On Thursday night (Jan.17) my mom, dad and I arrived in Southampton, England. The main reason we went to Southampton was to see the football/soccer match.

When we arrived we headed to our airbnb, which was a boat! It was very nice and spacious. The only annoying thing was when the boat rocked at midnight and woke me up. The motorboat had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and had nice living spaces both inside and outside. Too bad it was too cold to enjoy the outside areas. My room was small but cozy.

Since it was late we were quite hungry, we quickly found an Italian restaurant. This restaurant was told to have the best Italian food around. The place was called Ennio’s. It was definitely not the best I have had (because as you may know I have been to Italy many times). Here is what we had and how good it was. We started with a scrumptious shrimp that was nice to snack on. Next we had melon with prosciutto as a starter. It was good, but not really in season. The last thing I want to mention is the tagliatelle with red sauce which was good.

For dessert my dad had a caramel popcorn cake. I didn’t like the cake but I couldn’t stop stealing his caramel popcorn.

The next morning we had a day tour arranged with a  guy called Geoff. His brand was: http://www.executiveconnection.co.uk Geoff was very nice and funny. I definetly recommend Robert as a tour guide.

Our first stops were Bluehenge and Woodhenge. This is a sight similar to the more famous Stonehenge, but they helped to better understand the area.

As we drove through the forest with wild horses, we saw a huge estate. Turns out that it was Sting’s (from The Police) house. This was fun since I am learning to play/sing Every Breathe You Take for my spring guitar recital. 

Our next stop was in Salisbury to see the famous church, the Salisbury Cathedral. The church was very pretty and we enjoyed learning lots if history. One of the highlights here was seeing the original Magna Carta and the first clock dating to 1386. The Magna Carta was agreed to in 1215 between King John of England and the people. It is a very key part of history as it provided basic rights to the common people and limited the rights of the Crown to simply throw people in jail whenever they wanted or to demand payments. 

Something that I thought was very interesting was that for paper they used animal skin and it was VERY expensive. So people wrote as small as they could (very small) so they didn’t waste any space.

At the church we had a snack/bite/small lunch. I enjoyed a fresh English scone and a fresh smoothie.

The next stop was the famous Stonehenge. When we got there we had a snack of a verity of fresh bakery items. Before we saw the actual rocks of Stonehenge we went through an exhibition to learn about the area and why it was important. Then we saw the houses/huts that people would have lived in.

The area was developed 5,000 years ago! Think about that, 5,000 years is a long time ago to be able to design, move, and contruct such large rocks. Stonehenge is still mostly a mystery today. Who put these stones here? How did people get these rocks? Why are these rocks here?

After the exhibition we took a bus to Stonehenge. It was beautiful (but cold and windy). While not the most exciting to see some large rocks, it was fun to let your mind think of life 5,000 years ago and what this all meant.

After that we ended the tour, Geoff brought us back to our boat.

For dinner we went to a place called Dancing Man Brewery. It was very good. When we walked in we where a little worried that it was only a brewery. After we asked for dinner, they showed us their upstairs which was were they served dinner. The food was delish! We got two very filling and tasty English pies. I got a great fresh hamburger.

The next day was the football/soccer match. We had the morning free to see the city, so we went to some museums. However, we had to get fueled up first, so we searched for a place to go for breakfast. We found a place called The Docks. I enjoyed it. We got a freshly baked cinnamon roll. My dad was happy to get the “Full English breakfast” there, which was good because he kept talking about wanting that. 

The first museum we went to was called the Solent Sky museum. Here a guide let us go in side a few small planes. He also let us go in the flying part of a large sea plane. We were not sure why he picked us, but we were the only ones permitted to these areas. 

The next stop was the football/soccer match. At the match we got special priority because my mom works at Under Armour which sponsors the Southampton football club. Prior to the match, they offered a sheet that you could fill out and guess the final score. My dad managed to guess the right score but we were sad to find out that after you get it right they pick a name from a hat and my dad wasn’t picked which was sad. The food was very good they had 3 good courses. I really enjoyed the hamburger and the cheese plate. On the cheese plate they had a delicious cheese called Munster.

