6 Continents, 31 Countries, 58 World Cities and 78,400 km in 112 Days!!

Adam and Brad in Rome and all of us in front of the Palace in Monte Carlo

We’re Baaaaaaacckk!

The Boyle family arrived back in Calgary on Saturday, May 9, concluding our epic journey around the world. Words simply cannot describe how much fun we have had on this trip and how much we have learned about the world and ourselves. To give you a sense of how long we have been away, when we left Calgary, Barack Obama was known as “President-elect Obama”. We would be willing to wager that we may have learned as much in our own way as President Obama has over this same time period, but we probably had a lot more fun doing so!

We finished our trip with a series of ports on the north coast of the Mediterranean including a few repeat visits to some ports that we had first seen a couple years ago. Each of these ports still offered a lot of new experiences (Istanbul, Athens, Venice, Barcelona, Livorno (Pisa/Florence) and Rome). There were also a couple new stops for us in Cannes/Monaco and the Sicilian towns of Messina and Taormina. We explored all of these ports on our own and had some of the most enjoyable days of the entire trip just walking through these cities and experiencing the true essence and culture of these classic European cities. Maggie was in heaven as we checked out a number of street side cafes that knew how to make a real cappuccino and mouth watering warm bread. The Italians sure do know how to make pasta and Brad will vouch for the quality of the gelato ice cream!

Well, Monday brings reality back into our life and school for Adam and Erin. As we noted at the outset, words simply cannot describe the incredible voyage we have experienced these past four months. While some of the pictures we have shared with you may tell a thousand words, it still falls light years short of conveying the reality of the gift that our family has had with this experience and the positive emotions it has generated for our family. We believe that life is all about what you make of it. One of our favourite observations is that those that consistently achieve success in their endeavors are able to weather the tough times with hard work and a positive attitude, and seize the opportunities when fortune shines their way. This trip is an example of that as the rapid development of Brad’s advanced Parkinson’s disease over the past couple of years has left him unable to work in the job and company that he loved with a passion. However, some prudent financial planning combined with a bit of good fortune, excellent disability benefits and management support at Enbridge allowed us to make this dream a reality while Brad still had enough mobility and stamina to do most things most days. We have had a blast and would love to share our stories and experiences, and even some of those notorious family vacation pictures and videos with any who would like to do so. So drop us a line at bboyle@shaw.ca or give us a call at (403) 547-9600 with your thoughts, comments, questions, observations before our next vacation, likely sometime around 2020 (hello Antarctica!).

As we end here, we would like say thanks to you bloggers out there who followed our adventures and sent us notes to keep us entertained and informed. A special “thank you” to a few of you who took care of those nagging household things that we couldn’t manage from afar. Thanks to Jim and Shawna, Gina, and Ralph “Pop Pops” Hughes. We love you to bits Pop Pops! You are the best and we wouldn’t trade you for any other grandpa!


Brad, Maggie, Adam & Erin.

In The Midst of the Middle East

The Boyle Family at the Pyramids in Egypt and
Overlooking Jerusalem's Old City from Mt. Olive

We have safely sailed past the Somalia pirates and through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea. The past couple of weeks have found us exploring the sands and scents of Oman, scaling the incredible heights of ancient Egyptian temples, burrowing hunchback through one meter tall tunnels and tombs buried hundreds of feet below the Giza pyramids, and following the footsteps of Christ through the Jerusalem streets to the Holy Sepulcher church. Just the normal stuff we’ve been doing for the past three months. Okay, not exactly normal! It is hard to call anything about the Middle East “normal”, even things that seem to occur every day. To fully understand the Middle East would likely take many life times (perhaps that is why the ancient Egyptians believed in resurrection!), and our brief exposure has shown us just how little we know and how much we have to appreciate at home.

One of the surprising things for us in the Middle East is how close all of the cities are that we see so often in the news. We think of vast countries and territories when in fact they are only a few hundred kilometers apart. In about the same distance from it takes to go from Calgary to Edmonton, it is possible to draw a path that would touch parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel and Jordan! Not that anyone would want to leave Calgary for Edmonton during the Stanley Cup playoffs unless you would like to golf with the Oiler players in Edmonton, but hopefully you get the picture!

Royal Princess Gets New Captain!

The Royal Princess welcomed a new captain on board this week - Adam! Adam safely sailed us past the Somalia pirates!!

Quiz Question and “How Far Are We Going” Contest Update

We have another tricky quiz question for you today and a brief update on our travel distance contest. Our quiz question today is this: What is the most commonly used language in the world? A few hints: (1) The answer is easier than you might think. (2) The answer does not depend on the number of dialects you include under each language. (3) Think outside of the box a little bit. You can find the answer to this question camouflaged later in this article and we will warn you before you get to it.

