Famille Summerbelle

The last big change (for a while)

So we haven't made a post for a while for which we apologise but I think we've a good excuse..... we've made our final big move for a while, shipping ourselves lock stock to France.

We spent a few months traveling around the world hoping that we decide with certainty on somewhere to live, but you know it's a tough decision!

We loved life in London - most of our friends live there - and we really felt at home in some of the places we visited. Particularly New Zealand and San Francisco. We'd really love a year or two in Japan.

But finally we settled on France - and Paris in particular. Why? Well maybe it's better we give you an idea across a number of posts.

It's not perfect - nowhere is, and that's something we definitely have learnt during our big trip. I think we've learnt to see the best in every place, and hope to keep an open mind and keep on traveling!

But for starters, we love it here because it takes less than half an hour to reach the centre of Paris, and yet we live right next to an enormous forest. Maybe not the most practical footwear for a forest, but Ophelia's shoes look mighty fine amongst the fallen leaves....

Our top 5 kids travel essentials

We fought our way around the world over luggage. I think we take too much, Julie defends every last item as essential. There is no regular winner.

Here though, are a few things that we definitely agree on as essentials for taking a 2 year old around the world.

1. The travel rucksack by Deuter was a very good alternative to the MacLaren stroller (that we also took - and love!) in busy cities like Singapore or Tokyo and great for walks off the beaten track.
It's comfortable and has a big pocket at the back to store nappies, wipes, water, toys etc. It comes with a 'roof' protection for the sun or rain.

2. Ophelia loved her LittleLife Ladybird day sack. She was happy to carry her dolly in there and for us it was peace of mind to be able to hang on to her with the added lead. This was especially useful in busy airports or when she wanted to walk down busy streets.

3.JVC tiny headphones. We bought them at Heathrow airport (you can also buy them online here) just before boarding for a 12 hour flight to Japan. Why, when you can get headphones on any plane? Well, the headphones you get on planes are always too big for children, and these headphones have a decibel restriction which is great for little ears. Oh, and from Ophelia's point of view....they were pink. We used them throughout our trip - plugged into the iPod with Ophelia's favourite movies or shows...... 'Mary Poppins', 'Charlie & Lola', 'Pingu' and 'Petit Ours Brun'.

4. This is my personal favourite - and still very much in use. The LittleLife tent. Ophelia's real home from home. One thing I think can be occasionally difficult on children when you're travelling is the constant change of sleeping venue. It's just a bit unsettling (and confusing when you wake up!). This little tent neatly overcame that problem, in fact Ophelia loved it which made bedtime a real pleasure for all. It takes less than a minute to put together and it's light and compact (and not so expensive as I remember).

5. Finally, we've bought lots of these little Muji bags. They are cheap, have lots of pockets, and bits can be pulled on or off with their velcro attachments. It's on this list because we used one of the larger bags to house all of Ophelia's toys for travelling. Farm yard animals in one, In the Night Garden dolls in another and pens pencils and crayons spread across a few more compartments. You'd be surprised by just how much these little bags can hold, and how easily they will slot into a larger rucksack to take on a plane (to be whipped out as things turn pear shaped....).

Anyway that's our top 5 for Ophelia. We'd love to know any of your essentials that you would add to our list - let us know!

Simon

Another parcel from Japan!

Whilst in Japan we put together a package of bits and bobs to send home - trying to keep our suitcases as light as possible. Well that was two months ago, and after a long boat journey our big box arrived safe and sound in England last week.

One of the great things about our trip is that coming home you get to open lots of boxes. And all of our stuff feels like new. I highly recommend every so often just boxing stuff up so that you can open it again a few months later!

Anyway THIS box was full of things we bought or were given in Japan.

These two books (Recettes des Mamans a Paris & Children's rooms 'Copenhagen' are a present from the Galerie Doux Dimanche in Tokyo. You can purchase all their amazing books online here.
We are very proud to say that Galerie Doux Dimanche is our first Japanese retailer!

We bought this book 'Sparkle & Spin" in Japanese for Ophelia in a fantastic kids bookshop in Tokyo called CrayonHouse

The end of the beginning

Happy New Year!

This is an overdue post to round off our world trip, but since it's so late I thought I'd make it a short(!) round up of the year.

We started Famille Summerbelle in February 2008. Whichever way we look at it, we've had a great start - we've learnt lots, we've made some great new friends (with plenty of good advice), we've got bags of inspiration for 2009 and we've even sold a thing or two. We really hope that we can make it our future...

Our only real sad news was that we lost Julie's uncle Mike. He has left a very big hole, but I guess that just goes to show how great he was. I'd like to be missed as much as he is.

So this trip we did....it really was as great, inspiring and fulfilling as we tried to make it sound. I'd highly recommend it to anyone, for a few very good reasons:

1. It doesn't cost anything like as much as you think. Once you factor your every day living costs (especially for folk like us who live in the city) it doesn't work out much different. If you can rent or sell your apartment then it's possible to even make money as you go. The flight costs a bit, but that isn't so different to any long haul journey.

