The Lambers' are off....again....

 A ton has changed since out last advenure. We sold our home in Toronto, moved to a small town called Goderich. Liv is now in her 2nd last year of high school and Anneka is in Grade 7.  Jesse is still in Toronto, living life to the fullest. We have a new dog; sweet Stanley (the Bernese Mountain dog) and a kitten named Hattie. After our trip around the world, we thought we were finished exploring as a family, (at least until our kids were finished school). Then 3 years ago, the girls planted the seed that maybe we had one more adventure left in us....After lots of discussion and dates and locations changing a couple of times, we were in! We originally were focusing on South America and planning on travelling for 6 months, leaving August and coming home in January. That slowly morphed into going back to SE Asia, and leaving in February (this way the girls could start their sports and get settled into school), coming home in June. 

So there you have it. A solid 4 month adventure... a huge amount of time for most, but seeming so short compared to the last one. A lot has changed, but one thing is for certain, this feeling of wanting to explore this amazing planet and embracing the waunderlust is engrained in this families DNA. We are ready to create new stories and enjoy what life has in store for us. Stay tuned....

That's a Wrap World!

After 355 days of travelling our around the world adventure has come to an end. 24 countries, 29 flights, countless hostels, Booking.com, Airbnb, home stays ,guest houses, trailers, campgrounds, night trains (eww), night buses (double eww).

Transitioning to home life will be hard in many ways, but we are all ready. We will always cherish the time we spent together on this amazing journey. Thank you to all those that followed us along the way and bothered to read our posts, I hope in some way you felt like you were along with us and maybe we inspired you to go somewhere you never imagined.  The world is a truly spectacular place, and even after all the places we have been to, we have barely seen anything. 

That's a wrap for now world, I hope to see more of you again...

Our first picture

Our last....

The UK- Bloody Brilliant!

For our last stop on our journey we were heading to England. A place I have always loved, (I have been here twice, once when I was 8 and once when I was hammered...(hey I was in my 20's, meeting my BF, only stayed for 2 days, then we were off to Bali).

Throughout our travels, I have mentioned the special people we have met along the way. The last friends we were going to visit, we met way back in Costa Rica (Puerto Viejo).  Dan, Jo and their little girl Esmee- (We spent the week in CR having a great time and becoming fast friends). They live in Brighton and invited us to come to their lovely home when we pass through the UK...We happily took them up on their offer, made the plans and we were on our way.

We arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport on time, prepared for an easy 56 minute flight to London Gatwick. 6 hours later we finally arrived. There was a storm hanging over Gatwick and we had to be rerouted...landing at Louten Airport (1 hour north of London!).  Finally after a very long night, safe and sound we reconnected with our friends and dragged ourselves to bed.

We had such an incredible weekend. Very "normal", (what we all need after the jam packed itinerary we usually adhere to). We went to a school and community fair, (I had my first Pimms and Lemonade, OMG!!!), had delicious home cooked meals (including some of the best pizza I ever had!), live bands in a park, hot tubbing, and lots and lots of alcohol. Our first weekend in the UK was a complete success.

Drinking our very classy Stella Atois- In Canada quite hipster- in the Uk....its like drinking a 50

Officially the best summer drink ever

We spent the rest of our time as tourists in Brighton- we rode the girl's first double decker public bus,and went to see the famous Brighton Pier and went up in the I-360.  What a pretty city on the sea, very touristy in some parts, but the same kind of vibe as Niagara falls....probably don't want to do it every day, but it's fun every once and a while...

The next morning we said goodbye to our friends, crossing fingers they will come visit us in Toronto.

We spent the morning visiting the Royal Pavilion, King George's summer palace before we boarded to train and headed to our place in London.

We were staying in Clapham, at a cute Airbnb about an 8 minute walk to Clapham Junction station, navigating the London transit system was a bit of an adjustment, but we managed. 

On our first day in London, we found out such sad news...my dear step dad passed away, (he was ill but only went in the hospital a couple of weeks ago) and the girls had to deal with their first passing of a loved one. Nana insisted we try to enjoy London so after some tearful hours we went out to explore. 

Papa a few months before he died

The next two days we toured every nook and cranny of this magical city. I absolutely love London and the energy it exudes....I took Liv to the Harry Potter studio tour (if you are a fan this is an absolute must do!). 

Liv was in heaven being here- she said it was her absolute favourite place.

From the London Museum (probably my most favourite museum ever) to St Paul' s Cathedral, Westminster Abby, the Parliament buildings, Big Ben (covered in scaffold so couldn't see an inch of it). Buckingham Palace, St James Park, Hyde Park, The Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, the Thames....phew...there is a ton to do and we barely scratched the surface.

I absolutely LOVE the history of this place

St James park, with a bird trying to get in the shot

Westminster Abby

On our last night in London (and our last ever night from our year around the world), it was very fitting to meet up with my mom's cousins that live in Surrey. I have not seen them in about 35 years. How great to reconnect with this part of my family. I instantly felt connected to them and so happy we met. Sally, Janet, Martin and Dennis, I will for sure see you again! 