As an update to our “How Far Are We Going” contest, with just two weeks to go we have a runaway leader – Ralph “Pop Pops” Hughes. Ralph predicted that with all the taxi and bus rides included we would easily travel well over 70,000 km on our 112-day adventure. Well, with two weeks and about 1/3 of the circumference of the world to go, we are over 60,000 km just in plane travel and on board the Royal Princess! The contest did not include all the taxi and bus tour travels on top of this, but what a fabulous trip it has been. Our best guess is that we will end up a touch shy of 75,000 km before accounting for tours. Adding in all of the taxi and bus tours over the past four months would probably put us a bit over 80,000 km! Comfortably in second place in this contest are Pleun and Marjolyn Van der Wel with a guess of 58,524 km. Well done contestants, and we will provide a final (unaudited) accounting around May 10 when we are back in Calgary.

WARNING: TRIVIA ANSWER IS IN THIS NEXT SECTION!

To get the answer to our trivia question, read the last letter of each letter grouping:



CALGAB
ITALIANO
ABCDCD
YYZYZY
HIJKLKL
ABCDBA
CHINHIN
GERMAG
RUSSIRU
ABCCBA
GERMAG
TIMTIME

Fortunately Few Friends Found Falling for Funny Family’s Foolish Falling Fable

Say, what? Well, what we are trying to say is “We got a few of you on our April Fools article on the family bungee jump, but most of you figured it out!” We left a few clues for the detectives out there, but a few of you must believe in us just a bit too much (although we do really appreciate the trust!!). Some of the comments we received included “Great job on the bungee jump! I’ll need to add it to my bucket list.” and “The bungee jump sounds great!” Most of you seemed to be sold, admitting that we “gotcha” until the end with the “foolish” comment and constant date fixation (the picture date and doing the math from the article date to figure out the date we “jumped”). However, a couple sharpies either knew there was no bungee jump at the Petronas Towers or got suspicious with Maggie actually jumping (not in a million years?) or the feasibility of a family of four jumping together and no action pictures. Well done all!

By the way, did you like our title tongue twister? Can you come up with another headline using a different letter?

Easter and the Bell Lap by Brad Boyle

We are far from home in Dubai as we celebrate Easter 2009 on our adventure of a lifetime. This Easter weekend find us exactly 75% through our trip on the basis of time (84 days or 12 weeks done, 28 days or 4 weeks to go) and having traveled over 50,000 km so far, we are going to surpass our original distance traveled guess by a significant amount. Later this week (April 15-16) we will be traveling through the notorious Somalia pirate zone in the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. We will have support from NATO military ships so the risks of any incident should be very low.

It is hard to describe in words all the people we are meeting and the sites we are seeing. Some of the pictures we have posted provide some context, but the memories that we are creating can only be understood with the actual experience. We had described this trip as a “capital investment” rather than a regular expense item like annual holidays and it truly has been a major investment that will produce substantial returns for many years to come.

We look forward to the last leg of our adventure as well as our return home where we can share all of our experiences with our family and friends that have supported us through the years and have helped us with our trip.

The Taj Mahal by Adam Boyle

My experience at the Taj Mahal was PHENOMENAL! It just took my breath away. My mouth literally dropped when I only saw half of it. The size of it really surprised me because once you see it; you take into account, the labour and craftsmanship used in making it. The inside of the Taj Mahal contains just a bunch of circular rooms, with the center room being a burial place. These rooms are filled with gems carved into the white marble walls. The craftsmen used jade, onyx, and fire stone which is the most spectacular gem used. Fire stone is light red in colour and when you shine a light on the stone it looks it looks like it is on fire. When the moonlight shines in, the room is supposed to be so exquisite.



The Taj Mahal is in Agra, India (about 1,200 km from Mombai) and is one of the most symmetrical buildings ever built. The building is so symmetrical that when the coffin of the dead emperor was placed to the left of the Empress’, the whole entire symmetry of the building was thrown off. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. In 1631, the construction of the Taj began and 20,000 artisans were recruited to build the project, which was finished in 1648. Around 8 years before the emperor died, he was imprisoned by one of his sons. He died in jail, called the Red Fort, as an old man in 1666.

Boyles' Big Bungee Bounces Back by The Boyles

Petronas Towers (04/01/09)

(Saturday, April 4, 2009) As we embarked upon our adventure around the world, we realized that we would encounter challenges and opportunities that we never expected. Some of these would be “bucket list” events that you only need or get a chance to do once in your life. This past Wednesday was one of those opportunities – we had a chance to bungee jump about 1,000 feet off of the Petronas towers, the tallest twin tower buildings in the world. Should we do this? Could we do this? While it took a little bit of coaxing (ok, a lot of coaxing for Maggie!), we decided to go for it!

For those of you that are not familiar with the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, they are the tallest twin towers in the world with a total height of over 450 meters. About 2/3 of the way up about 1,000 feet above the ground, the towers are joined by a walkway and observation platform that also offers a bungee jump. We had a choice of jumping individually, in pairs, or as a family of four. We decided to go as a family of four so that we could enjoy the same experience (and also to avoid any feelings of guilt if anything unexpected happened!). Finally, with a little bit of trepidation (ok, a lot of trepidation!), we took the plunge.