2. Nothing much changes whilst you're away. Even in a massive financial crisis like now, it seems life at home carries on the same (which is reassuring!).

3. Technology is brilliant. Skype, email (and blogs!) can help keep in touch with all of your loved ones - AND continue to run a business!!

4. I got to spend a lot of time with my family. I'd rather do it now than make up for lost time when I'm 65.

5. Traveling with kids is a real joy, and lots of people are doing it (yes, you read that right!). We met plenty of families along the way and they all said the same thing - it's not just easy it's great fun. Every train trip, every bus ride was an adventure and were we on our own I can't imagine it would have been quite as much fun.

6. Decisions now feel easier. Or maybe not easier but much more fun.

7. It makes you want to do it again. Not every year, but soon...!

Someone in New Zealand recommended to me a book by Tim Ferris called The 4 Hour Work Week. If you have even the slightest urge to change your life and take on an adventure I highly recommend it.

Here's to 2009 and the end of the beginning...

Simon

Happy Christmas

Thank you so much to all our blogger friends for supporting us in 2008 and for your lovely comments on our site. Famille Summerbelle will be a year old early 2009 and so far it's been an amazing experience that we have been so pleased to share with you.
We're flying back to the UK this weekend. This is the end of our World Tour :( but we are very excited to see our friends and family.
We've got lots planned for early next year, with new products and new designs inspired by our 3 months of travel.
Have a great holiday with your loved ones and see you very soon!

San Francisco

Sorry for not posting anything since we left Fiji. It took us a couple of days to recover from our long journey to the States (more than 25h trip between Fiji-New-Zealand and San Francisco!). It was so cold and rainy when we got here, the sort of weather we would expect to get back in London!
After few days trying to warm up walking up and down San Francisco's lovely streets (we fell in love with the architecture of the houses here), the sun came out to reveal even more the beauty of the place.
A 10mn drive out of the City and a great drive on the Golden Gate Bridge takes you in the middle of some amazing countryside and National Parks like the Muir Woods.
Everybody here is so welcoming. The atmosphere in the streets and the shops makes you feel very festive!

Fiji

We've just spent 6 days on a beautiful small island in Fiji. We did have internet access, but not much happened so we decided to give the computer a well earned rest for the trip.

Not much happened but it was wonderful. We sat on the beach, snorkeled in the sea, played with Ophelia by the pool and then relaxed in a hammock before dinner. Then, just for a change, we reversed it the next day.

On to San Francisco now....

NZ paper cutting

I bought some origami paper in Japan which has the perfect thickness for cutting into. Here are some examples of paper cuts I created during our stay in New Zealand.
Tomorrow is our last day here... we are sad to leave this amazing country. We had such a wonderful time traveling in the campervan and spending some quality time with our family. Don't weep though, we're off to the Fiji Islands!

Our little photographer...

Julie takes a lot of photos (she can take credit for almost all of the photos on this blog).

Ophelia likes copying her maman (sizing herself in the mirror, dressing up, lipstick, make-up etc etc), and this is the best yet....we have ourselves an amateur photographer!

For the last week or so, the main source of our daily entertainment is Ophelia's photo journal. Every where we have been (restaurants, motels, beaches, museums) Ophelia snaps away. Here are some of our favourite examples:

The end of the South Island

We departed the South Island on Wednesday, and said goodbye to our family (which is never much fun).

For the campervan, the scenery, the wildlife, the family, the wine - thanks. Easily the most beautiful place we've every been.

These letterboxes were one of the last things we saw just outside of Blenheim - a long row of beachfront houses.

If you like blue.....

Apologies to anyone that is in the throws of late Autumn grey, but if you could see our photo library from New Zealand you would see just how many amazing variations of blue (and green) you can see every day. Beautiful vibrant turquoise through to rich dark blues.

If it helps, it's a little grey today.....

Marlborough Wine Tour

We love wine. Not just for the obvious reason...it's nice to drink something that has such a nuanced development. Everything about it's creation - from grape, soil and weather to treatment, ageing and barrel. It's real artisan stuff.

Wine tours in Marlborough are pretty easy and great fun. New Zealand doesn't have a long viticultural past - but my god, it will have a long future! Marlborough is regarded as the worlds greatest grower of Sauvignon Blanc and we tasted plenty of great stuff today (fortunately typing doesn't slur....).

We visited Saint Clair, Cloudy Bay, Grove Mill and Fromm. We really liked the design of the Fromm labels.

Back to School.

Today was very exciting. We came back from few days in the Sounds (region in the top of the South Island that looks like fjords). I was invited to Abbie's (my 7 year old niece from NZ) school to talk about what I do as a job!
I tried to explain to the whole class that I draw, cut paper and play on the computer all day. 'Wow I want to be an artist!'.
I showed them my ink sketches and did a paper cut demonstration. I was put to the test to draw on the board everyone's requests " a pirate, Dinosaur, car...."
I was very impressed by their very colourful classroom with the kids self portrait and painting of the Kiwi birds. Thanks to Ms Phillips and Abbie for inviting me along!

