hatte gern funf hundert gram schinken, bitte."

As an aside, another quick takeaway from Germany is the use of cash. They love it. The bakeries only take cash. Many restaurants are cash only. As a business owner, I understand and appreciate that. One of the points made by a restaurant owner is that he doesn't get paid for a week and he has to eat the fees.

The train back to our stop was a short walk from there.

Thursday

School and work today. We stayed around the apartment most of the day except for a quick trip to the Apple Store. I needed to pickup an adapter so we grabbed some lunch on the square.

Bratwurst mit Brotchen und sauerkraut.

Friday

Field trip! We walked the Red Thread. It's Hannover's self-guided walking tour of spots in the city. It was a mix of government buildings, malls, and historic places. You grab a booklet at the Tourist Information center near the main train station. From there you can follow the red line painted on the sidewalks. Each stop is numbered. Cafes and toilets are also noted along the way.

Saturday

Laundry day. Katharine hauled our clothes down to the Waschsalon for the second round of this trip. This time things went much more smoothly. The kids and I took a walk to explore another new playground and stroll along the Maschsee again.

This Nintendo truck was a big hit.

For dinner, we wanted to find a biergarten. We headed toward Bavarium. We grabbed a table in the back and ordered some beer.

Brotzeit (Bread Time). Yep, that's raw pork. It's called Mett.

After dinner, a quick stop by the market. Tomorrow is Sunday and everything is closed. We had to grab some stuff to keep everyone happy until Monday.

Before we took off on this trip I set up some old phones for the kids. We switched everyone over to Google Fi (referral link: I get free stuff and you do too if you use the link) for cheap international data. It gives them something to do on travel days and we can keep in touch with each other if we are separated.

It also makes learning new stuff in places where you don't speak the language possible.

Wesley reading a sign in German at the market.

Week 3: Ireland

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 10:30:30 +0000

Ireland is a bit of a blur. Jetlag caught up with everyone on day two.

Monday

After the kids' first Transatlantic flight everyone was wide awake. That didn't last long. We picked up our rental car and headed to the AirBnB to get settled. It was a short drive from the Airport. We found it with no problems and picked up the keys from the neighbor. We unloaded our bags and checked out everyone's bedroom. Our host family even left us some toys.

The first stop was the grocery store. We needed supplies and it was a chance to keep everyone moving for a while. We grabbed some breakfast and lunch supplies and explored the local snacks. We had to stop at the playground on the way to get some wiggles out.

After a small nap we drove south to Wicklow Mountains National Park. It was only about 25 miles but it took us an hour. Beautiful scenery and a short hike kept us awake when we were outside the car.

A Stone Bridge in Wicklow Mountains National Park.

Driving put everyone but me to sleep. We made it longer than I expected. Around 7pm Ireland time, the crash happened. Bodies on floors and couches. Lots of sleep ahead for our weary crew.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we drove to Howth. It's a sleepy little town on a peninsula just north of Dublin. There's a castle and a harbor. Lots to explore.

Wednesday

Dublin calling. We found a tiny parking spot in a tiny parking garage and explored Dublin Castle. Had some lunch at Elephant & Castle and found Molly Malone's statue.

Thursday

A slow day. Some down time. The kids are loving the playgrounds in Ireland and this one at Grifeen Valley Park was no exception. A zipline, fast metal slides, and dangerously high climbing ropes!

We stopped by the Tesco Express for some dinner supplies. Tesco made our American stomachs happier than Lidl. We cooked dinner most nights thanks to the full kitchen in our house.

Friday

Back to Dublin! More to see. Lunch at Burger King for the kids. A walk through Trinity College and Grafton Street.

Checking out St. Patrick's Cathedral.

[Photo unavailable in recovered files]

Walking through Temple Bar and our first pint of Guinness in Ireland.

Saturday

The Cliffs of Moher! We drove all the way across Ireland. It took us three hours and ~€18.00 in tolls. It's motorways until you get close to the coast. From there it's super narrow roads and lots of pulling over to pass.

These cows (and that umbrella) are right behind you at the Cliffs.

Sunday

Travel day. Pack the bags, get in the car and head to the airport. We're going to Germany.

Moving Out

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 10:01:47 +0000

Getting rid of everything was easy. Actually leaving was harder than I expected.