WHAT A BLAST! Sure, it was a bit terrifying as the earth rushes toward you and you have no control. But then you begin to slow down as the giant rubber band grips your feet and slings you back up to the sky like trampoline. Now we know why you are not allowed to do this jump if you are pregnant or have a heart condition! We would also offer a couple pieces of advice to anyone who would like to do this jump. Rule 1: We suggest that you do not eat a large meal just before you take the plunge. Rule 2: We do not advise that you to stand beneath the area where the bungee jumps are taking place as you never know what or when some unexpected things (see, for example, Rule 1) might fall from above!

I’m sure many of you have wondered if we were "foolish", or just brave/stupid to do this jump. Unfortunately we do not have any pictures of our jump. We do however have a picture of the Petronas towers attached to this article and if you look closely at the date above the picture you may discover why. Did we get you?

Southeast Asia by Brad Boyle

When we first looked at the itinerary for our world cruise, one area we knew very little about was Southeast Asia. Countries such as South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia were names that we recognized but would not be able to label on a map of the world. The little that we did know was usually associated with conflicts – the Korean War and the DMZ (the “demilitarized zone”), the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon, the Khmer Rouge and the killing fields in Cambodia. As these events were not pleasant thoughts, we try to avoid them. While these countries cannot change their past, what we observed first hand was that the people of these countries are working very hard to establish a much more stable and progressive future.

The most surprising aspect of our visit to Southeast Asia for me was how similar the major cities are to major cities in North America. This was more than the proliferation of Starbucks, McDonalds and KFC. It was things like a brand new opera house in Saigon, modern subway systems, the Internet cafes, and the teenagers with cell phones and iPods. While each of the countries still had a large gap between the “haves” and “have-nots”, the proportion of the population that had achieved economic prosperity was much greater than I had expected. Thailand and Malaysia in particular had much larger segments of middle and upper classes than I expected. South Korea has clearly come a long way to overcome its history of conflict, and while it still has some political issues, South Korea has become a leading nation in this region. Cambodia, however, is still suffering from its recent tragedy with the Khmer Rouge which has almost eliminated a generation of it people.

It was my impression that the increased prosperity evident in these counties is providing a more visible objective for the youths in the cities and leads to them raising their goals. As many predict, this could lead to increased economic growth and more prominent roles for these nations in the near future. In many ways, these countries seem to be following the path established by China over the past 20-30 years although at different speeds. What impact all of these changes might have on the world economic and political maps will likely provide great fodder for university debating teams and economic theorists for many years.

We have posted some pictures on our blog from some of these countries and if you would like more information on our impressions of any of the places we visited, just let us know.

China by Erin Boyle

When I was in Beijing saw two things that I thought were amazing. One of the many great things I saw in China was the Water Cube and Birds Nest. These buildings are where they held the 2008 Olympic Games. The Water Cube is a pool used for all the water actives in the games. The Birds Nest is where they held the opening and closing ceremony it is also used for the track and field in the games.

I also traveled from Beijing to the Great Wall of China. This wall was built to prevent nomads from attacking the Chinese. It as well marked there territory. The wall stretches more than 5000 km from the seacoast to the east. The Great wall is one of the great 7 wonders of the world. I thought the wall was very hard to walk on because it was very steep and the steps were very high off the ground. Over all in my trip to China I had a pretty great trip.

Japan by Adam Boyle

If you ever get the chance to go to Japan, TAKE IT. Japan is a wonderful place, very, very clean, and the people are over the top nice. I never saw a piece of garbage anywhere, or graffiti on any buildings or walls. The people would help you out everywhere even if they didn’t speak English.

In our time in Japan we went to two places, Osaka and Hiroshima. In Osaka we took the subway to Kyoto, which was the capital of Japan from 794-1869. Also Kyoto was known as Heiankyo before its name was changed. In Kyoto we went to the Golden Pavilion, which was something that looked like a house, but part of it was made from gold! In addition to this we saw a shoguns palace called Nijojo Castle. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures inside the palace but we got to take pictures outside and in the gardens, which were very well kept. During our time in Kyoto we spotted some sprouting cherry blossoms but due to the time of year they weren’t blooming. Just before I got back to the ship I bought a kimona. Kimonos are for women and kimonas are for men.

In Hiroshima, a U.S B-29 bomber by the name of Enola Gay released the first nuclear bomb on August 6th 1945. This horrific explosion killed over 200,000 people and demonstrated the enormous power of nuclear weaponry. The most deaths in this tragedy were caused by the radiation left over by the bomb. When I was visiting, I took a trolley train to the Peace memorial park where I saw numerous monuments dedicated to world peace. One of the memorials was the peace flame, a flame that will only be extinguished when all nuclear weaponry on the planet is eliminated. Including the memorials and monuments, I saw the Atomic dome. The Atomic dome is a building that was destroyed by the atomic blast of the bomb because it was almost exactly at the point on the ground where the bomb exploded (Ground zero). All that remains of the structure is a few hunks of metal and concrete chunks and dust.

