First Post!

Holy crap, we have only a day left before it all begins! Here is our itinerary so far:

August 5^th – fly from DFW to NYC! Jonathan will be playing a show on the 6^th and we are staying with our friend Mark’s older sister Rebecca. There is also a chance that we will take a bus to Philly for a day trip and to see our friend’s band play.

August 10^th – Our European adventure begins, we fly from NYC to Birmingham, UK.From Birmingham we are catching a train to Coventry, where Jonathan is planning on visiting the University of Warwick. We plan on staying in Coventry for two nights at the Chace Corus Hotel to get over jet-lag.

August 13^th – We leave Coventry and head for London. We will actually be staying outside of London in Brixton at a hostel called The Hootenanny Hostel! Woo! We are going to stay there for the weekend and plan on checking out the many (free) museums and parks that London has to offer. We also plan on making a day trip to Brighton where Jonathan will be checking out the University of Sussex (which is by the sea, so Ashleigh can’t complain).

August 17^th – We plan on making our way to Cardiff, Wales, the capital city. We are booked at Howard's Garden Hostel. We plan on exploring Cardiff until our first WWOOF host takes us in on the 19^th.  Here is the information about the farm we will be staying at until the 26^th:

Farm name: Old Chapel Farm

Host Names:  Fran and Kevin Blockley

Phone: 01016864127

Email: franblockley@yahoo.co.uk

Region: Powys (North Wales)

City: Llanidloes

Postcode: SY186JR

Situation: Isolated

Description: A creative and friendly household in the beautiful hills of mid Wales. We run an archaeological company from here and are trying to build an educational and cultural centre based on prehistoric arts. We grow most of our own veg and meat, have a flock of Jacob sheep, Jersey cows, bees, hens and unbroken horse. Our home is a 17th century farmhouse which we have restored and this year we are working on the stone chapel and thatched barn (craft centre). We use alternative energy, have permission to build ecocabins, manage a 16 acre woodland and have done much to increase the biodiversity of our farm. WWOOFers work is very varied. We try to give them a taste of all aspects of rural living. Accommodation is in rooms or yurts or a tree. We love having foreign travellers to stay and we'd be really interested in having some long term WWOOFers/community members. Work 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

August 26^th – From Wales we will travel back to London to catch the underwater train to Amsterdam where we are staying at the HEM Hotel Amsterdam until the 29^th. We plan on biking everywhere and checking out the many, many museums. 

August 29^th – Today we leave Amsterdam and head south towards the town of Arnhem, which is the closest town to Hoge Veluwe National Park! Links here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoge_Veluwe_National_Park

http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/default.asp?language=2

We will be staying on a houseboat bed and breakfast on the Rhine called The Anthonia. Here is a link to the website: http://www.anthonianet.nl/index.htm

Cute, huh? We will stay there for three nights until the 1^st.

September 1^st – Today is the day that we begin working on the farm in Antwerp, Belgium! We will be staying for around 3 weeks. Here is all the information:

Farm name: DE VERSCHOLEN TUIN

Hosts names: Lous and Luc

Address:  Peter Benoit Laan 15 , 2100 Deurne , Antwerp , BELGIUM

Email : monballieuwijn@hotmail.com

Web : www.deverscholentuin.com           

Country : Belgium

Location : small agricultural zone on the outskirts of Antwerp

Description: Retreat centre with extensive gardens (cycling distance from Antwerp). Work with vegetables, plants, animals, building. Run by Dutch/Belgian couple.Small diversity of languages spoken, delicious food, lively atmosphere, spiritually inclined (we tend to practice tai chi, yoga, meditation). We also like beer. Work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Around September 22^nd/23^rd – We will head to Munich and hopefully meet up with Jack at Oktoberfest. We will be staying for a few days (until we grow tired of German beer, which may take a while for Jonathan).

From Munich we will head to Krakow, Poland to stay with Jack until he starts grad school in the beginning of October. We are very, very excited about this! Hi, Jack! 

From Krakow we plan on hitting up a few cities: Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. We have about a month of time to kill before our next WWOOF farm in France!

October 26^th through November 16^th we will be here:

Farm name: Mas Al Quinta

Host name: Namua Rahesha

Department: Pyrénées-Orientales, France

Address: 66740 Laroque Des Alberes           

Email: amethystgateway@netscape.net        

Description: We are a small, organic permaculture olive farm situated in the foothills of the pyrenees, about 8 km from the sea. We require help with all aspects of a sustainable, compassionate lifestyle. We are as self sufficient as possible, practise various methods of water recycling, grow fruit & vegetables for our own needs. We have 4 large dogs & lots of cats & hens. Meals are vegan with vegetarian options. We also have a biological swimming pool.

Here is their blog:

http://masalquinta.neufblog.com/mas_al_quinta/

From France we plan on heading down to Spain where we will stay in hostels in Barcelona, Madrid, and Cordoba until our next (and last) WWOOF farm in Portugal. Ashleigh is particularly excited about making a day trip to the Salvador Dali museum and to see southern Spain! Link to the Salvador Dali museum site here: http://www.salvador-dali.org/museus/figueres/en_index.html

Here is the farm information for Portugal (our last farm):

From Dec. 2^nd – 14^th

Farm name: Amo Frutas

Host names: Maria e Gil

Address: Poco da Massa 8700-206

Location: in the Algarve Region (Quelfes, Portugal)

Telephone: 917863511

Email: liveinbalance@hotmail.com

Description: we will be picking pomegranates, lemons and oranges by the sea! They will also provide us with mountain bikes to explore the area. Ashleigh is VERY excited about this.  

 

That’s all we have so far. We will update it as the trip progresses! 

Love you all!