Over the past three months, we've been selling and donating things we no longer needed or used. Some of the items were easy to part with. Others had more sentimental value. Asking our kids to part with items they still played with was the hardest. But life is all about compromise. We came to an agreement that allowed all of us to put our most treasured items in the storage unit.

In the end, moving out of the house took more time and more space than we expected. Two storage units and one closing later, we're out.

Goodbye house. We'll miss you.

The dogs are staying with my Dad on his farm. It was a huge ask and I'm grateful that he and Melinda were even willing to consider it. Dropping them off was the hardest part. They nervously explored all around. Sasha quickly found the cool areas to lie down and Dusty was excited to run around. When we climbed in the van without them they knew something was not normal.

After those busy last days at the house, we met the new owners Monday morning at the closing. Dozens of signatures and a few handshakes later, we were off to South Carolina for the week. Visiting family and catching up.

It was week one of being "homeless." What a strange feeling.

One Year Away

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 17:01:48 +0000

TL;DR: My family and I are selling all of our stuff to travel for a year.

Sometime last year, Katharine and I started talking about full time travel. We both love to explore new places and see new things. We watch Kara and Nate videos and wonder what it might be like to be full-time travelers. (If you're going to watch them, I recommend this playlist from the beginning). I tossed around the idea of selling our stuff and hitting the road with the kids for a year.

Now, my wife is normally the sane one who brings me back to Earth when it comes to crazy ideas like this. Not this time! Katharine got excited as well, so we're currently in the process of downsizing everything, prepping the house for sale, and planning our escape.

Since we get a lot of questions, I'll attempt to summarize the common ones here. I'll add to it as we hear more.

Where are planning to visit?

Anywhere? We don't have an itinerary. We'll move when we feel like something new. We'll stay if we like where we are. We've all identified some places we'd like to see or experience. So far, that list includes:

England
Scotland
France
Spain
Italy
Croatia
Egypt
Russia
Hungary
Japan
South Korea
China
Vietnam
Thailand
Australia
Morocco

Where are you heading first?

Europe. Wherever the cheapest flight from Cincinnati takes us!

You're selling your house?

Yes, we're selling our house and (almost) everything inside. We'll be keeping a few pieces of furniture, mementos, etc. We'll put those in storage.

Where will you live when you are done?

We're not exactly sure yet. I love the Cincinnati area but we've been here for ten years. That's the longest I've stayed anywhere in my adult life. My wife is from South Carolina. We'll probably go there.

Where will you stay on the trip?

AirBnBs, occasionally hotels, with friends. Mostly AirBnb though.

Are you just going to buy an RV?

No. We're not staying in the US.

Will Chris and Katharine work?

Yes. Known Decimal is embracing a remote friendly environment. We're pretty much all distributed anyway as the team is in multiple cities. Clients are all over as well.

I'll work in coffee shops, coworking spaces, an office (if our airbnbs have them), visit friends, etc. All I need is my MacBook Pro and an internet connection.

Katharine has been a travel agent for a couple years now. She'll still be booking Disney trips, cruises, and other destinations. I'm sure we'll find some new and exciting destinations for you to visit!

What about school for the kids?

We're going to homeschool them for the year. Katharine has saved workbooks and curriculum from our oldest, so we'll reuse much of that. We've also found some great online content we'll use to augment.

Oh, and of course we'll be learning lots about geography and world language along the way :)

Can we come visit?

Yes! That would be awesome.

Can we follow along?

Yes. We'll post updates on a blog. We might also dabble with video/YouTube.

CrossFit?

Sun, 21 Feb 2016 16:03:00 +0000

It's Sunday morning. I'm sitting on the couch and drinking coffee. I'm also Googling CrossFit intro videos and looking a "boxes" near my office. That's what they call them. They're not gyms, they're boxes.

I've never been very physically active. I played baseball and ran track as a kid. I worked in retail and warehouses in my late teens and early twenties. There was always lots of walking and occasional lifting of heavy things. After that it's just a series of chairs. Get out of bed, get ready, sit in a chair on a vehicle. Walk to my desk. Sit in a chair. Go to lunch, sit in a chair. Back to the office chair. Walk around a bit. Back to the chair in the car or bus. Get home and hang out with the kids a bit. Maybe play outside or in the basement, but then: you guessed it, back to the chair (couch).