If I ever get another chance to go to Japan I would love to see Tokyo and to ride a bullet train!

Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand

Brad, Maggie, Adam & Erin in Bangkok

Brad in Cambodia

Saigon, Vietnam

China - The Great Wall & Tienanman Square

Korea and Japan

Brad, Adam, Erin & Maggie in Japan

Brad & Maggie in Seoul, Korea

Panama Canal

Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands

Easter Island

Australia

Erin with "Roxy" at the Great Barrier Reef

Brad, Erin, Adam & Maggie at the Great Wall of China

Erin and her Cruise staff friends Riza and Paula

Fuzzy Friends by Erin Boyle

(Cairns, Australia - March 1, 2009) In Australia I went to a koala sanctuary. When I was in the sanctuary I got the chance to hold a koala. So in my article I will be telling you about my experience with a koala.

If you are to look at a koala it would be grey with a white triangle below its neck, and it would also have lighter spots on it lower back, and it would have white ears. The koala that I held weighted about 20 pounds. The koala had not rough not to smooth but just the right texture for me to love. In Australia there are lots of wild koalas that are dangerous you so don’t go up to them if they are wild. But if you are in Australia go to a koala park and hold one. I loved it!!!

New Guinea and Guam by Brad Boyle

We have just finished up a couple days near the equator with brief stops in New Guinea and Guam on our way from Australia to Japan. The New Guinea port of Rabaul was interesting for its active volcano with black smoke and small rocks constantly pouring out. In Guam we took a boat tour to see pods of dolphins playing in the ocean and another snorkeling trip to see different types of fish and coral in this area of the Pacific Ocean.

Land Down Under Is Over The Top by Brad Boyle

We have just finished up our six-day tour of the Australian mainland and it was amazing. We are running out of superlatives to describe some of the sites we have seen and adventures that we have experienced. We actually first set foot on Australian soil in Tasmania, a large island that is about 900 km south of Sydney. In Tasmania, we toured around countryside with rolling hills that looked similar to what we see in rural Alberta and the foothills, but with slightly different vegetation. We were able to visit a wildlife refuge that had wombats, wallabies, kangaroos, koalas and the notorious Tasmanian devil! The Tasmanian devil looks like a cuddly teddy bear but apparently attack like a badger or wolverine.

On the Australian mainland we docked in the beautiful Sydney harbour right by the opera house. Unfortunately we were not able to spend much time in Sydney before we boarded our flight to Ayers Rock and the giant red rock call Uluru by the native aboriginals. It was an amazing site and we spent our first night in Australia on the open dessert under a sky filled with more stars than any of us had seen in our lifetime. It was a site that you literally cannot find anywhere else in the world. The following day we were able to visit an aboriginal village, take numerous pictures of Uluru and the Ogres (a series of 37 large rock outcroppings), and stop for a camel ride on the bus trip to Alice Springs. After a night in Alice Springs we visited a dessert museum and zoo before our flight to Cairns where we stayed for the next three days.

On our first full day in Cairns we boarded a ferryboat for a 90-minute ride to a pontoon anchored to the Great Barrier Reef. To describe the Great Barrier Reef as breathtaking is an understatement. Adam and Erin spent most of the day snorkeling with thousands of fish, including a large parrotfish named Roxy that was much more like a pet puppy dog than a fish. After only a few minutes, Erin was able to make Roxy come on command and also to instruct Roxy to follow Erin around the coral reefs like a well-trained pet – you had to see it to believe it! Maggie and I also spent a couple of hours snorkeling around with a marine biologist who pointed out numerous varieties of coral, fish and mammals. We ended this phenomenal day with a helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef and rain forest back to Cairns.

The next day we rode an old railroad train through the Australian rainforest to the top of a mountain and returned to Cairns on a gondola that rose above the jungle. At the top, Erin and Adam visited a zoo where they were able to hold a koala and feed kangaroos. At the bottom of the gondola we visited an aboriginal culture centre that allowed us to learn how to throw boomerangs and spears. Adam and Erin had their faces painted like the natives and Adam received lessons from an aboriginal professional on how to play the didgeridoo that he had bought in Cairns. The kids were also given original aboriginal boomerangs to take home (Note to Self: Increase our home insurance when we return to Calgary!).

Our final day in Australia allowed us a morning of last minute shopping as the Royal Princess arrived in port and we re-boarded the ship looking forward to our next great adventure.

Lost at Sea by Margaret Rhijnsburger

For the last 16 days we have had 14 sea days and only 2 days at a port. I know many of you are wondering just what we do on “Sea Days”? Well, that depends on a few things and here is a list of the criteria. What body of water are we on? Are the seas rough or smooth? What is the weather like? What activities have the cruise staff dreamt up for us to do today? From whose perspective do you want to hear from? What calorie consumption can we justify based on the amount of activity we have undertaken?

