Category Archives: Travel

Dorky Family Travels Part 2: Edinburgh

October 9, 2023 By in Family, Travel Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

I love Edinburgh so much.

Ten years living in Hobart may have knocked Auld Reekie off the top spot in my favourite cities list. But as the place where I went to uni, fell in love, had a baby, and made many lifelong friends, it will always be somewhere I want to revisit.

Last time we were back in Edinburgh, in 2018, I found the whole thing a little disconcerting. Perhaps not enough time had passed since living there, or perhaps my roots in Hobart weren’t quite so deep at that point, but whatever the cause I found it hard to straddle the line between local and tourist. It almost felt too familiar, strolling around the streets of Marchmont and popping into Margiotta’s for a Guardian and a lottery ticket.

This time round, I had no such issues. It was a pure joy to be back. I was definitely there as a tourist – just one with pals to see and no need of the Google Maps app.

We stayed near the Meadows on a beautiful, tree-lined street where squirrels sipped from birdbaths and schoolkids laughed under the window as they walked or scootered to school. DorkySon couldn’t believe how dingy the tenement stair was; I couldn’t believe how clean and well-lit it was compared to every shared stair of my student days! Not only did the main door lock work, it had a soft close mechanism so there was no door slam soundtrack throughout the night.

That’s not to say there was no discombobulation – but that had more to do with jetlag than location. On our first night, deep in dreamland and grateful to finally be fully horizontal, I woke up to DorkyDad fluffing up his pillows, searching for the light switch, and readying himself for coffee.

“Wow, he said. “That was one of the great sleeps of my life.”

“Mate,” I replied, peering at my phone screen. “Go back to sleep. It’s two in the bloody morning.”

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The Dorky Family goes a-travelling: Part 1

October 8, 2023 By in Family, Travel Tags: , , , , , , 3 Comments

September has long been one of my favourite months.

When we lived in the northern hemisphere it was the most beautiful threshold between summer and autumn, full of soft light and turning leaves. Now in the south, it marks the beginning of spring. The windy season, for sure, but also the start of longer, lighter days, and those occasional moments when the sun is warm enough to bare our pale arms to the air again.

It also seems to be a month of big events, running on a six-year cycle. In September 2001, I started at Edinburgh University. In September 2007, DorkyDad and I got married. In September 2013, we moved to Tasmania. In September 2019… well nothing major happened, but perhaps that was the universe giving me a break knowing what was to come the following year.

Anyway, that history means that September is always full of anniversaries and ‘remember when…’ conversations.

I am a nostalgic little creature. Always looking for patterns and coincidences. When I realised that the date we were due to fly out of Tasmania for our recent UK visit was ten years to the day since we had flown out of Heathrow to move here, I was delighted. Not only that, but the weekend we were due to spend in Edinburgh marked 22 years exactly since I first arrived at Pollock Halls as a Fresher.

All in all, it felt like the signs boded well for a good trip back to Scotland.

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Off the island

October 19, 2022 By in Family, Travel Tags: , , , , 5 Comments

An Air New Zealand wing tip with blue sky behind

It was our first trip out of Tasmania in more than two and a half years, and I reckon it’s fair to say we were all a little rusty. 

DorkySon was now so tall, and so out of practice at air travel, that the simple act of standing up from his seat caused him to bang his head on the buttons above and accidentally call the flight crew. DorkyDad gave an Auckland taxi driver the tip of a lifetime when he glanced over and read the frequency of the radio station we were listening to rather than the metered fare. And I packed a comprehensive first aid kit that contained absolutely everything except the one thing we actually needed. 

However, as international travel goes, it couldn’t really have been more convenient. A direct flight from Hobart to Auckland. One night in Auckland. A quick flight down to Wellington for five nights there. One more night in Auckland on the return leg, and then back across the Tasman for home. Short flights and a time difference of only two hours meant that for once, jet lag wasn’t an issue. 

We were there to see dear friends – a couple who have known DorkyDad since his high school and college days. We saw one of them six years ago – on our chaotic trip to South Carolina that coincided with Hurricane Matthew. But it had been nine years since we had seen the other – when DorkySon was just four. They live in the US, but were over visiting family in Windy Welly, and it made sense for us to hop over at the same time. A New Zealand trip is so much quicker, easier and more affordable than that long, long flight to the East Coast.  Continue reading →

Eight Days in Hawaii

January 28, 2020 By in Family, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

Hawaii - The Aloha State - licence plate

Hawaii is one of those places that even as a child I harboured dreams of visiting one day. I didn’t know much more about it than I’d read in my school encyclopedia – I’m not even sure that I realised it’s a US state, or that it consists of many islands, not just one – but I imagined it as a place where the sun was always shining, the beaches were lined with palm trees, and every drink came with a cocktail umbrella.

When a wedding invite landed in our mailbox last year – destination Kaua’i – we could not have been more thrilled. Kaua’i is Hawaii’s fourth largest island. It’s also the oldest and the most northern, and is often called the Garden Island because it’s so green. The striking landscapes have led to dozens of movies being filmed on the island, including Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong and South Pacific.

Because we spend so many of our holidays visiting family and friends, it’s rare for us to travel somewhere new. But even DorkyDad had never been to the Aloha State: it was one of just two US states (the other being Alaska) that he’d never had reason to visit. We’ve spent the last six months feeling very excited about this trip. Continue reading →

Travels Part 3: Helsinki and Home

November 16, 2018 By in Family, Travel Tags: , , , , , 4 Comments

Colourful benches in Helsinki FInland

On our penultimate day in Edinburgh, I was woken at 6am by a soft, rustling sound in the hallway. It wasn’t, as I first thought, a wee mouse. It was DorkySon tip-toeing around the flat, gathering his belongings, and starting to pack.

It seemed that he was ready to keep moving.

In the cab to our hotel in Helsinki, we realised that it was DorkySon’s first time in a country where English is not the first language. We were throwing him in at the deep end: Finnish is very pretty and melodic, but the linguistic rhythms are so different to the romance languages we’re familiar with that we found it a real challenge.

Judging by the cab driver’s bemused look, I completely mangled the name of our hotel and the neighbourhood in which it stood. Over the coming days our embarrassment grew further. Even a simple thank you – Kiitos – took many attempts before we mastered it.

We persevered though – all three of us – because there was a lot to say Kiitos for. Continue reading →