Max – The Blue Van – Overland Travels

The Alps.

Max — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 20:54:14 +0000

Ever since we started planning this trip I’ve been excited for the Alps as I absolutely love mountains and their scenery. When we first started to get into the foothills of the Alps in France I started looking at which route to take as I wanted to find the best one with the nicest views. We went the way that took us right next to Geneva as it was shortest and still had some amazing views. The many hills and small mountains along with their occasional plateau were breathtaking. As we neared our camping spot at the base of Mont Blanc, snowy rocks where visible on our side as we drove and as they jutted their peaks out of the clouds. I thought the Alps were surprising warm considering its late February and there was snow just a little farther above us. Little towns dotted the countryside, some looking a little run down but were still nice to drive through their tight streets, and the waterfalls that would pop up along the cliff face looked amazing. As we drove we eventually rounded a corner and could see Mont Blanc itself towering over the other Alpine mountains. The snowed covered peak shone a bright white in the late afternoon sun as we drove towards it, the whiteness only being broken by some rocks that protruded from its face. The sun began to set as we arrived at our campground on the outskirts of Chamonix, a town nestled right at the base of Mont Blanc and how you get to the seven-mile tunnel which cuts through the massive mountain into Italy. I think the Alps will be one of, if not the, my favorite part of this trip.

The Black Market

Max — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 23:38:16 +0000

In Mexico City, they are black markets where they sell counterfeit items, such as fake Raybans and Dr. Dre headphones, along with other stuff. People have to be careful when selling counterfeit items, as the police patrol almost everywhere. They often have a person who stands and watches for the police and whistles if they see one coming, the vendors items on a sheet that can be quickly pulled up and looks like a normal bag when the police arrive. you can buy almost anything at the black markets, watches, shoes, and some sell knives, which I would have gotten one if they were allowed in the UK. On Sunday there is a massive antique market at Lagunilla, and next to it is a black market that stretches on for blocks and blocks. You can buy almost everything in this market if you look hard enough. The market is hot and crowded, and tarps cover everything. People walk down the aisles selling frozen fruit and drinks, and vendors play the music they are selling loudly through blown speakers. It is a very nice and fun just to explore and look at all the things they have for sale.

Mexico City

Max — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 04:00:28 +0000

Mexico City was originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island they made in Lake Texcoco. They made the island by dumping soil into the lake till an island was formed. The city was called Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs until Cortez came and nearly completely destroyed it in the siege of Tenochtitlan in 1521. It wasn’t officially called Mexico City until 1585 but was called México Tenochtitlán. Cortez used Aztec slaves to build the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral with the ruins of the Aztec temple, Templo Mayor, the Aztec god of war, to heighten the Spanish power in the newly conquered state. Mexico City eventually became home to twenty-one million people, making it one of the largest cities in the world. Due to the fact that twenty-one million people live in Mexico City, they drink around 287 billion gallons of water a year, seventy percent of that coming from the lake below Mexico City, causing it to sink in the ground. Mexico City has sunk thirty-two feet in the last sixty years. The main square, Zócalo, is one of the biggest squares in the world with a total of 57,600 square meters. The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral is located on one end of Zócalo and a massive Mexican flag is located in the center of the square. The Cathedral’s full name is, The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, or in Spanish, Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de la Santísima Virgen María a los cielos.