Five (!!!) years ago, a friend presented a challenge for he and I: If he signed up for a 5K that was three months away, would I run it with him? I agreed to it. We kept each other motivated. We tweeted that we had just finished some portion of Couch to 5K. It was in the middle of winter and it was cold and icy. I'd get his Tweet at 9pm, grab my shoes and check my box too. Three months later, we ran that 5K.

I kept running for almost a year. I did a couple more 5Ks and made my way up to a 10K. I never really enjoyed running though. I kept waiting to experience that "runner's high" that everyone talked about. I felt like I had accomplished something, but I didn't enjoy it.

[Photo unavailable in recovered files: Runkeeper Stats]

This doesn't feel good. I don't like where I am mentally or physically. I feel drained, sluggish and sometimes exhausted. Sleep is okay, but it's all over the place. For a month, I'll sleep five hours a night. Then I "crash" and have a week or two where I sleep eight or even ten hours per night.

I've already made changes to my diet. Two years ago I jumped in to keto. I lost about thirty pounds in about four months. I felt better, looked better and was happy about that. I fell off the wagon during the holidays and ballooned back. I gained back everything I'd lost when I rediscovered sugar. I'm done with that. It's not worth it. I'm off sugar again and enjoying that fact. If keto is interesting to you, check out /r/keto and /r/ketorecipes. It's a great community full of people going through the same things.

[Photo unavailable in recovered files: MFP Progress]

So, I'm becoming one of those people. Not only am I checking out CrossFit boxes this week, I'm also blogging about it. Ugh. Whatever. It sometimes seems self-aggrandizing to do things like this, but then I read something like this. Someone else was going through the same things that I was. He wrote about it and I found encouragement from that.

4 Lessons Any Struggling Business Can Learn from Kitchen Nightmares

Sat, 31 May 2014 03:53:00 +0000

I'm a big fan of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The British version, not the American one. I enjoy watching, not because the shows are about cooking, but because they're about business. Teamwork, leadership, purpose, positioning, margins and profit and losses are all topics you'll hear covered.

1. Go Where the Customers Are (Marketing)

This one stands out to me, because it's something I didn't previously understand. It's important to let others know what you're working on, what your skills are and how and why you can help them. You need clients or customers to pay you to help their businesses succeed. If you don't have customers, you're not running a business. You've got a hobby.

Many times when Ramsay walks into a new restaurant, there are lots of empty tables. Empty tables are lost money. He doesn't sit and wait for new customers to show up, he goes where the customers are.

Watch a few episodes and you'll see Ramsay out on the street, handing out food and talking to potential customers. Just stopping them as they walk past. No one is looking for your business -- you have to create interest.

2. Get Feedback, But Not Too Much (Listen)

If he isn't handing out food, he's asking people questions. You'll hear things like:

"Have you heard of ?"
"Have you eaten there recently?"
"Was it worth the money?"
"Would you go back?"
"Would you take your friends?"

Most of the time, the owner won't like the answers. You have to listen and make the right decisions. However, balance is important. In many cases, restaurateurs are too close to their business and let decisions become emotional.

Listen to the staff as well. They're closest to the customers and know what people like and dislike. In many cases, they're powerless to suggest and make changes.

3. Create Reasons for People to Come to You (Advertising)

Parties are fun. People like parties. One of the tactics we'll see is to have a relaunch event. Give people a chance to see the business with new eyes. Change the scenery. Change the menu. Hire new staff.

We hit a bit of a rough patch with sales last year. It was troubling. Instead of sitting and waiting for new clients to walk in the door, we cleaned up the office, sent out invitations and threw an open house.

Activity breeds activity. Do the next thing.

4. Limit Choices (Specialization)

Who's been to a restaurant with 250 menu items? It's overwhelming! You don't have to serve everything. Find something you're good at and focus on that. Many of the new restaurants in town are single menu item and they thrive because of it. It's much simpler all around: training, purchasing, advertising, marketing. Do one thing really, really well.

"A good restaurant does one thing brilliantly. A bad one does fifty things badly."
-- Gordon Ramsay

An Open Letter to Cincinnati City Council

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I don't live or work in the city of Cincinnati. I pay no city taxes. I am heavily invested in this region, though.

I'm disappointed in you, Cincinnati. I live in Northern Kentucky, but I tell everyone I'm from Cincinnati. I always have and always will.

I've been sitting idly by, watching the live stream from Plum Street feeling like there isn't anything I can do.

