“As way leads on to way……” Robert Frost
| Time | Place | Activity | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Antwerp | Au-pair to 3 children | First flight to Brussels Move to summer home in the Ardennes. Experience with horses and swimming with kids I learnt French cooking |
| 1975 | Vienna | Wein@ Schloss Gobelsberg | Overland solo train journey Brussels to Vienna x 2. Hosted wine sales tour of Austria. Vinyard to Delivery truck Catering and wine bar work while living in an open Museum |
| 1976 | Meaux | Au-pair to 7 children | Hike on WW1 border between France & Germany(Treaty of Versailles) visit to Struthof Concentration Camp on family holiday. Unforgettable! |
| 1977 | Paris | Sight seeing | All the Parisian firsts with a ‘feu d’artifice’ at Versailles Palace Gardens on mid-summer’s night Magique! |
| 1988 | Périgeux | Prof d’anglais | Teaching exchange to Lycée Bertrand de Born, Road trips from La Rochelle to Genève with some alpine snow adventures, city breaks and seaside visits |
| 1989 | Buriram state Thailand | Au Pair to 3 missionary children | Meeting & Greeting locals Learnt some Thai Visited local school Was “farang, farang” on her bike cycling to P.O. Bartering in Bangkok markets Sea swims in Hua Hin |
| 1989 | Down Under | Visiting friends on open-jaw ticket to 3 cities | Jackie (friend from infant school) & family in Brisbane Joe & Denise former teachers of mine in Sydney Detour to Gosford and on to Perth & Freemantle in WA Being identified as the Irish guests because we were out walking in July sunshine Mid-winter! |
| 1990 | Bolivia & Peru | Visit with a Dutch missionary in La Paz, Bolivia Visit with an Irish nun in ‘la paroquia católica’, in Nasca, Peru | Nothing to compare the colorful city of La Paz at high altitude and the even higher tent city of EL Alto on the mountain top. the street traders with babies on their backs and merchandise on their heads would descend the mountain paths to set up for a days trading All color Trip to Lake Titicaca and boat builder’s workshop Seeing the Nasca lines Getting caught in fraught atmosphere of Presidential Elections in Lima Scary! |
| 1991 | Drive across Europe x4 | Bringing medical supplies for a poly clinic in Galatz Romania Second trip bringing baby food to Brasov | Border crossings, deep snow driving conditions, foreign exchange for petrol, meeting highwaymen in the mountains, loosing an engine pipe to fire on New Years Day and spending the day in a wooden hut with two guardian ang els communicating in Esperanto and assuring them we had “Wasser distilate” on board! Visiting a hospital blood testing laboratory and knowing how far behind European standards for equipment they were! Sobering! |