From Fairbanks to Tampa

Max — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:34:34 +0000

This trip we are going to Mexico City for a month, then flying back to the UK for a couple of months, where we’ll pick up our camper. When we left, there were two flights to Seattle, one at 11:30 and one at 1 AM. Jennah, Annabelle, my dad and I were supposed to get on the early flight, but my dad was held up at security and had his bag completely searched, so we had to fly down without him. The flight attendants were quite nice to me but apparently, mean to Jennah and Annabelle. When we got to SeaTac we had to wait for the rest of the family, my Mom, my dad, and Sylvia, to fly in about three hours later. When they finally got, they brought us some food from Wendy’s for breakfast. From Seattle, Annabelle, my dad, Jennah, and I were going to fly to Orlando to get a rental car and drive it down to Tampa and pick up the rest of the family at the airport, but at the last second our plane changed gates and was delayed, so we only got in twenty minutes before my mom and Sylvia instead of an hour and a half like we were supposed to, so my grandpa had to pick them up. The flight was long and I slept through most of it and when we arrived in Orlando we had to pick up our bags and our rental car. We rented a big white minivan, which is quite hideous looking, but never the less was very nice on the inside and had a Bluetooth stereo. We then drove from the airport to my grandparents in Tampa. The drive was long but again, I slept through almost all of it. My grandpa had ordered pizza for dinner and was just leaving to get it as we pulled into their small driveway. We went to sleep early, around nine, and woke up early, which for me is also nine. We didn’t do much that day, mostly just hung around the house. Annabelle and I biked to Wal-Mart and got some stuff like hair gel for me since I just had it cut and styled. When we got back we swam a little, but the pool was frigid so we didn’t stay in too long. For the rest of the day we just relaxed, and that’s about it. I’m very excited for Mexico City, because I never been to Mexico, except for once one the first trip when we crossed over from Texas for the day, and I hear Mexico City is amazing.

Dublin and Friends

Max — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 20:10:52 +0000

We spent St. Patrick’s day in Dublin, which was packed. We woke up early and left Howth to get a good spot for the parade, and we found one along a fence. We got McDonald’s for breakfast and waited for the parade to start. We had to wait two and a half hours for the parade and then it took another hour and a half to go past. The parade was pretty cool. They had some cool floats for it. We bought some hoodies a couple days before so we would have green things to wear. I got a Temple Bar one which is very nice and comfy. After the parade we walked to a bus station, which was a good distance away, and meet up with our friends who had flown in from Alaska. We started walking to their hotel when Sylvia started throwing up. She threw up for about fifteen minutes, but then was able to walk to the metro station and we took the train to their hotel. We stayed there for a long time till Sylvia felt better and was able to go home. Me and Annabelle stayed at our friends hotel room that night and got pizza from a place from across the street. When we woke up we walked down to a little shop and got some sausage rolls and coffee. The mocha I had was amazing. We walked to the Dublin Zoo, which was very close by, and went in. The zoo was surprisingly good. The Siberan White Tiger display was closed, but most of the exhibits were open. The zoo was a very nice zoo. They made the monkeys hunt for their food. We watched baby elephants play for a long time, but finally had to leave to look at other things. They had Red Pandas which look kinda like a raccoon but red. After the zoo, we got some pizza and fries at the café at the zoo and waited for my mom and dad to show up. Sylvia had to stay at the camper with Jack and Jennah because she was still sick. We met up with my parents and went back to my friends hotel. We hung out there for a while then my mom, my dad, Annabelle and her friend went back to the camper for the night and I stayed at the hotel. We went to the pub next door and got food. I had a massive burger which was awesome and my friend got curry. We went back to the hotel and me and my friend stayed up late. There was a festival going on in Howth so we went there. It was the Prawn festival. Prawns are these lobster/shrimp thing. The festival was fun and there was live music there. Me and my friend got apple soda, which I had been looking for for a while. Our friends left later that day. When we were driving out of Dublin, my friend texted me saying they didn’t make their flight and that they were in a hotel at the airport. So we turned our camper around and went to them. We camped in the hotel parking lot and my mom got a bottle of wine to bring up. They ordered room service which was very fancy. They bought tickets to Iceland for the next day so we didn’t see them after that. Dublin was great and I’m glad my friend came.