We enjoyed the game!

The next day we went to a museum called Sea City Museum. It was based on the famous Titanic. The Titanic set sail from Southampton for its first trip to New York. However, the ship hit an iceberg and sank. We had all heard of the story before, but it was a great exhibit explaining everything in more detail. Something we hadn’t considered was how many people local to the city tried so hard to get work on the ship, only to not survive. My favorite part was where I could sail the titanic in a video game (I was great and didn’t sink, they should have hired me).

After the museum I enjoyed shopping at a stationary store called Smiggle. All of Smiggle’s stuff is scented. Spending time at a shopping mall may not have been the highlight for my paretns, but I sure enjoyed it.

We enjoyed a sunny walk over to a fancy ‘roast’ at the Harbour Hotel. We hoped to find a classic English roast. But that it was not. It was quit fancy, but we where still very happy.

At the end we where full.

From there we flew back to Amsterdam.

On Dec.19, 2018 my mom, dad and I went from Kenya, Africa to Tanzania, Africa. We went to Tanzania to go on safari for 8 days.

When we flew into Tanzania we arrived at Kilimanjaro airport. Our guide there drove us an hour to our hotel in Arusha called Four Points, Sheraton.

The Four Points, Sheraton hotel was very nice. When you walk in there is security (metal detectors like at the airport), we have not had that before. However, they just let us walk around them. There was a pool and a gym. There was also an included breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet. We had dinner and breakfast there.

The first lunch we had, was at a place called Themi Living Gardens. It was out doors (kind of like a picnic) surrounded by nature. The food was local Kenyan food. There where not many people but we were there after lunch time. The food was fine (my favorite food was the lentils). It felt like the kind of food you would have if a local invited you to their house. While we were on our way to this lunch spot we noticed that in the town there are people known as fly catchers. These people try to “be helpful” to get some money to go away. It is hard to just ignore them rather than being nice and saying hi. So tiring.

In the afternoon we visited the nearby Maasai Market. Here it was almost like everyone was a fly-catcher. Everyone wanted us to come in and see all the things that they “spent so much time on”. The funny thing was despite being a large market, many stands had the same stuff. Also, all the prices were very flexible. 

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Spices and Herbs Ethiopian Restaurant. It was very nice. My dad had a traditional injare (a flat crepe like bread that you use to eat with your hands) and lentils. It was a relaxing and good place to try.

We had a slow morning and then got picked up by our driver. We headed to The Tanzanite Experience to learn about the history of the rare stone. They say that tanzanite is 1,000 more rare than diamonds and only found for one generation in Tanzania. The museum was fun. My favorite part was when we got to go in a cave exhibit to get a sense of what it was like to be a miner and see what they would see inside the mountains. 

After the Tanzanite tour we headed towards Rivertrees, which is a lodge outside of Arusha. The lodge was very nice with monkeys (blue, black, and the long-haired black and white) swinging in the trees, a pool, and a delicious restaurant. You could also enjoy a walk thru their nature trails that passed aside a creek. In the restaurant they had a big wood burning pizza oven. Guess what I had for dinner? It was great. The ham and pineapple was fresh and tasty!

The next day we left for our 8 day safari. We met our safari driver, his name was Felix and I could tell he was going to be fun and funny. I was falling off my seat in anticipation!

On the drive to our next camp, we passed thru Tarangire National Park. This is where we saw our first wild animals. I saw giraffes, zebras, baboons, warthogs, impalas, gazels and dik diks (they were like fairy sized deer). We were so excited to see EVERYTHING! That night we arrived at Maramiboi Tented Camp. Here’s the link: http://twctanzania.com/en/accommodation/maramboi-tented-lodge/

It was awesome! The minute we arrived I could see wildlife everywhere Zebras, wildebeests, impalas, and warthogs. We were welcomed with fresh juices and homemade cookies. Our sleeping tent overlooked a private safari. That evening we went to their pool overlooking a beautiful sunset. During our pool time we also had a happy hour of drinks and snacks, which they have once a day.