That's not true, though. I can write this post, share it with friends, family and my network. I can voice an opinion and encourage others to as well.

Who Am I?

I'm a co-founder of one of the largest tech meetups in the area, co-founder of a conference and organization to support the local tech community, and Managing Partner of Gaslight, a software development company currently located in Blue Ash.

I'm active in the tech community, enthusiastic and a Cincinnati supporter. I grew up in this area. I love this area. It's home.

QCMerge

QCMerge, like anything else, began as an idea. I was excited about the progress in Downtown Cincinnati and Over the Rhine. I heard many colleagues and friends voicing opinions that were outdated. I wanted a reason to draw people from the suburbs to downtown to see everything that was happening.

I wanted to bring speakers from other cities to Cincinnati, too. I wanted them to see all that we had to offer and to Tweet pictures to their hundreds of thousands of followers.

It worked. One of my own business partners was excited about our city again. He hadn't been downtown in years, and as he walked back to his car from the Reds game, he saw a vibrant, active city.

Two years running, we've brought national tech leaders to Cincinnati to see the progress. We've brought hundreds of local residents Downtown to the Contemporary Arts Center. We've taken the whole group to see the Reds play and show off the progress at The Banks.

Gaslight and Over the Rhine

Gaslight is a software development company. We're currently at seventeen employees. That's double from just over a year ago. This year, we did almost $2MM in revenue and we're planning to do more next year.

We've been planning a move to Over the Rhine for almost a year. Now, we're not sure it's the right place to be.

We were excited by the idea of walking out the door, hopping on the streetcar and catching a Reds game. Or getting some lunch at Findlay Market. Or beers after work at one of the great new spots.

Little Steps

The streetcar wasn't the final solution. It was only the very beginning. Stopping the project at this stage removes any hope I have for the Cincinnati region to reach it's true potential.

The light rail tracks being laid were the smallest possible amount of work that could happen. They were the Minimum Viable Product.

I'm sick of driving cars. I'm sick of highways. I'm sick of buying gas. I'm sick of sitting in traffic, alone. I'm ready for public transportation.

Once that loop is complete, we can start adding runs to other neighborhoods. To the airport. To the suburbs.

We can have public transportation.

In Summary

I want to thank PG Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson and Wendell Young for their vision and support.

I want to thank Mark Mallory for his vision and leadership. This city is 180º from what it was just ten short years ago.

I want to encourage John Cranley, David Mann, Chris Smitherman, Kevin Flynn, Amy Murray and Charlie Winburn to reconsider their positions on the streetcar. Please move this project, city and region forward.

I heard Mayor Cranley say a few times not to lose hope or enthusiasm, that progress will continue. That's not enough. Show me what to be enthusiastic about. Give me a reason to stay excited.

I don't want to sit and wait. I want to help.

Let's help create the city and region we all want.

Credits

Photo: Travis Estell

Let's Start with Why

Sun, 21 Jul 2013 23:00:00 +0000

I'm learning a lot about people lately. I'm learning about what drives and unites them. What makes people stand and fight with you and what divides them. I want to do more of the former and less of the latter.

I've made mistakes. I used to be excited by the "big reveal", as Doug calls them. I'd run off, work on something, then present it to some group of people expecting celebratory champagne corks. It rarely works out that way.

Here's what actually happens: I alienate the people who want to help along the way. I create confusion because no one can see what's happening. It happens in business, at home and it certainly happens in communities.

I didn't talk about why before I started.

Start with Why

Watch this video. It's only fifteen minutes or so.

Watch Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action ↗

"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it."

Peter mentioned that video last year. I watched it and forgot most of what I heard. I watched it again last night and realized that's what's missing from the conversation.

Let's look at a few questions:

Why are you so involved in the community?
Why do you put time and effort in to attending and organizing user groups?
Why do you want to attract more people?
Why do you want to get more kids involved in science and math?
Why do you sacrifice personal time for something that might never accomplish anything?

I'm sure most of us can answer them, but they won't be the same answers. This is something we're struggling with at Gaslight as well, but we talk about it more and more.

We're suffering from the same problem here, as I see it. We've got lots of activity, because it's what we know how to do. Activity means collaboration and community, right?

Wrong.

It's wrong because it creates confusion and disappointment. It makes it look like we're stepping on toes when, in fact, we have a greater vision that we've failed to share. No one is on board because they didn't know where the train was heading.