Ferries

Max — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 15:32:48 +0000

The ferries you take over to the Shetland Islands are luxurious and fun. On the ferries there are cabins which you can rent for the night and a lounge called the Magnus Lounge. The lounge cost around £10 to get in but once you are in you get free soft drinks and snacks. There is also is a play area for little kids and a room with video games for older ones. The one with the video games costs money to play my sister and I found out. It cost £1 for fifteen minutes, which is kind of expensive. When we went on the ferry from Orkney to Shetland we slept in the Pod Lounge, which is a room filled with these strange chair this for sleeping. My mom and Sylvia didn’t sleep in there and instead slept on the floor of the cinema. You can also buy breakfast on the ferry for yourself. You can buy a meal or the all you can eat breakfast buffet. We got the all you can eat breakfast buffet because for every adult meal you buy, two kids under sixteen eat free. The breakfast was pretty good. They had soda and juice. The eggs were ones you can buy that are freeze dried that you have to put in water to eat, so they were in a tub of water. After breakfast I felt sick. The ferry are called Northlink, and they sail to the Orkney Islands and to Shetland. The ferries also come with free wifi that, once you get out to sea, is very slow. Also on the ferries are gambling machines, which Jack spent £5 on. It was a sunny day on Shetland which is very rare. The ferries ride over is around twelve hours. The ferries are super nice and fun and have comfortable chairs.

More on Castles and Food

Max — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 23:56:04 +0000

While we’ve been here in the UK driving around, we’ve been to some castles. And learned that they can be very repetitive. Castle are fun to explore, the smaller castles more so, but then they start to just repeat. Bigger castles, like Caenarfon, get more and more repetitive as you walk on the side of the walls. Because they were built for defense and not so much to explore, you will soon start to see the same room over and over again. Harlech was a good castle because it was smaller, and less repetitive, which made it more fun to explore and see. Also while we’ve been over here I’ve learned what people eat over here. Bangors and Mash is just Sausage put on top of mashed potatoes. Fish and Chips is a fish filet with fries. I have yet to try it, but I assume that it will be good sense I like fish, and fries. They also have Blood Pudding, which sounds gross. Blood Pudding is made of oatmeal, onions, pork fat, and blood. They normally use pork blood too make the pudding. Another thing they have here is Yorkshire Puddings. Yorkshire Puddings are these bread like bowl things that you put gravy over top. They are very good and I like them a lot. Yorkshire Puddings are eaten with meat most of the time. The last thing in gonna talk about are Shepherds Pies which I like quite a lot. A Shepherds Pie is just vegetables, minced, which is cut up meat, lamb with mashed potatoes spelt on top. The food here is good and I feel like we should probably eat more things like Shepherds Pie in the US.

Tintagel

Max — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 15:25:33 +0000

We drove into Cornwall and into Tintagel, which is a little town on the coast of Cornwall. We camped at a pub stop there and stayed there for a few days to save some money. The first day we where there we went to see King Arthur’s castle, and Merlin’s Cave. The castle is on top of a giant rock, with cliffs on all sides. It had a great view of the ocean, with waves crashing on the rocks below. Merlin’s Cave was also very cool. It went straight through the rock that the castle was on and when there was high tide the cave would fill up with water. Sylvia got soaked in the waves. My mom dropped her phone and lost it for a little bit. My dad found it on the stairs down to the beach. The screen had cracked but besides that it was fine. The sodas were very cheap at the visitor for some reason so we were going to buy a lot of them but the shop closed early. While we where in Tintagel we also walked the coastal hike. It ended at a little town which had a pub. The walk was very pretty and had many great views. There were sometimes when we could have easily fallen off the cliff into the ocean, but luckily none of us did. We spent a long time at the pub there which had good food. We were going to see whether or not we could drive our camper down to it so my mom and dad could have a date there. We walked the road back and it was to narrow to drive our camper down so we decided not too. Tintagel was very nice and was very scenic and I had a fun time there. The castle was very cool and the beach were Merlin’s Cave is, is also very nice. The coastal walk to the other little town was awesome.