After dinner, it is required that someone from their staff walks you back to the tent. Good thing! There were over 100 zebras and wildebeests all over the path to tour tent. When we got inside, you could hear them running right outside the windows and playing around.

The next morning we woke up early for a great day of safari.

On day 3 of our safari we toured Ngorongoro Conservation area. The next place that we stayed at was called Ngorongoro Farm Lodge. When we arrived we were welcomed with a variety of drinks and cookies. While my dad went on a coffee tour, my mom and I went to our cottage to get settled. While my dad was still on the tour, we went to the pool and had a relaxing swim all to ourselves.

That evening, right before dinner, we joined a dancing show that was run by the coffee tour guide – who was also the chief of the local tribe. He brought in several others from his tribe to perform local dancing, which we all participated in. It was a very good dance, but it was hard to follow along and we definitely were not masters! 

The next morning (Christmas Eve) for safari we went to a new park inside the largest crater in the world. Here we saw even more animals, such as zebras, wildebeests, hyenas, buffalos, hippos, rhinos, and lions.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the reserve. When we got there, we saw several monkeys under a tree watching us. We started eating our boxed lunch, when a monkey suddenly attacked my dads lunch box and stole his samosa and banana! What a naughty monkey! He was probably happy with his achievements. Not only did he get a good snack, but he also got attention. Next thing we knew, we were moving to the caged lunch area so no monkey’s could get us!

When we got back from a long day of safari. We had dinner and went to bed. In our lodge my mom surprised me with our stockings. I was so happy that she brought them. We put them next to the fireplace with a card that I picked up from the airport and some American Christmas cookies that we also put out. That night I wished that Santa would still come under such short notice.

The next morning I awoke with excitement to see if santa had come. He had come! I was relived.

That day for safari we went back to the crater (the biggest dry crater in the world) again and saw more awesome animals. At noon we went to where one of the tribes lived (called Maasai Tribe). They preformed a dance for us – it was a traditional ‘jumping dance’. Then our guide showed us their market, then their houses and last their school/kindergarten. The market was quit expensive so that effected what we bought. We still got a few things because we liked it and most of all we knew that it was helping.

The next day we left for the Serengeti safari park and we stayed at Camp Kati Kati. The park was great in my top 2 out of four. I loved the variety of animal, but I recommend that you don’t go here first because it does not have the first safari felling. Camp Kati Kati was nice but a lot like camping.

The camps were ‘mobile’ camps that could be taken down and moved around throughout the year. It was great to be inside the park. Since we were inside the Serengeti, there were lots of animals closely watching you (like hyenas and cape buffalos). One night a hyena attacked our tent and chewed a bit of a fabric washer that was on the porch. There where no stories of anyone getting hurt, which helped us relax. Also that night our guide said he heard some animals fighting.

There where quit a few bugs at dinner one night and they where everywhere. But the second night was much better, with much less bugs. It was actually really nice to have a good meal in the middle of such a remote and beautiful place.

Something we noticed during the whole safari is that there are small flies, called Tsa tsa flys that are like mosquitoes but don’t itch and only come out in the rain. These flies got to be very annoying at times.

On the last day (the day we left for  the airport) we saw something amazing. It was a fight between about 30 cape buffalo and pride of 20 lions. The lions where ahead for a while, bringing buffalos towards them. Just when I thought that the lions had definitely won,  the buffalos charged back and won this battle with no deaths. As the loins stalked the buffalos, they were walking right next to us, like within 1 meter of our truck!

From the middle of the Serengeti we took a flight in a very small plane back to Arusha. We stayed in Arusha for our last 2 days. During the flight we got a gorgeous view of mount Kilimanjaro.

We arrived at a wonderful lodge called Mount Meru Game Lodge and Sanctuary. At the lodge they had a (cold) pool, a space for rescued animals and a nature walk that you could take around their lodge. Here they also had a few walks that you can take with a guide. We went on one that was a city walk. We learnt some stuff, but not much special. Our guide was the mayor the village and shared the information that was needed, but not too much. Over all this tour was fine and a good way to spend time. It was pretty eye-opening to see local life.