Let’s see (no pun intended). Why is it important to ask what body of water we are on (Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Tasman Sea, or the Bass Strait)? Well, there are definite differences from colour, from being rough or calm, to type of weather, to temperature, to one’s ability to see birds, fish, whales, or dolphins, to affecting the way you feel, to what kinds of activities you can partake in.

Some days we just eat, sleep, read, eat, sleep, do some school work with the kids, then eat, sleep read again. I know, this sounds like a really rough life. But one thing I didn’t know was that the salt water can make you very sleepy. The water can also make you very sick. There have been a few days where you can do very little because the water can be very rough as it was the first few days on the ship when we were getting our “sea legs”. When we were on the Tasman Sea, near New Zealand, the water was so rough at times one thought the ship might break in two. The waves splashed high over our balcony and we are on the sixth floor!

There are many other days where there are so many fun activities on board that you have scheduling conflicts. There are activities to do and people to see. On most days, Brad and I can only see Erin by booking an appointment on her “schedule”! Ping pong championships, ceramic classes, lectures to attend, bridge for Adam and Brad, movies, and library work for Erin (no, she isn’t reading in the library, she is working by helping the staff librarian – they have even given Erin her own cruise staff name badge and uniform!).

Land ahoy! Tomorrow we hit Australia with a visit to Burnie on the island of Tasmania. Then one more day at sea before we hit the mainland for 5 days in Sydney, Alice Springs and Cairns.

Auckland, New Zealand by Erin Boyle

(February 18, 2009) New Zealand was discovered by a Dutch explorer named Abel Tasman and he came up with the Dutch name New Zealand. New Zealand is next door to Australia, which is in the southern hemisphere, as well as the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean.

In Auckland I went to a sheep farm. I saw a typical New Zealander’s house, how the people there sheer a sheep, how they round up the sheep, and how they make a living. When I was in the house I thought that the people of New Zealand had a very nice house and it would be lovely to live there. The farmer sheers the sheep and they try their very best not to hurt the sheep. In New Zealand they have a sheep dog to round up the sheep, the dogs are trained to run around the sheep, going in the motion of the owners command. Most people that run a farm in New Zealand make their money off of their lamb, by selling the lamb for its wool and meat.

The Day That Never Was by Brad Boyle

One of my favourite songs growing up was the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” (10 bonus points for those that can name the “family” band that made this song famous). This past week our family decided to skip Monday, February 16! How did we do this? Simple. We crossed the International Date Line! Now this is not a phone number for a dating service. It is an imaginary line that runs around the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole and through the Pacific Ocean. It is opposite the Greenwich Meridian Line and is used to separate time zones. The International Date Line is where every day starts and ends. So for example, let’s say it is 12:01 a.m. Tuesday at the start of the International Date Line. Each of the 24 time zones adds one hour as you go around the earth from east to west until you get back to the International Date Line. Therefore, when it is 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday at the International Date Line, it is 5:01 a.m. on Monday in Calgary. As you keep going west from Calgary and come back to the International Date Line it is 12:01 a.m. on Monday, the previous day. As you step across the International Date Line, you go from 12:01 a.m. on Monday to 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. This is how you skip a whole day!

This sounded like a good idea to Adam and Erin since they got to skip a Monday, a school day. Except this particular Monday was Family Day in Alberta and there was no school on that day anyway. Bummer! For Brad and Maggie, it was just another example of how quickly we are getting older. Double bummer!

The South Pacific by Margaret Rhijnsburger

Years ago I read the book “South Pacific” by James Mitchner and always dreamt that one day I would experience its allure. We are now in the heart of the infamous South Pacific and it is every bit as picturesque as you see it in the movies. Imagine high waterfalls, lush tropical vegetation, rugged interior, white and black sandy beaches, and the surf. Think Hawaii. The islands that make up French Polynesia are like the Hawaiian Islands but much more primitive, smaller, rugged, and very hot.

We did a tour of the town of Papeete on Tahiti Nui or Big Tahiti (the larger of the two islands that make up Tahiti) which is quite commercialized. A hot item to purchase, if you are interested, is of course the Tahitian black pearl. Lucky for Brad, I wasn’t interested is buying a strand but I still dragged him around to the Pearl Museum which I thoroughly enjoyed. On our tour of the island, we visited a 700 foot waterfall, a “blow hole”, and Venus Point where Captain James Cook watched the solar eclipse of Venus in 1769. At Point Venus, there stands a 140 year old lighthouse to overlook this site.

After another day at sea we reached Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This island is the capital of the Cook Islands. It is smaller that Tahiti, also mountainous and covered in jungle. There are white sandy beaches and our destination was Muri Beach to do some swimming and snorkelling over the coral reef. Well, the ship did anchor and the tender boats went on shore to set up. Then came heavy rains, high winds, and rough seas. Our mission was aborted and we set sail for New Zealand. We expect to arrive there in five days.