Kaikoura to Kenepuru

A few days since our last post - for reasons I'll explain in a sec.

We arrived in Kaikoura last Saturday for the final leg of our campervan trip. You'd have thought we might have scenery exhaustion - never! Kaikoura I think was my favourite, with stunning turquoise ocean surrounded by snow-topped mountains. Seals, dolphins and migrating whales are all on show in local waters.

Leaving our campervan behind - thanks again to Sunshine Holidays for their beautiful van - we have just spent the week in and around Blenheim with our family (Martin, Heather, Abbie , Morghan and Coco the dog).

After a few days in their home town Blenheim, we headed to the Marlborough Sounds for some relaxing time on the shores of Kenepuru Sound in a beautiful big house with a private beach and stunning views.

It's very hard to understand (for us Europeans). This holiday home is the stuff of millionaires dreams, but for New Zealanders this kind of holiday is perfectly within reach and in fact quite the norm. It's so easy for us to be spoilt here!

There's nothing much to do here, except sit look at the view, take a boat out onto the Sound or eat and drink all the fine food we took with us. Oh, and there's no internet access so this has been the first time on our trip we've been out of range. Tough life, I know.

My brother and I went fishing (that's us in the boat in the image above). Every day for many hours every day. We caught two fish (his 2cm bigger than mine). We were pleased, but acknowledge that there is room for improvement....

Thanks Apple

I know everyone bangs on about Apple, and that some day soon they'll probably turn into the bad guys, but this trip owes a big thank you to Apple...

We're both big unashamed fans of pretty much everything that they make, but on this occasion the real star is our little faithful MacBook which has taken a fair bruising on this trip and has to live in the shadow of Julie's absolute adoration of our iMac which waits for us back in the UK!

We use this computer everyday on our trip, taking orders for Famille Summerbelle, writing blog posts, keeping in touch with family (and reality). Perhaps the most amazing thing for which we must give thanks is Apple's incredible screen share on iChat capability.

Every week of this trip we have accessed our computer back in the UK using the screen share on iChat facility. Just this week we were asked by the Australian edition of Vogue for a hi-res product image (which we didn't have) otherwise they couldn't feature our products...only by accessing our computer at home did we manage to get them a picture. We don't have Photoshop on this little MacBook, but were able to use the version on our iMac (and talk to family at the same time!). Amazing.

So thanks a lot Apple. We like what you do.

Reefton

It was like driving through a one road town in a spaghetti Western.

Another busy day...

...looking for pebbles on the beach on the East Coast.

The most beautiful place on Earth

It is isn't it? We haven't been everywhere yet, and perhaps we haven't even been to enough places to be so bold, but I find it difficult to believe that there may be a more beautiful place than New Zealand.

Don't get me wrong, everywhere you go you'll find something or some place beautiful - and many places perhaps benefit more diversity (we'd say France for one!). But it is the endless awe inspiring beauty of New Zealand that makes it so distinctly special. Every hill or bend (in our beautiful Sunrise Holidays Motorhome) shows you something as spectacular as you have just left. We're getting complacent with the photography - it is difficult to justify to Ophelia the 'every 5 minute' stopping.

Here's a selection - believe me, there are a hundred for every one of these!
These includes shots from Wanaka, Cardrona, Queenstown and the truly unbelievable Milford Sound (thanks especially to Mitre Peak whose boat tour was fantastic).

Happy in the South Island

When we sat down for dinner this evening, we talked about how lucky we have been with our journey. It seems as though each country offers us a new perspective, something very different and it seems always at the right moment.

Truth is we scarcely planned this trip. What with house moving, making sure all was fine with Famille Summerbelle whilst away and general family chaos, we just started with Japan, looked at where the plane went afterwards and made a few quick yes/no choices and here we are. I think sometimes things work best when you just turn up.

New Zealand is drop jaw beautiful. Perhaps the most striking thing for me is that it is so beautiful and so marvelously untouched. You travel for hours and hours through perfectly inhabitable countryside, yet see no one. As we sat eating dinner - atop a mountain overlooking Queenstown - we could see vast luscious green mountains without a single hut or man made object. It's like a big secret.

New Zealand: Now that's what you call a welcome!

Well, it is my brother - and the artwork is the talent of the younger members of the family, Abbie and Morghan. Thanks girls!

Not just that but we were given some lovely cookies and some warm clothes (!) for our journey around the fresher parts of the South Island.

Occasionally, we get to use our blog for a shameless plug - so this one's for the family. Any time you are in New Zealand you've got to come stay in this place: the Blenheim Palms Motel. Best hospitality, finest weather and wine in New Zealand. I'm sure you'll get a very small discount if you mention Famille Summerbelle ;-)