At the lodge the have a wonderful restaurant. At the restaurant they have a wood burning pizza oven, which convinced us to get 2 pizzas (they where scrumptious). For a drink I got a passion fruit mojito, also delicious! It had chunks of passion fruit seeds. For the rest of the stay I always ordered their passion fruit mojitos. The rooms/mini houses where well sized with 3 beds and a bathroom.

From there we left, and went back to Amsterdam.

Over all the safari These are the animals that we saw:

 

On December 14th my Mom, Dad and I arrived in Nairobi, Keyna, Africa for Winter/Christmas break. Our driver (John) talked to us during the drive, and he told us that “Nairobi is the only place in the world with a National park in the city!” While driving I also noticed that the Kenyans drive on the other side of the road (and later I found out that Kenya is not the only ones in Africa that do this). There was also lots of traffic on week days. It is surprising, but you see people everywhere at all hours.

We arrived at our cottage called Saverine late that night. At Saverine a delicious breakfast was included. There I meet a great friend called Saverine. Her mom owned the cottage so it was named after her. It was so fun to find a friend to spend the evenings with.

One our first day we went on a relaxing coffee tour. The place was called Mbumi Coffee Estate. Here are some things we learnt on the tour thanks to David, our tour guide. We learned that it takes 20-25 years to make good quality coffee. It even takes 8-10 years to start getting coffee. Good quality coffee will produce heavier beans. There are two diseases possible for coffee trees such as yellow fever and rust. During the process of growing coffee you can see all the colors of the Kenyan flag; green, then red, then black.

Coffee was first made (invented) in a country close to Kenya called Ethiopia. There are many (by many I mean many) different grades of coffee (not like in school grades) like PB, AA, E, T, AE, AB. These growers focus on only the premium grades. There are also different roasts like light, medium, dark and french. At the coffee farm we walked around ND their 350 acres of land. Coffee beans look like a type of fruit, they have a sweet and sugary flavor before the berries are picked one by one by hand. Only the red berries are harvested.

And what I thought was the coolest thing to learn was that most Kenyans themselves don’t actually drink coffee and much more prefer tea (British influence). At the end of the tour we enjoyed a snack overlooking the coffee farm. My parents enjoyed a good tasting of coffee. Last but certainly not least we made our own coffee :-). My dad was able to roast his own batch of beans and take them home.

On December 14th we also went to the famous Giraffe Centre. We truly enjoyed the centre. We were allowed to take pellets for free and hand feed the giraffes. The giraffes where very sweet and gentle when we where feeding them, they would like one pellet at a time from your hand. Some people even put a pellet in their lips!

They would try to get the pellet from you with their long tounge. There where two main giraffes that we could interact with. One was a teen and the other was an adult. There was also a small expedition that was free to look at. There was a gift shop that was very dark (we got a wooden ornament of a giraffe in criss-cross).  This was a great well-known stop.

The next day we went to an Elephant Nursery. It was called “The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust”. It is open 1 hour (11:00 – 12:00) every day. The first thing we saw was a cute little baby white rhino, it was less than four weeks old and the mother left it stuck in the mud. They told the story of him and how he was rescued.

Next we saw a group of (funny, silly and cute) elephants. The workers said that all their animals where orphans. They followed by telling a story for each and every animal. In total we saw 18 elephants. When the elaphants came the first thing they did was drink milk from large baby bottles.

All the animals were raised to be put back in the wild at age 8 to 10.

After that we went to a lunch spot called Boho Eatery. There they had cool cottages you could stay at, they were like huts biult on posts. I recommend the pulled pork sandwich.

Next we went to the Karen Blixen museum. The city we where in was named after her. We got a personal guide (student guide) that gave us our tour. I was never quite sure what made Karen Blixen so famous. I would recommend going here if you would like to know about the person who the town was named after.

For dinner that night (Dec.16) we ate at a restaurant called Carnavor. It was well known and super fun. The waitresess would walk around with a tray full of food and you would have to let them know if you want the food or not. Here they had lots of meat.

