Off to Slovakia in 3 hours

Today, straight from school, we will head out on the highway... look for adventure... Actually, we'll leave the Harleys behind and instead get in our big Discovery packed to the rim with skis, boots, helmuts, winter wear, vino, games, etc. We are going to Tale Slovakia to ski for the weekend. We are meeting up with 5 other families, totally (prepare yourselves) 12 adults and ...... 15 kids! It's going to be a non-stop party train and we are looking forward to catching up with some friends that we haven't seen in a while - including the Fekete family who are visiting from Moscow; the McGanns back from Florida; the van Begins who are now residing just outside of Bratislava; the Tatrallyays who are now located in Bratislava and the Molnars who live in Budapest with us. I hope I didn't forget anyone. Just to wish you all a Bon Weekend. Check back Monday or Tuesday when we are back for the snaps, videos, stories, etc.

x o x o

Dubai Neighorhood on the Palms

This is a typical newer gated community in Dubai that we visited while there last week. As I mentioned before, prices are dropping there like everywhere else. They designed these homes with their own private beaches in the backyards. Only in Dubai!






Aasta, the wife of Jay who works for Move One, as well as Desmond, a South African working for us in Dubai, are the people I was with that you can see in the video briefly.

In case you are interested, this home is now renting for 425,000 dirhams / year. I calculated this out to be just over 115,000USD / year in rent.

More Sledding

Below are a few of the snaps taken on our walk from our home to the sledding hill. I thought it was funny how they both pooped out and laid down on the soft bed of snow. Keep in mind that once we got to the sledding hill they ran up and down it like they had all the energy in the world!

Notice the bottom left photo of Liam in the snow drift (up to his knees). Skiing is going to be great this weekend! We cannot wait. We'll leave at 4pm right from school pick up (I have the challenge of packing up the car this afternoon) and get there in time for a quick bite and some night skiing!

This video is of the kids sledding down our drive. Many of the garages here are in the basement (saving on the maximum sqm housing space / plot as there is a strict 30% limit) so the driveways are at a perfect incline for sledding.

Budapest Sledding Day

Terence (nearly 8 years old) and Mia (6 years old) have no school on Wednesdays at the French Lycee in Budapest. Since our dear friends, the McGann clan, have returned to Hungary for a visit we decided to have them over for a sleep over on Tuesday night. The 4 of them (oldest son stayed behind in Florida with his grandma) came Tuesday for dinner and lots of fun and laughter. On Wednesday, their daughter Keira and Mia and Ali went to a birthday party while Kerry and I took the boys (Terence and his best buddy, Liam) across the street from our home to the big sledding hill. A few friends of Liam's joined us around mid-day for a fun afternoon in the sunshine. After a few hours of sledding, we took them all for pizza. Here are a couple videos including Terence's sledding runs.


1st one coming down on sled is Liam; 2nd one is Terence.



This is T coming down and crashing. They would take turns waiting on the side (you can see the 4 of them) while one would go up and other 4 would throw snowballs at them while they passed. It must be a guy thing.

Dubai Photo

Thanks Aasta for sending this on to me today. There are several more that she sent that I will go through but I wanted to share this one of us in front of the Burj Hotel first. The photo was taken after we enjoyed a lovely Friday brunch (Friday and Saturday are their weekend and Sat is the big brunch day) at the Madinat Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Resort. We ate with Jay (with our company), Aasta and another couple residing in Dubai. The 6 of us had a lovely, long day enjoying the incredible cuisine. Afterwards we posed for some of these shots.

FYI - today I went sledding with Terence and a bunch of his friends in -4 degrees C!

Superman Curt

My husband seriously amazes me!! For 3 years now he has managed to ride his bike to work every morning and every evening back home. It's a serious feat in the best of weather but he manages to do it in a snow or even ice blizzard. His reason is simple and something we can all relate to, if he misses one day, it'll be that much harder to get back into it again. So, this morning, he put on his spiked tires and hit the road in the massive amounts of snow! I had to capture it on film to share with you as it's seriously unbelievable!!! It's not a flat ride and he has to go over a massive hill (worse on way home in the dark) but he manages to do it within a reasonable time frame.