Easter Island and Pitcairn Island by Adam Boyle

Easter Island

Easter Island is one of the most mysterious places ever. What makes it so mysterious is that huge stone carved statues called monoliths surround the Island. They are called monoliths because they are carved out in one piece. On Easter Island these monoliths are called Moai (pronounced moe-eye), and nobody really knows for sure what the island statues are there for, what they represent, why the people made them, or when they got there.

The most widely-accepted theory is that the first people who arrived on the island were Polynesian colonizers. The statues were said to have been first carved by these colonizers of the island sometime around 1000-1100 A.D. with the first people arriving around 400-700 A.D. These statues may have represented deceased ancestors, and also may represent powerful living chiefs that once reigned the island.

Another theory is that the inhabitants of this island came from Bolivia in South America. These people were trying to escape the collapse of their pre-Inca Tihuanaco civilization and fled to Easter Island. These people were sun-worshipers and had stone masonry skills.

Many of the Moai have been placed near the coastline. They usually are made up of compressed volcanic ash (95% of the 887 Moai known to date) and are as tall as 13 feet high and can weigh up to 14 tons. These statues were carved right out of the volcanic stone and were then transported to where they were to be located. We saw many of these monoliths along the coast line as we explored the island. Some of them have been displaced and some broken when a tsunami hit the island many years ago. With the help of the Japanese and other archaeologists, they were restored and put back together in this location. Only 394 statues remain visible here, out of the 887 known to have been built.

This island was a great place to visit and explore. It is called Easter Island because it was discovered by the Dutch seaman named Roggeven on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Pitcairn Island

Pitcairn Island is in the South Pacific about halfway between South America and Australia. It is literally in the middle of no where and only 48 people live on this island. Pitcairn Island is a territory of the United Kingdom and was made famous as the place where the mutiny on the HMS Bounty took place. The Bounty was the ship that had Captain Bligh get killed by his crew including first mate Fletcher Christian. This story has been told in books and movies.

Since the island is so small we didn’t actually dock at the island nor have tenders land there, so the people from the island took a small boat of their own and boarded our ship. They brought with them their artistic creations and only a handful of people were left on the island (a person in jail, the person’s guard and a couple elderly ladies).

Math Quiz #2: Are You Ready for Some Football by Brad Boyle

Warning: This is a somewhat complex analysis of probabilities and statistical calculations. Enter at your own risk!


Well we have just finished our Superbowl contest won by yours truly (hold the applause please:)) with my prediction of a Pittsburgh Steelers victory and 45 total points scored in the game. I had based my total point guess on a final score of 31-14 and Pittsburgh actually won 27-23 resulting in 50 total points scored. However, with less than a minute to go in the game, Arizona was leading 23-20 and if they could stop Pittsburgh’s final offensive drive from scoring that would likely be the final score. I found this interesting because Maggie had predicated the Superbowl result would be 23-20 for Arizona! Wow. That led me to wonder, what are the odds that someone would correctly pick the winning team and exact score of Superbowl game? What do you think? I will give you a few guesses:

a) 1 in 100
b) 1 in 200
c) 1 in 1,000
d) 1 in 5,000
e) 1 in 10,000
f) 1 in 100,000

As a comparison, think how much easier it would be to predict the winning team and exact score of a soccer game. Then compare this to the chances of a perfect prediction for a hockey game or basketball game. How did you calculate the relative probabilities? Here are my thoughts.

While there is a huge number of technically feasible football game score results (such as 2-0, 3-0, 4-2, 98-2, etc.), the likelihood of some scores is obviously much higher than other scores. The best way to start to get an accurate probability estimate would be a statistical plot of all Superbowl results. Ideally if you are predicting the exact Superbowl score, you would like your statistical data to come from only Superbowl games where by definition you have two roughly similar talented football teams who have made the playoffs, won 2 or 3 playoff games and are under similar pressures. However, as there have only been 43 Superbowl games, you may wish to get additional statistical data to improve your analysis by including all NFL playoff games. You could increase your data set by including regular season games, but that introduces another variable where one team may be vastly superior to another team, producing scores that would not be statistically consistent with Superbowl scores.

Without having all this statistical data on hand though, I believe that the approximate odds of a perfect Superbowl prediction are about 1 in 1,000. I arrive at this conclusion with the following analysis:

I estimate that the highly probable range of total points scored by both teams in a Superbowl game is 25 – 55 points. That generates 30 roughly equal outcomes. For each of these total point outcomes there are roughly 40 ways that the total score can be achieved. For example, with a total score of 25 the game score could be 25-0, 23-2, 22-3, 21-4, 20-5, etc. There are 24 ways for this total to be achieved with each team having 12 winning scores. With a point total of 55, there are 54 ways for this total score to be achieved. On average, there are 39 ways for the 30 total point outcomes to be achieved{ (24+54)/2}. Therefore, the probability of correctly predicting the exact Superbowl score and winning team is about 1 in (39*30) or 1 in 1,170. This assumes that each of the ways of scoring the total points number are equally likely which we know is not true (this goes back to the point that a 55-0 or 53-2 score is less probable than a 28-27 final score) However, we have also excluded some low probability total scores which somewhat mitigates this methodological error term. I have rounded this down to 1 in 1,000 as my adjustment for this factor.