Even some crazy meats like crocodile, ox balls and ostrige. My favorite was the crocodile, my parents liked the ostrige most.

The next day we went on a tour of the Kawangware slums (VERY poor people). We did this tour with a shop that sells stoves and ovens to the slums. All of the sales people live in the slums. The brand was called Livelyhods.

We started of the tour by going to Livelyhods headquarters. We were the only ones on the tour and we started off by watching them have a meeting on their company to see who sold the most and who made the most money.

In the beginning I didn’t realize why we had to learn about their business and how much they sold because it was a tour on the slums not their business but then I realized that basically we are being put into their business for one day to see what it’s like to be in their business and go around selling to the slums. The slums we visited had about 150,000 people and the larger slum (biggest in the world) has about 250,000 people.

After a little bit or planning the day we stopped and everyone (including us) had a snack. There was this pancake bread (chapati) and tea. Then we started the tour. On the tour we had 2 people who worked at Livelyhods walk around with us. It was very interesting to see the slums and how they lived. During the tour we got to see what a slum house looks like inside. Each house was basically a metal she’d which was extremely small and there was no kitchen and no bathroom – just the bed.

While my parents continued talking with the lady that let us into her house, I went outside to hangout with some local kids and we played some fun games. They seemed like even though they were very poor, they were still very happy. They were always smiling and having fun. We heard “hello, how are you?” With a smile and wave so many times. People would just yelled out to us.

The next day (Dec.18) we did a beading (bracelet making) class. The organization we did it with was called Spinners Web the workshop is Weza4life. Here we were taught to make jewelry (bracelets, necklaces and earings). It was a great experience. We found out that the women that worked there all had AIDA. We also learnt that it was a non-profit business and they used all the money to buy school books to help kids go to school. At the end we got to bring home everything we made, plus my mom and I bought a few extra things from their shop.

For lunch that day my mom, dad and I went to a restaurant called Arbor Place. Like most places here, we enjoyed lunch outside in a beautiful garden. From here I remember the great spring rolls, My refreshing strawberry lemonade and my scrumptious Arbor Burger (I definitely recommend).

Later for dinner we went to a restaurant called Tailsman. Here I loved their idea of having a fire-place for every table. As the sun set, it got cool. So, each person who wanted a little portable frog fireplace, had one brought to them, to keep warm. So cozy. Here I got homemade mozzarella, miso soup and a sushi platter. Good place, but not favorite. It was a place with a lot of expats and tourists.

On the last day in Kenya (Dec.19), we started off by going to a place called Langata. Langata was a few little shops that where all connected. There was also a bank and a food stand which we did not try. It was fun but there where no special memories taken.

Later in the day for lunch we went to  a Tea Plantation on our way to the airport. During the plantation we learnt that Kenya is the 3rd biggest exporter of tea in the world.

Kenya is the number 1 biggest exporter of tea in Africa. Our guide’s name was Fiona and she owned the farm. She inherited it from her grandfather. On the farm there were 35 acres of land. We took a walk trough their forest and saw many monkeys who liked avocados and bananas of course. After the tour we enjoyed a 3 course buffet (very delicious) on their front yard. For dessert we enjoyed handmade ice cream from their cows in flavors chocolate and vanilla.

Over all it was a great experience with a great lunch.

On October 5th, my mom, dad and me left to Berlin, Germany. We took a 6 hour train ride over to Berlin from Amsterdam. The day we arrived we went on a food tour called Secret Food Tours Berlin. The tour was excellent! We tried local foods and learnt about the history of Berlin. The diner kebab was my favorite stop. It was the first stop and it was great, it was juicy and fresh. There where a few different kebabs passed around but I love the kebab that I got. There they also had a version of Cola but it was called Fitz-Kola (pronounced, fits-cola). It was like a normal Cola, but less sugary.Our next stop was a delicious restaurant called BlechBlinderBar. Here’s the link https://www.blechbilderbar.de/. At the BlechBlinderBar we ate a very good flatbread (pizza) with onion, bacon, etc. The pizza had a thin crust. The stop after that was a small and quit busy shop. The shop sold nuts, dried-out fruits and fruits covered in chocolate. Later, we tried German Currywurst’s at a food vendor. Our tour guide said that usually you are either a currywurst fan or not. I was in the middle though. Most liked it. If you are in Germany then I recommend that you try the currywurst. It doesn’t matter so much where as most places selling currywurst are similar.Last, we we stopped at a place with very good schnitzel. Our tour guide also had a local dessert with him that he shared with all of us. But I will keep the type of dessert a secret in case you ever do the tour 😉

