AAVE Trip BLOG » 2007 » August
August 8, 2007
Bike Amsterdam-Paris #2: Update
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Bike Amsterdam Paris, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Dear Families,
After surviving the long flight over the ocean, we finally arrived at Schiphol (Amsterdam airport) - all of us with our luggage but only some of us with enough sleep. We camped in “Amsterdamse Bos”, a nice forest just outside the city, where we oriented ourselves with the new sights and environment.
The next morning we rode into Amsterdam - a visit to the Van Gogh museum, followed by a visit to the Anne Frank house for some of us. Both sights were amazing.
The following day we had our first real biking with the beach and a swim as our goal. It was a very cool campsite on the dunes at the beach, in an area called Bloemendaal aan Zee. At night, some brave campers slept outside on the beach.
I woke up early to cook breakfast - a very new and enjoyable experience. Then we embarked on the 2nd longest bike ride of the trip. A very nice but windy trail along the coast side, up and down the beautiful dunes.
After waking up the next morning, we started the longest and the most amazing bike ride of the trip. We arrived in Noordwelle after pedaling for a tiring 86.5 km (that’s over a 50 miles!!). We are very proud of ourselves! Yesterday we traveled to Middelburg, followed by a visit to the town itself the next morning.
Today we continued to our last campsite in the Netherlands, situated in Sluis. At the midpoint we could relax for a moment on the ferry that took us to the other side of the river. And, of course, we didn’t forget to have a last beach stop at the North Sea.
As you see, we had an amazing time in the Netherlands. Tomorrow we’ll enter Belgium. None of us can believe that this trip is halfway over already, but we are all looking forward to the adventures that have yet to come.
Written by Cody Shulman and friends
Trip leaders want to thank all the parents for having such a wonderful sons and daughters!
Cis, Evie & Anette
August 7, 2007
Ultimate Alps #2A - Non-Stop Action!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG, Ultimate Alps , add a comment
Day Hike in the Alps
Alps 2 Families,
Nestled in the mountains of the Swiss countryside overlooking the Thun lake we can hardly believe we have reached the last leg of our trip.
Friendships have so quickly formed and so many moments we shared we don’t know how to write it all down in a single blog! After leaving Les 2 Alpes we entered into Italy and became settled in our rather snug little campsite set up on a hill with the beautiful view of the city of Verona. We then spent a day touring the city with an average intake per person of three separate ice cream sessions to enhance the mid summer sun! With no pride lost we discovered a unique way of seeing the city by doing a scavenger hunt, which included re-enactment of the Romeo and Juliet scene and scooping our own ice cream and terrifying locals as we crawled across pedestrian crossings. With our mark suitably made upon the city, we moved on after a delicious meal out and took to the Dolomites where we completed two days of hiking and climbing over mountain tops. The climbs were very challenging but completely exhilarating and the cozy mountain huts with 3-course hot dinners made it all worth it. As well as the obligatory afternoon rest reading Harry Potter and taking in the breathtaking views.
From there we challenged our vans (The Black Pearls and the Firebolt!) to the 45 degree hairpin turns assent to Passo Stelvio to ski and snowboard for 2 days with a night in a traditional Tibetan hut! With Italy well and truly explored we have moved on to our little farm house in Switzerland. After a morning helping out the family prepare their produce from their farm and an afternoon of water-skiing, wake boarding and touring Interlaken we are looking forward to our last night in the hay before hitting the slopes in Saas Fee tomorrow.
If we decide to tear ourselves away from the slopes, good friends, Swiss chocolate and pizza we’ll see you soon!
Greetings from the Alps region of Switzerland, Italy and France!
The Ultimate Alps 2A Crew
Costa Rica Clasica #2A - Lovin’ Life!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Costa Rica Clasica, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Costa Rica Clasica #2A could not be better!
Our group is one big amazing bunch of happy, fun, caring, energetic, intelligent, creative people! The group dynamics are amazing because everyone has had the chance to be themselves! Our time together has gone way to fast!