Based on this analysis, I estimate that Maggie was less than a minute away from a 1 in 1,000 Superbowl prediction. For anyone still reading this article, any thoughts or comments?

The Galapagos Islands by Margaret Rhijnsburger

Ever hear of the Galapagos Islands? Do you know what makes these islands so special? Do you know where the Galapagos Islands are? I didn’t know until a short while ago. Where do I begin? The side trip we took there was amazing! You really must go there sometime and go for at least a week as our 2 ½ day visit was too short, although we were limited by the cruise ship schedule. (As a free advertising plug, we direct you to Debbie Hughes of Marlin Travel at (403) 255-6707 in Calgary who did a great job in booking our Galapagos adventure – Thanks Debbie!)
The Galapagos Islands are made up of 13 large islands, six minor ones, and more than 40 uninhabited outcroppings, all from volcanic eruptions. Some of the younger islands still have active volcanoes. These islands have mammals, birds, flora, and fauna different from any others found elsewhere in the world. This makes these islands so special. You can find sea lions, dolphins, whales, multitudinous colourful fishes, different species of giant tortoises, and iguanas. Galapagos is home to a variety of birds such as: blue footed, red footed and masked boobies, flamingos, frigate birds, albatrosses, unique small penguins, non-flying cormorants, and different types of finches.

We were the only passengers from the ship to venture off to these remote islands which are located 1000 km. west off the coast of Ecuador. We left the ship at Manta, Ecuador and drove with our guide and a driver to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s economic hub. This 200 km. road trip took over four hours, over a very rough and bumpy road.

The next day a new guide met us to take us to the airport. There is only one flight daily to the Galapagos Islands and this flight took us to the Island of Baltra. This island only serves as an airport site and was originally built for US military defence of the Panama Canal during World War II. A short 10 minute drive took us to the Itabaca canal and a ferry ride took us across the canal over to the Island of Santa Cruz. A 45 minute van ride with a full police escort took us to the town of Puerto Ayora and made us feel like royalty (ok, we were the 4th van in a parade of about 20 vans and buses, but it was our first police escort!). In Puerto Ayora we stayed at the beautiful Red Mangrove Inn and it would be our home for the next few days.

Puerto Ayora is a quaint small town with shops, art galleries, restaurants, a harbour, and the Charles Darwin Foundation headquarters. This was our first stop to explore where our guide showed us the giant tortoises breeding center, as well as a small land iguana breeding center. We learned of their conservation efforts for these endangered species and their varieties. There we also saw the Opuntia Cacti which is endemic of the Galapagos and 14 different types of finches that would wake us up in the morning with their song.

The next morning we went to the harbour and picked up a boat that would take us on a tour of some of the other islands and eventually the island of Floreana with the black sand. The boat ride like the taxi ride to Guayaquil is not for anyone with a weak stomach. We first went to a small island and saw frigate birds nesting in the rocks. Another island introduced us to blue and red footed boobies. The next stop was a place to go snorkelling with sea lions, large sea tortoises, colourful fish. It was so much fun that even small sharks could not scare Erin out of the water, although they got me back to the boat quickly despite claims from the crew that they were “friendly” sharks. A friendly shark is an oxymoron to me! At Floreana Island there were playful sea lions and very small penguins, iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks, and more sea tortoises. After this island and a few more opportunities to snorkel we went to an island where we saw pink flamingos and cacti that you couldn’t believe could grow there because of the barren lava rock found there. Too soon we were back in the harbour. It was difficult to believe we had been out for more than 8 hours!

That night we explored the tiny gift and craft shops, as well as the art galleries. We also stopped by the fish market where we saw pelicans and sea lions poised to pick up any leftovers from the catch of the fisherman cutting up the tuna.
Too soon we left this oasis of nature. We retraced our steps to Guayaquil and then flew to Lima, Peru to catch the Royal Princess and set sail to Easter Island. This is one place we all want to go back to. Muchas gracios Ecuador!

I AM NOT A POLLYWOG ANYMORE! by Erin Boyle

A Pollywog is someone who has never have been across the equator before. The equator is an imaginary line on the earth’s surface. It divides the earth into either the northern or southern hemisphere. The latitude of the equator is zero degrees. The equator’s length is around 40,075 km and is one of the five main circles of latitude lines that goes around the earth.

On January 25th, I was a Pollywog but after I crossed the equator and took part in a traditional seafaring ceremony conducted by King Neptune himself (a.k.a. the cruise staff), I became a Trusty Shellback. The ceremony begins by being accused of a crime that you have committed. My crime was missing school and taking puzzle pieces from a puzzle in the library. Other people were accused of other things like overeating. I was seated on a chair in front of King Neptune and asked if I was “guilty or not guilty”. The crowd yelled “guilty” and I was punished. My punishment was being drenched in cranberry juice, raw eggs, jello, flour, yogurt, whipping cream, ice-cream, and chocolate cake. Yuch!