My Whys

Here's why I do what I do:

I want to move this city and region forward. It's an amazing place for families, it's affordable and it's home. I love living here and I want to make a difference.

I want a vibrant and collaborative tech community because I believe it's the fastest way to build something amazing. We have more tools and talent at our disposal than almost any other time in history.

I want our cities to operate like open source projects. I want residents to be able to suggest improvements, teams to form and action to happen. I want to be more agile.

I want to do more than sell ads or coupons. I want anyone with even a slight interest in technology to be able to explore. I want to provide guidance and mentorship.

I want others to be able to improve their lives. I want to make this industry and these careers more accessible. I want anyone to be able to get out of poverty using these skills. I want the door to be open and someone to guide the way.

I want to change our society for the better.

How about you?

Louder

Sun, 21 Jul 2013 23:00:00 +0000

So, I keep talking about the Cincinnati tech community, but the reality is that we have tech neighborhoods. Unfortunately, I think we do a bad job bringing the neighborhoods together often enough. That's the reason the poorly named Cincinnati Web/Tech Drinkup was born after all. Chris and I had met a couple times and I thought he was a pretty smart guy, but I didn't get to talk to him very often since we went to different user groups.

I wanted a chance to hang out with Chris and all the other smart people working on cool things in the other communities without talking about a particular programming language or framework. A couple tweets back and forth and a year and a half later, we have almost 700 members and sponsors every month (except for next month, because of poor planning on my part -- get in touch if you want to change that).

I've known for a long time that there's a lot more happening here than meets the eye, and I know others do as well. How can we get the word out beyond our smaller groups?

One of the problems we face, as I see it, is how to begin to bring things together without friction or exclusion. The last thing we want to do is divide in to even smaller groups.

Philly

I've been looking at Philly a lot lately. Ever since Alex spoke at QCMerge last year, there one thing keeps repeating in my head.

"It's never a software problem. Start offline first."

I completely agree with that. As a developer, my first instinct is to code something. Now I have two problems.

The first thing I did after QCMerge was run off and set up two Rails apps: Made in Cincy and Calagator. Make that three problems. Two old Rails apps and no one using them. I naively assumed that if I built it, they would come. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Communicate with Everyone

What I didn't do was talk. I didn't talk to anyone except my group. I wish I had written something about the idea then, so I could share that with others, create shared buy in and move the whole thing forward.

[Photo unavailable in recovered files]

I understand now that the issue is communication. It's always communication. We don't need any more mailing lists or Google+ communities or forums, what we do need is more good old fashioned writing in public. Just write about what you're thinking, then share it with people who might be able to help.

You can say what you want to say once and let lots of people see it. This is a tough one for me, but as you can see, here I am doing it. I often have one-off conversations about something and assume everyone else is on board. I will stop that now.

Second, others can share it, too. This is also an issue for us. Carin is frustrated that lots of good events are coming up and we don't know where to talk about them. We need a way to talk about all the things that are happening. We need something we can point the business community toward to look for innovation. We need something we can point kids in school at to learn about programming, or hardware, or whatever other cool things we're doing this month.

Here's everything I know that's going on right now attempting to unite tech communities:

StartupCincy (blog)
Cincinnati Startup Digest (newsletter)
The Circuit (group)
Techlife Cincinnati (group)
Web/Tech Drinkup (group)
QCMerge (conference)
Web/Tech Study Group (group)
an Open Data Initiative (group)
Hive13 (hackerspace)

That's a lot, and that's just the higher level groups. There are also the user groups:

Ruby
Python
AngularJS
JavaScript
OINK/PUG
.Net
Sharepoint
Functional Programmers
Agile Cincinnati
CincyCocoaDev
CinARC
Clojure and Coffee
Powershell
Blacks in Technology
Web Analytics
Content Marketing
Cincinnati Digital Exchange
Social Media Enthusiasts
MongoDB User Group
NodeCincy

And a few of the events:

NodeCopter
Day of Agile
Maker Faire
Southwest Ohio Give Camp

The list goes on and on. It's a good thing. Scratch that, it's a great thing! But how can we start working together to get the word out beyond each of those smaller circles?

Existing Ideas

So, what can we do. Well, let's look at what's already there first:

The Circuit

I know very little about The Circuit. It sounds like exactly what we're interested in, but maybe a little dated. Is there value in talking with them? Probably. Seems like it's sometimes easier to push a rock that's already rolling.