More of Wales

Max — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 22:20:27 +0000

We toured the castle in Conwy. The castle was fun and had lots to do. When we left Conwy we headed to Bangor and Anglesey Island. Beaumaris castle is on Anglesey Island. Beaumaris castle is just outside the town of Beaumaris, named after the castle. Beaumaris was my favorite castle. It had 15 – ft thick walls and three gatehouses. It had a moat to keep invaders out. The castle was token by Welsh rebellions and was held five year. The castle was built by Edward I but was never finished. A total of £15,000,000 was spent on the castle. My siblings spent most of the time at the castke looking for a old toilet in the castle. When we left after, staying there for a few days, we drove around the Isle of Anglesey. The Isle of Anglesey was where the Druids of Ancient Britain came to learn. There were standing stones, which were stones that the Druids stood on end, called standubg stones. The drive had some very pretty sights of the Welsh countryside. We had lunch in a parking lot in a small town. We ate sausage rolls and continued on. We had a game going were when someone saw a standing stone they would get a pound. There were eight standing stones sites along the drive, most of which were on the side of the road. We went back to Bangor and camped for the night after the drive. We had thanksgiving in Bangor. We got three turkeys because they were small and not massive like the ones in the U.S.. We cooked it all in the camper starting around noon and everything was cooked at around six. The food was delicious. We took a walk afterwards into the town from the car park where we were parked. We drove into Snowdonia, which is a park in north Wales. We stopped next to the tallest mountain in the UK, called Mt. Snowden. Jack, Sylvia, Annabelle, Jennah, and I hiked up the trail to the top of Snowden. We didn’t get far, because it was pouring and gusting very hard. We all got soaked. We dried off in the camper and drove to Harlech. We got to Harlech too late and the castle closed so we camped in a golf course parking lot and walked around the small town of Harlech. There wasn’t to much in Harlech but we got candy bars at a store and walked back to the camper. We walked up the big hill to Harlech castle, another one of Edward I’s castles. It was very very windy that day and we couldn’t go up on walls. It was a nice castle and was fun to explore. The castle was besieged for nine months before the people inside surrendered because they were starving. We drove the longest day yet that day. We drove three hours that day to Cardiff. We stayed in a parking lot on the Wharf. Back in Bangor my mom and dad said they had a surprise for us but we couldn’t know what it was till we got it. The surprise was the Doctor Who Experience, which was very cool and fun to go to. We went to a RV park and stayed up to 2 AM doing laundry. We went to the Cardiff Christmas Fayre, which was quite lame. We left Cardiff and drove to Pembroke where we stayed over night.

Wales

Max — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 19:26:24 +0000

We left Liverpool after spending a few days there and headed for Chester. Along the way we stopped at a store, called Go Outdoors, and bought rain coats for all of us except for my Mom and Annabelle. We left that store and drove to Chester. We stopped at yet Go Outdoors store and bought a jacket for Annabelle. There was a grocery store next to it, so we walked in there to get food for dinner. Everything was really cheap in the store, so we got pizza and soda for dinner. A cat also lived in the store. It walked around the store and people petted it. We went back to the camper and cooked the pizza. We drove into Chester and spent the night at a car park just outside the Roman walls. My Mom, Dad, and Jack went out to the pub while the rest of us stayed home. The day next we got up early and walked along the river, which was very high at the time, and into town. We walked up the the walking street which was lined with shops. There was a coffee house which was based off one in a TV show that Jennah liked, called Friends. The coffee house was called the Central Perk. Jack and Jennah went there and my Dad and I went to a £1 bakery and got pies for lunch. We went back to the camper to eat and afterwards my Mom, Dad, Sylvia and I walked the walls to the store. We got some candy at the store and walked back to the camper. We had dinner and went to sleep. When I woke we were driving in Wales. We drove to a town call Conwy. Conwy is a city in northern Wales. It has 2000 year old Roman walls surrounding downtown. We camped at the arena and walked into the small town. There was supposed to be a big storm later that night with heavy rain and strong wind. We arrived to late to tour the castle so we just walked around. The next day we were woken up by the wind shaking the camper. We headed into town early and stayed there all day. We walked the walls until it got to windy and we had to get down. Later Jack and Jennah went back to the camper and we went to a restaurant and got something to drink. We got bread from the bakery and some stuff from the store before we went to the camper. Later the next day we drove to get a converter for our camper so we could hook up to power at a campground that we were going to stay at later. We arrived to the park and found out that we couldn’t hook up to the power because they use a different voltage and it would break our phones. So we ran the generator, which we kept having to walk to the gas station to fill it back up. We went to a Christmas street fair in the town next to Conwy. It was nice and we bought some very good cheese. We went to Asda, which is owned by Wal-Mart, and got bread and chips and soda. The soda here is very cheap. We drove back to the arena to camp and made a squash stuff.