Just so you can better understand his biking challenge twice each day, here is a link on Google Maps. It's just over 20 km and it takes him about 1 hour each way. I like that he exercises in this fashion better than going to the gym after work or on the weekends taking more time away from our family time.





Our little 3 year old Ali in her spring clothes (gifts from Dubai) that she had to put on first thing this am. I've kept her home from school while I unpack, catch up with laundry and work, exercise, organize, etc. It was good to spend time with her after 6 days away in Dubai without the kids. Love the picture above left in her Crocs (can you tell she put them on herself?) and her cold looking face standing in the snow watching Daddy ride off.

Our home. Makes me feel like putting our x-mas lights back on!

PS T and Mia had school today but none tomorrow. Then, they are back on Thursday and Friday then off for a 2 week break!!

PPS Our best friends, the McGanns, are now in town and coming tonight for a sleep over so we are very excited!

Home Sweet Home

We are back home in Budapest. Very happy to be back home with the kids again. We missed them so much. Lots of snow here so a big change after warm Dubai but it's perfect for our upcoming ski trip so it's okay.

More soon...

United Arab Emirates

We've had a very successful week (actually 5 full days) in Dubai, U.A.E. Our operations (including all 3 areas: cargo, moving and relocations) in Dubai are growing and expected to continue to grow in the near future. Not surprisingly, many of our friends and family are unfamiliar with Dubai's location on the map so I found two which will help.

It's location is in the Arabian Desert and it lies on the Persian Gulf Coast. Dubai is one of 7 emirates in the UAE. It became famous to foreign investment when the Jebel Ali free zone, comprising the Jebel Ali port (reputedly the world's largest man made port) was established in 1979, which provided foreign companies unrestricted import of labour and export capital.

Since 2002, the city has seen an increase in private real estate investment and has even gained the support of such famous investors as Donald Trump. The most famous projects are The Palm Islands, The World Islands, Burj Al Arab, the recently opened Atlantis Hotel and the almost complete Burj Dubai. The Burj Dubai is still under contruction and is currently standing at 688 m. The finished project will be the world's tallest building.


Above is a photo of one of the three Palms. These islands are finished and most of the construction on them is either complete or in progress. We looked at a few properties on Palm Jumeirah so we can better understand where some of our client's assignees choose to live. One location was a penthouse sharing a private beach, swimming pool and restaurant with the building and neighboring building. The 2 story unit was between 5000-6000 sqf and furnished with modern furniture. Each bedroom was built with an ensuite and built in closets. The annual rent was 400,000 Dubai dirhams (AED) which today equals just over 100,000USD.

We also viewed a large villa with 4 big bedrooms (again all with ensuites), lots of living space, a tiny front garden, small private pool, 2 car garage, private beach (yes, private beach!) located on a quiet street in a secure gated community. The sqaure footage was approximately just over 6,000 sqf with an annual rent of 425,000AED. Today this is just over 115,000USD / year. Both rents have drastically decreased in the last year by about 30%.

This group of islands that have just been created are meant to look like the world from above. The islands have been built (seems a bit of an odd thing to create) and the development is just starting to take way. If you are interested in buying property here you can check it out directly on their World site.

Most people recognize this very famous Burj Al Arab hotel which is meant to be the most expensive (or at least one of) hotels in the world. I don't know much about it other than it is beautiful. I've only known friends who have went in to have a drink or a coffee and even these are extraordinarily expensive!

Here is the newly complete Atlantis Hotel which we had the pleasure visiting last night. It is a very beautiful 5 star resort with an unbelievable water park, many incredible restaurants (including the delicious Nobu where we ate our Valentine's dinner last night) and many indoor fish tanks that are the home to 1000s of fish including sharks.


Here is a photo taken from space and posted by NASA where the Palms and the World islands can be seen. These and the Great Wall are still the only man-made creations that can be visibly seen from space.

As you can see, Dubai is an unbelievable place. It's fun but at the same time a bit odd and unrealistic. Other than our successful meetings and great food, the weather in February was my favorite. Today was almost in the mid - high 20s Celsius (80s F). A great experience when back home it is freezing cold and only about 0 degrees C! At least it'll be great for our skiing trip next weekend.

Cannot wait to get home to our babies tomorrow. We've spoken to them every day by telephone and miss them very much.