The past week has left us with many memories on the canopy tour, ziplining and tarzan swinging, hiking in the gorgeous cloud forests where we saw monkeys and a sloth and many beautiful animals, swimming in waterfalls, and more experienced with our Spanish due to our classes and our conversations with our host families. It was difficult to say goodbye to our host families and we were able to thank them all with a soccer and pizza party! Yesterday was one of the biggest days of our trip so far because everyone in our group was able to challenge themselves and have fun with mt. biking, horseback riding, and loco river tubing!
We are eagerly looking forward to moving towards the beach the next couple of days! We will have time to go caving, hang out on the beach, surf!, and help clean up the beach to protect the sea turtles.
We hope you are all having a great time just like we are! Until next time, thanks to the JTM office and to each of the families of these amazing group members for your support in making this one of the most amazing trips possible!
Nicole, Johnny and the Tico wannabe’s
Bold West #2B - Final Blog
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Bold West, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Hey Bold West 2B members and families!!
Denise and I wanted to log on and say THANK YOU to all our group members for the all the fun memories from our trip: Zion river walks, Vegas lights, road tripping to California, tall trees, aggressive bees (Manny), granite rocks, roller coasters, waterfalls, soccer on the beach, tasty/crazy meals, lung-busting hikes, whip cream fights, two days ripping and rafting down the American river, catchin’ waves in California, and sunny days in San Francisco (to name a few…). Thanks for all your hard work and good times – you were awesome! Enjoy the rest of your summer and hope to see you on a trip next year…
Your Fearless Leaders,
-Christian and Denise
Bold West #3B - Camper Reflection
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Bold West, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Bold West Families,
After only a short time on our Bold West adventure the bonds we have created will be everlasting. Together we have hiked thought Zion National Park and enjoyed the breath taking views at the top of our Angels Landing an incredibly challenging climb, the beautiful Emerald Pools and tubing in the Virgin River.
We are camping and cooking our own meals, but, we have also tasted civilization in Las Vegas. What a contrast! We walked the neon strip and explored all the intensely flashy hotels on it.
Together we have grown while enjoying a great time. The entire group loves the combination of wild and civilized places. Our group is AWESOME, our leaders are the best.
We can’t wait for all of the adventures ahead,
The BW3 Crew
BOLD WEST #3B - ZION
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Bold West, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
July 24th:
Hey Bold West Families!
We arrived in Vegas yesterday, and we’re now having an amazing time in Zion National Park! We explored a bit in the park today, and went to the beautiful Emerald Pools. To escape the heat, we then went swimming in Springdale, just outside of the park. Tomorrow we are planning to conquer the famous and challenging “Angel’s Landing” hike. Our group is AWESOME, and both of us leaders are very impressed with all of them! We can’t wait for all of the adventures ahead of us this summer. Talk to you all soon!
Sean, Jillian & the Bold West #3B Crew
August 6, 2007
Thailand #2A - Non Stop Action!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG, Thailand , add a comment
Hello All From Mae Hong Son,
Well the kids made it through cooking class with no injuries and a few new cooking tips up their sleeves. That evening we went and had some Mexican food (which was quite good) to change up the flavors a little bit and then we headed to watch Thai boxing. It was INTENSE!! The kids all sat right in front of the ring and loved every second of it. Non stop action!
The next day we headed to the Elephant conservation center to see how the elephants are trained to be useful in logging. We also enjoyed a ride around the park on an elephant’s back. Though bumpy, everyone really enjoyed it. That evening we suited up in our Thai fisherman’s pants and headed to a traditional Thai dinner. The kids had fun sitting at these tables that are on the ground, but have a pit under them in case you don’t want to sit cross-legged. We rushed off after that to the night market to fulfill the kids urges to buy all of the cool handicrafts along the way. The night market is a huge street teeming with booths that have anything and everything you could ever want in Thailand. With bags in hand we headed home on tuk-tuks, three wheeled motorcycles.