Waking up in the morning was bittersweet, we were all a little emotional about the day ahead, excited to be coming home, but knowing things will never be the same.

The Netherlands- off the beaten track and beyond....

Johnny's parents left Holland in 1967, leaving behind all of their relatives. The last time Johnny visited was in his early 20's and he doesn't remember much. From the very beginning we knew we would be travelling to Holland to visit aunts, uncles and cousins that he hasn't seen in a very long time. Most of the family still lives in the small village of Vroomshoop (population 7000), about an hour and a half east of Amsterdam. A beautiful, typical, Dutch town with a canal, a small downtown and oodles of bike trails.

No hotels or Airbnb's here, but Johnny's aunt managed to find us an amazing B&B in a picturesque neighbourhood. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has the most pristine gardens you have ever seen, pride of ownership is apparent everywhere we went. The next few days were some of the most relaxing on this whole trip. Lots of visits, meeting and getting reacquainted with relatives and lots and lots of food (omg I LOVE Kip Kerrie!)

The girls met 5 new cousins! All around the same age, it was amazing

Some of the crew from Johnnys mom's side

Johnny's uncle Oma Jan, is a retired firefighter in Holland with 40 years of service...he runs the firehall museum and town and there is even a street named after him! Not too shabby!

The firehall museum

The street Jan Jensen (see a resemblance?? I totally think he looks like Johnny)

We also met Johnny's dad sister Lucy and her daughter Linda, another great time with family...and Linda let us go for a ride in her sweet car!

We had to say goodbye to the family and got the traditional Dutch send off...

We decided to stop in the beautiful city of Deventer on our way to Utrecht. One of Johnny's cousins lived there and offered to tour us around his beautiful city. Another lovely European town, with a gorgeous square, cathedral and homes that dated back hundreds of years (the oldest house in the Netherlands is in Deventer). 

Meeting Gerjo 

Deventer Sqaure

We had another special treat. Gerjo takes care of the cathedral in town and was able to give us a behind the scenes look. We were able to tour up stairs and see all the hidden secrets in this wonderful building. He also let the girls play the church organ then surprised us all with his mad skills....            (Gerjo impressive's Organ skills )

This is above the vaulted ceiling

Entry to the bell tower

We loved Deventer so much, and felt like we did not spend enough time there, Gerjo told us there was a huge street festival, so we came back a few days later...The whole place had a very Mardi Gras feel, with buskers performing throughout the square...

We left Deventer and headed to Utrecht. We were having trouble finding reasonable accommodations in Amsterdam (everything was at least 250+ a night, what a crazy expensive city!). Johnny's cousins, Andre suggested we stay in Utrecht-  a ton to offer, much cheaper, very beautiful and close enough to Amsterdam by train we could make day trips. What an awesome decision (thanks Andre). We loved Utrecht. We had a great time exploring the city. Andre took us out, (we rented bikes of course) and tooted around to some of his favourite spots. 

gotta love the houseboats on the canals

A working windmill in the city

a beautiful stop along the canal

Johnny and Andre

The next day went went into Amsterdam. I really wanted to see the Anne Frank house  (we had to book tickets a few weeks before as they sell out fast). After visiting Normandy, the girls have a pretty good idea about what happen in WW2, so it was amazing to see how engaged they were at the Anne Frank house. There is a new museum attached and we opted to have a 30 minute info session before we toured the house. It was so well done...and so very sad... The girls were quite moved, even Anneka in her own way, understood how awful this was.

the house in the 1940's

this is the house today, you enter from the museum around the corner and it takes you up the stairs through the back of the house where the annex was

 We spent the rest of the day walking around Amsterdam, such a great city, but very busy...

Over the next few days we visited the smaller but stunning city of Haarlem...

Haarlem

 ...and went to the Zaanse Schans- the beautiful area with all the windmills

The girls and I went back into Amsterdam to check out the most amazing Science Centre- Nemo, while Johnny went to explore The Hague (or Den Haag)

Den Haag

The Nemo Science Museum

in the middle of a bubble

On suggestion of our friends we checked out the Castle De Haar (just outside Utrecht). What a place. Probably one of the nicer castles we have seen. Apparently all the who's who of the 1950's and 60's spent a lot of time partying here, as was evident in all the pictures throughout.

the front entrance- meant to impress

The baroness's room

 

A stop in a new city wouldn't be complete unless we went to a playground- The Europeans really know how to build them!

Johnny took the morning and went to the Rietveld Schroder house- made a UNESCO Heritage site in 2000, an architectural marvel- built in 1923. This place looks like it could have been built yesterday.

crazy to think this house was built almost 100 years ago

After 10 very busy, fun filled days we had to say good bye to our family in Holland. It was so great to be able to meet everyone and share with the girls this part of their heritage. 

We rented our car in Paris just over 3 weeks ago. It was much cheaper to drive it back and fly out of Charles de Gaulle, then to leave it in the Netherlands and fly to London from there. Only a four and half hour drive, and 4 countries later and we arrived at the airport on our way to our last and final destination before going back home.

Very mixed emotions about this...YIKES!