Maybe we can just update what's there and get some content moving. That always helps.

Techlife

I'm pretty sure this is part of The Circuit. It's basically an abused Meetup group, but it works. It's one giant group that creates events. Normally, Meetup groups are very focused; you'd have one for Ruby and one for Python, etc.

I'm not sure what to do about this one. I don't know if there's anything to be done, really.

QCMerge and the Drinkup

I'm only mentioning these at the same time because there's been talk of just merging (ha, it works!) them together.

Let's talk more about that if it's absolutely necessary. I'd really like to figure something else out first.

New Idea

What if we just start with a blog. I know, I said it isn't a software issue, but that's not what I'm talking about. What if we just start writing about our events. Someone is tasked with the overall management of the stuff, sure, but we each make an effort to take a picture and write a paragraph about whatever we're planning, participating in, attending or want to know more about.

Then, what if we took that content and pushed it to all those outlets up top. We start to develop a single stream about all the fun and exciting things that happen in our community. We start to create a single point of entry for someone interested in tech.

So, it's not that exciting. It's a step toward more communication outside the current circles, though and that's desperately needed.

I've got a lot more words in me, but that's enough for this one. I'm planning to talk about what I learned from the NY Tech Meetup and Nate Westheimer next. Hint: we need this for that, too.

What do you think? Let me know on Twitter.

Photo credit: dcmaster, on Flickr

Thank You

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 23:00:00 +0000

It isn't hard to say, but it's pretty rare to hear. We all work hard to move our community and region forward and it's easy to lose sight of the end goal.

There's an article that's been all over my Twitter feed tonight about Cincinnati becoming an unexpected startup hub. It's being shared and retweeted by people outside the tech community and that's when I realized that something was different. It isn't often that I see things like that shared outside our circles.

When something like that happens, we're all proud and happy to share. We like success stories and it's fun to post them for friends and family to see. We love our city and want others to as well, but it's easy to forget all the blood, sweat, tears and meetings that went in to creating that story.

I mentioned it on Twitter to J.B., Dave and Rob, but I wanted more than 140 characters. I want to say "Thank You."

Thank you for putting your time and effort in the Brandery.

Thanks for sticking it out, seeing classes come and go and making it better every year. You're changing this city's image for the better and we all benefit. Thank you.

There are others I want to thank, too.

Erin Kidwell: thanks for your leadership and insistence on collaboration. I'm thankful that you always remind me there are others who want to help. Thank you for helping organize QCMerge. Thank you for organizing GDICincinnati.

Ry Walker: thanks for jumping headfirst in to the startup scene. You bring experience and talent that's needed as a developer and entrepreneur. You're braver than I and I hope to do something like it someday.

Gerard Sychay & Bill Barnett: thank you for starting Cincy's first coworking space. You're always ahead of everyone else and you both took risks. I'm sad we didn't have more support, but a lot of great things came from that space and you should be proud.

Joe Pantuso: thank you for making Ignite Cincy happen over and over again.

Josh Owens: thank you for always challenging people to do more, better.

Chris Ridenour & Nikki Pfhaler: thanks for helping me organize the most successful meetup group I've ever been involved in. Nothing makes me happier than hearing about someone's new job because of the Drinkup. Thanks for all your work on Startup Weekend, too.

Matt Brewer & Ryan Cromwell: thank you for making Southwest Ohio Give Camp happen. It's a great event that helps more people than we know.

Bobby Uhlenbrock: thank you for helping make Queen City Merge happen. Thank you for coming back for another round this year.

Mark Windholtz: thank you for organizing Agile Roundtable. It also grew to something much larger.

RoadTrippers, ChoreMonster, Modulus, Repp, Ahalogy and others: thanks for staying here. It sounds silly, but seriously, thank you for not heading west. These articles don't happen without all the work you're all doing.

Gaslight Team: thank you for being so talented and willing to help. I get to work with the smartest, most passionate people I've ever known. We've accomplished so much and it's only the beginning. Thanks for letting me come along. You're helping me to grow every day.

I'm certain that I'm failing to mention people, but maybe I should just do this regularly. Maybe you should, too.

Photo credit: Cincinnati Riverfront Sunset by ChrisIrmo, on Flickr