CONTEST UPDATES

So far we have four guesses at the total distance travelled:

Brad guessed 51,714 km.
Marjolyn & Pleun guessed 58,524 km.
Adam guessed 51,706 km. (this was totally independent from Brad!) and then updated his guess to 52,605 after seeing Brad's guess
Erin guessed 51,614 km.

Our Superbowl contest has drawn more entries as follows:

Adam - Arizona wins with 43 total points (26-17 Cardinals)
8A (Mr. Angus' Grade 8 class) - Minnesota Vikings win wth 35 total points (35-0)*
Ralph - Arizona wins with 35 total points (25-10)
Marjolyn & Pleum - Arizona wins with 35 total points
Erin - Arizona wins with 36 total points
Maggie - Arizona wins with 43 total points (23-20)
Brad - Pittsburgh wins with 45 total points (31-14)

* Drug tests are currently being undertaken for this entrant and 2 men in white jackets have been sent to assist with psychological testing

GOOD LUCK ALL!!

THE PANAMA CANAL by Adam Boyle

Today (January 24, 2009) we traveled through the Panama Canal. It is an amazing engineering structure that was completed in 1914. There is a series of steps to enable ships to get through its 80 km. length that takes you from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

The Continental Divide is also passed through. This is the highest point where it is determined where waterways will drain or flow to either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. For example, in B.C. there is also a point where the Continental Divide is.

Charles I of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed canal route in 1534 but construction did not occur for about three centuries. It was the French that began construction in 1880. For 20 years they tried dredging out the canal but due to disease (malaria and yellow fever), financial, and engineering problems they had to stop. It is said that 20,000 people died during that construction period. So in 1904, the United States bought the French Canal Company rights and properties for $40 million and they began construction. The canal was completed in 1914 with a total cost of $387 million dollars with a loss of only over 500 lives due to injuries during construction. It is Leonardo da Vinci that is credited to be the mind behind the concept of the lock system.

The Panama Canal is made up of three pairs of locks that raise boats up 26 meters above sea level to the level of Gatun Lake that is situated in the middle of the canal system. It is interesting to note that this lake is a freshwater lake and the dam that was built to form this lake was the largest in the world at that time. As you transit through this lake channel, you then go to another series of three more locks called the Miguel Locks and the Miraflores Locks that lower boats to the sea level of the Pacific Ocean.

Construction is now underway to build an even bigger canal to accommodate larger vessels through the Isthmus of Panama.

I found it interesting that the canal is cut through a very thick jungle. It took us 10 hours to get through the canal and we were moving all of the time. Also, it is amazing how much ships must pay to use the system. Large cruise ships have to pay over $300,000 as a toll to use the canal. Lastly, it is impressive that a ship can save over 7,000 miles or 11,200 km. in distance traveled by using the canal rather than going around South America.

Contest 1 Update: How Far Are We Going?

Here’s your chance to win four movie passes for your family. You need to guess how far the Boyle family is going to travel on this adventure. The segments of our trip are as follows:

1. We flew from Calgary to Toronto and then from Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale where we boarded the Royal Princess cruise ship.

2. We will be on the cruise ship following the itinerary posted below concluding in Rome, Italy. Major stops include Ecuador, Peru, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Cambodia, India, Dubai, Oman, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, France, Spain and Italy.

3. From Rome we fly to Frankfurt, Germany and from there we fly directly to Calgary.


Here are a couple hints. The circumference of the Earth at the equator is about 40,075 km. The distance traveled from Calgary to Ft. Lauderdale was 4,448 km. Brad's guess is 51,714 km.

You must reply to this posting or send us an e-mail at bboyle@shaw.ca no later than midnight, January 31, 2009 to be eligible to win the movie passes.

GOOD LUCK!

CONTEST #2 – ARE YOU A SUPER GUESSER?

Every contest page must have a Super Bowl pool of some sort, and ours is as follows:

1. Pick the team that will win Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009.

2. Guess the total number of points that will be scored by both teams combined.

3. The person who guesses the winning team correctly and has guessed closest to the actual total number of points scored will win our contest.

The winner will get a large pizza delivered for the finals of a future sporting event (Stanley Cup, Grey Cup, Super Bowl).

You must respond to this posting or send us an e-mail at bboyle@shaw.ca no later than midnight, January 31, 2009 to be eligible to win the prize.

Hint for Non-football Fans: The Arizona Cardinals are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hint for Male Grade 8 Teachers: If you are living in a fantasy land and think that the Minnesota Vikings still have a chance to win, you will receive a visit by two men in white jackets from a nearby sanatorium institute. Congratulations!

Itinerary

Shown above is a visual and print copy of our itinerary on the Royal Princess. You can use this to assist in developing your answer to Contest #1.