We have some very special friends who introduced us to the RV'ing lifestyle and how to travel inexpensively. Glen and Steve are originally from the UK, but have RV'd all over the world, usually buying a small motorhome or campervan and spending months exploring interesting places. They have done this all over Canada, the U.S., and Mexico as well as Europe, New Zealand, South Africa...and of course Australia.
Steve and Glen
Out of all their travels, they say that Australia was, and is, their favorite place to explore with a campervan. Unfortunately, despite being only in their mid 50's, Steve has recently been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and they are now sidelined in Britain for the foreseeable future while Steve undergoes treatment, probably for the next couple of years, if not for the rest of his life. It is possible they won't ever make it back to Australia, and they would like nothing more than to see us exploring it for them.
The next reason is our daughter. Her best friend is living and working in Australia. This contest supplies $12,000 that can ONLY be used towards airfare, hotels, and tours. But we can spend as we wish towards any of those items, even if it means spending the whole thing on airfare to bring extra people. Pretty sure our daughter and her young family would enjoy coming to Australia with us.
Once we got there, we would buy a small campervan and spend months exploring and living exactly the way we do here in North America. And you would see it all through daily updates right here. So really, we are only using this contest to fly there and back and I guarantee that if we won, Australia would get more exposure through our eyes than if any other entry took first place.
Yesterday was another good day for votes, putting us up another 158 votes. We should break the 2,000 mark before the weekend!
Very simple, just visit the link once every 24 hours and click on the "Vote" button. Only takes 5 seconds of your time! Thanks!
On another note, it would have been Whiskey's 16th birthday today. She was a good dog and we sure do miss having her around.
We miss you Whiskey.
Sorry about your friend. I hope you get to go to Australia..
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see it through your eyes..
I voted again!
Dont know if your friends really needed an explanation...we all love to travel and why not win a trip to such a fabuluous place if you can.
ReplyDeleteDont know that I will ever make it to Alaska but Paul and Helen had wonderful pics and I felt like I had been there....I am sure as we follow you thru Australia we will all feel the same....we will be seeing it thru your eyes.
Love the pic of Whiskey...Happy Birthday...you are young again where you are.
Prayers going out for your friends. Praying that treatment is a complete success.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful idea to take you daughter and grandson with you. Won't her friend just love it!
I was in Australia in 2003. Our daughter played softball for the U.S.A. team. They played against the Australian Olympic training team. We have never met such nice, warm, welcoming people. What a beautiful country full of lovely people.
Are/were your friends full timers? We were just starting out to do what we hoped would be world exploring by RV when a rare form of bone cancer showed up in our world. We are wishing Glen & Steve the very best.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are fulltimers in travel. They have being travelling either by motorhome or backpacking over the past 15 years. Now they have to stay within 10mi of the hospital so their wings have been clipped for the moment. We wish them best to them and to your husband David.
DeleteSending healthy thoughts to your friend and his family.
ReplyDeleteGreat Whiskey shot...hugs to you both!
I've heard Oz is a great place for RV'ing as well. Gotten a little expensive since I was last there in 2001.
ReplyDeleteI hope your friend gets better. He's too young to suffer like that.
We have heard the same about Australia being expensive so if we win we will really be put to the test to keep within our budget.
DeleteYou are right that Steve is too young to suffer like that, we are happy that they started their travelling when they did and we are happy that we met them and that it is because of them that we are now doing what we are doing.
sending best wishes and prayers to your friends...how sad...hope the treatments are fast and successful....love the pic of Whiskey...we vote daily
ReplyDeleteGoing to vote everyday and hope you win. Know you are missing Whiskey on her BD. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteHave been voting twice a day.... once at work and once at home. I sure hope you win this trip! I love the new look of the blog. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteI like the new look. Can't believe Whiskey would have been sixteen. Wow.
ReplyDeleteOK, off to vote!
How sad your friend is having to deal with such an illness! We will certainly keep him in our prayers. Hoping you guys win the trip to Australia.....we will keep voting!
ReplyDeleteI know so well how you feel about Whiskey!! You will always miss her! I miss my little Shih Tzu, Molly, two years after she passed away. She was just a little shy of 18 years old. Beautiful picture of her!! Happy Birthday, Whiskey!!
Whiskey was a good dog. I'm sure she's waiting somewhere around the bridge.
ReplyDeleteI loved the movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Not so much the story as their bus adventure through the outback. Wow, talk about starry starry nights.
I can imagine being there at night, all alone, listening to the sounds and looking up above. Too cool! We need to keep voting.
I've been voting faithfully for selfish reasons :) Number one place to visit on my bucket list is Australia and New Zealand. I want you guys to win so I can "tag along" and learn frugal ways to see all the wonderful sites. Keeping my fingers crossed for you! I sure hope your friend gets better and they can continue their travels.
ReplyDeleteMr. Anonymous voted twice for you today also. Once at work and once here at home. Like the new look also.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr. Anonymous! Glad you like the new look.
DeleteI am so sorry to hear that your friend was diagnosed with leukemia. It is a world I know oh too well and I will keep them in my prayers and thoughts!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lea. I know how leukemia has affected your world. I hope that Bianca continues to stay healthy. It is difficult whenever anyone has cancer but more so when it is a child.
DeleteLove the new look of your blog and the pic of Whiskey is adorable. I'm sorry to hear about your friend, Steve - sending good thoughts and prayers their way. We want you to win so we can tag along and see Australia, too! Our daughter traveled there to play AAU basketball and loved it. Good luck!!!
ReplyDeleteSure have learned a lot reading your blog, hearing about it when you visited Contessa I recall. Love to see you travel into the Northern Territory... fascinating. Time to vote!
ReplyDeleteSad about but Glen but the good thing is they did get a lot of travelling done before this happened to him. So many people wait too long and miss the opportunity. You can carry on the dream for them and share with us. I just know you will win.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for Steve.
ReplyDeleteWe would also like to thank everyone so much for you voting efforts and getting the word out there to your friends and family, we really appreciate it. If we keep up the way we are, we will hopefully take the lead in about 2 weeks.
Hello, we are the Steve and Glen in question and would like to thank you all for your best wishes. Maybe one of the best things that could come from this is that some of you who are putting off doings things will stop doing so and just get out there and enjoy whatever it is you want to do. We always say "never put off until tomorrow what you can do today - you may enjoy it and have time to do it again". JUST DO IT
ReplyDeleteWe couldn't agree with you more Steve and Glen! Glad you got us into this. Looking forward to seeing you in the summer. Thinking of you both!
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