The next day we buckled down for a 6 hour car ride up to the jungles of Thailand. It’s a long ride, but well worth the pay off in the end. The cave lodge where we stay is really great with a huge porch, fire pit, bungalows and plenty of wild life to be seen and heard. That night we readied ourselves for the 3 day hill tribe trek. We set off the next morning on 6 hours of hiking through leachy (yes, I said leaches), muddy, slippery trails to arrive at our first tribe. It was great when the kids started wearing the leach bites like a badge of honor…. those who didn’t get them just weren’t as cool 
We slept that night in a bamboo hut on the bamboo floor which isn’t the most comfortable but we roughed it. The local villagers cooked our dinner over an open fire and off to bed fairly early because I warned them that the roosters would be waking us around 4am. It came true, unfortunately.
The next day was 3 more hours of hiking to the next village. That village is a little more advanced and some of us enjoyed a quick swim in the creek and an intense game of soccer with the local kids. They beat us. It was expected given that there were fifty of them and 11 of us. The following day we hiked one more hour to meet up with some bamboo rafts to take us down the river back to the cave lodge. The rafts are piloted by two guys standing on either end with a bamboo stick (picture Venice but with alot of wilderness).
We arrived back to the lodge, cleaned up and then headed to a hand-made silver jewelry store and a cave. The kids had fun riding rafts through the cave and checking out the different formations. We awoke this morning to get back in the cars and head another two hours down winding roads to Mae Hong Son. We checked out a temple high on a hill above the town where we could see everything. Our guest house, the airport we fly out of tomorrow, everything.
The kids are enjoying some free time to e-mail and what not and hopefully they have taken the time to write each of you. This should get you up to date until now and tomorrow we get on our plane to fly down to the islands…. the kids are stoked (as am I)! The beaches are amazing and hopefully they will write to make you all jealous. I will try to write once more before the end of the trip and will be in touch from the airport via phone to let you know they made it on their planes home ok (so expect a phone call at an odd hour). Hope this finds all of you well and we’ll talk soon. If you have any questions, please write.
~Shaun Jackson~
shauncjackson@gmail.com
August 4, 2007
CSI#2A: La Fortuna Waterfall
Posted by Annemarie in : Costa Rica Spanish Intensive, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
La Fortuna Waterfall!!!
Australia #2A - Fun Down Under!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Australia, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Whoo HOO!! What a trip on the water! We had some rough seas and helped out a fellow ship that had caught fire but after our assistance (and by our I mean the crew, we were safely below), all is well.
The dives were awesome, the food great and the kids are FANTASTIC!!! I am really excited to enjoy our time here in Australia together and know we are all going to have a blast down under!
I am sure glad the rough weather and some sea sick kids are behind us. We will be heading out of Airlie beach to the Outback very soon. I am excited to share this adventure! Thanks for sending such a great group!
G’day,
Jenny and Fish
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Costa Rica Spanish Intensive #2A - The Perfect Group!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Costa Rica Spanish Intensive, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Hi Abbott and families,
Life here in Costa Rica brings me pure smiles. I love my group, we are all getting along very well.
The kids loved the canopy tour. Lauren quoted, ¨This was my favorite day of the entire trip.¨ She did awesome and Sarah did the Tarzan swing even though she was scared. She overcame her fear of heights.
Kaitlin quoted that she is ¨truly having the time of her life¨ and today in Sammy´s mid-trip evaluation he said, ¨this camp is the best camp that I have ever gone to.¨´
Yesterday we did an amazing hike in the cloud forest of Monteverde. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt like being in a movie with all the vegetation and wildlife. We finished the day off by taking the kids to a disco for the culture and because they have been awesome. They truly deserved the treat. We danced all night long together.
Today we did our service project on a local coffee plantation. Everyone helped plant coffee trees and cleared out the vegetation around the older coffee plants so that the trees would have room to grow. All of the money on this coffee plantation goes towards scholarships for the local children to attend school. The kids loved the project and worked extremely hard today. We will finish the day off by having a fiesta for our host families. It will be a pizza party with a piñata and an organized game of futbol. Yeah!!
Tomorrow we head to Ricon de la Vieja to enjoy the natural mud spas and an amazing local hotel.
Pura Vida,
Annemarie
Thanks for the perfect group!