The next day my family and I went to an “Oktoberfest”. It was more of a carnival but it was still fun. My favorite thing at the Oktoberfest was a game where you buy coins and then you drop them in a box and eventually they push more coins and prizes off the board for you. Here’s a picture of my mom and I all dressed up for “Oktoberfest”. (Barely any people where dressed up. We all learnt that Oktoberfest is really mostly celebrated in the southern part of Germany.)

On Friday September 28, 2018 I left from school to go on a road trip to Luxunburg. The day after that I had a race for my school cross country team. In the race on the U12 squad, I did 3 kilometers and the U14 squad did 5 kilometers. Of course I was on the U12 team, meaning age 12 and under.

While we were in Luxemburg we stayed at Novotel Luxemburg. I would give Novotel a 5 star rating. Because they where a great host and allowed 60 crazy kids into their hotel. They also allowed us to use half of their restaurant for our pasta dinner. In the Novotel we had to meals including dinner and breakfast which where both buffets.

The rooms where cleaned and a good size. Although it did get a little hot in my room with me and my 2 roommates. We tried to turn down the temperature, but it didn’t get cooler and it stayed too warm.

Later on (after breakfast) we took a 25 minute ride by our private team bus over to a forest for our race of 3 kilometers. It was a great day and perfect weather. I enjoyed my run and met my goal.

After that we drove for 2 hours over to a lunch spot. Where we had lunch. Then we drove 3 more hours and arrived at school at 8:00 PM.

On August 4, 2018 my family and I flew into Iowa, Ames and my dads parents (my grandparents) where there to pick us up. (All my grandparents and all of my cousins on my mom’s side live in Iowa). We stayed with my dads parents for two days. The night that we arrived we went to a restaurant called The Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company which is part of my top 2 favorite restaurants in Iowa.

Here’s a link to Great Plains (http://greatplainspizza.com/.

Two days later we went to my other grandparents house (my mom’s parents house) for two days. The first day there my grandma, my mom and I went to get our nails done at a place called Crystal Nails. My grandma said that Crystal Nails is her favorite place to get her nails done. I give Crystal Nails 3 stars because the lady who did our nails cut my mom’s nails to short, and did not plan well because she did the fastest first (me), then the second fastest and last she did the longest (taking of gel off then putting on gel). I was done and had to sit and wait too long. On our way back we went to an ice cream place that had rolled ice cream called Sweet Swirls Rolled Ice Cream.

Here’s the link https://www.sweetswirlsrolledicecream.com/.

Later in the week when we were with my dads parents we finally went to my favorite sandwich spot called Down Town Deli.

Here’s a link https://www.downtowndeliames.com/. I give Down Town Deli a 5 star rating. If you go to Down Town Deli then I recommend if they have their cheese soup on the menu, then definitely get it.

The week after that my mom and I went to the Iowa State Fair to watch Jim Gaffigan (who is a comedian).

The next day my family and I went back to the Iowa State Fair for a whole day of fun. The State Fair is a very fun place that I would recommend going to if you are in Iowa in the month of August, there is so much to see and do.

On our last full day of Iowa all of my grandparents and the family of my uncle came down to a farm owned by my dads parents. At the farm we grilled out hamburgers, sausages and marshmallows. We also got to ride four wheelers.

Here are some of my favorite things about Iowa. Corn dogs,

Iowa State Fair, Down Town Deli, Great Plains, bacon, sweet corn, pork tenderloin and BLTs.

I love Iowa!