We just launched a Facebook fan page for The Traveling Richters. Come join us there and please click the “Like” button at the top of the page to become a fan:

http://www.facebook.com/TheTravelingRichters

We plan on use Facebook as our public, interactive forum for conversations on relevant topics. And, whenever we add a new post here, we’ll share news of that on our new fan page too.

Note that the creation of the new Facebook fan page doesn’t change the fact that comments are still always welcome on each of our posts here on the blog.

Friends of ours recently had a beautiful baby girl, and in our e-mail exchange they asked (jokingly perhaps) what lessons The Traveling Richters might have for them and for their new child.

We responded, and in retrospect, our response seems appropriate to share with everyone, so here goes:

1) Make sure that as she gets old enough to go to school you find one with liberal time-away policies so you can travel to explore the world and show her adventure and culture when it’s convenient for you. If your local schools are too rigid (all too common), contemplate homeschooling (easier said than done, though!).

2) Expose her to multiple languages early on. I’ve heard that having each parent speak a different language to a child helps with multiple language adaptation (assuming the parents can speak multiple languages, of course). We opted for the move to a different country instead to achieve the language exposure.

3) Never be afraid to show her affection, regardless of others around you (it’s always macho to hug your kids, with the occasional kiss on the head). That’s part of what’s kept us Traveling Richters very huggy and close, even as our kids become teenagers.

4) As she grows into her toddler years and beyond, explain things to her and talk to her using real people language (big words), not baby talk (although during the first couple of years, lapses into baby talk are common and acceptable, as they are just too cute to do otherwise with). If you don’t think she understands the meaning of a particular word in context, explain it to her.

5) Give her responsibilities as soon as she’s old enough to comprehend how to fulfill those responsibilities – folding laundry, drying some dishes, feeding pets, etc. Ultimately helps increase maturity earlier on, as well as make your lives easier when she’s old enough to really help out around the house and on trips.

6) Save money to pay for experiences more than saving for material things. And then make sure to spend the money on travel fantasies after you’ve saved a bit.

Do any of you agree? Disagree? Think we missed something?

I came across a nice quote from author, social commentator, and humorist Mark Twain today which I think perfectly reflects my journey through life:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

- Mark Twain

I was looking through some of the photos I took in the last week here in Hong Kong, and found the one below, of a movie poster for “Eclipse”, the third film in the Twilight saga.

Gender Name Confusion in Hong Kong?

Either the actors now have new names, or someone creating the Chinese version of this movie poster hasn’t a clue about the gender of names like Robert and Kristen.

I shot a few other confused/amusing signs that I will try and dig up and post in the coming week or two.

My experiment with untamed hair growth as part of our Antarctic experience was interesting. I decided in mid-December that my haircut at the time would be the last I would have until I returned from cold climes. Likewise, I stopped trimming my beard at the same time.

The rationale was that more hair on my head and face would keep me warmer. That part was certainly true. I think my face and head were warmer during the few cold spells we encountered. What I hadn’t figured on was that having a huge mass of fur on my chin would get to be really annoying after a while, but for no tangible reason – it just was annoying.

While in Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, I decided I needed a barbershop to get rid of the facial growth, and bumped into Andrew Evans, fellow blogger and passenger, who was looking for exactly the same thing. His beard was bugging him too.

Andrew and I showing off our manly face fuzz in Stanley

Andrew and I were unsuccessful in our barbershop quest – all we could find was a beauty parlor in a supermarket and just seemed like the wrong place for a beard-cut, so the beards stayed until the end of our trip.

At the end of our journey, nearly a week after the above photo, I looked like this – almost a member of ZZ Top:

This is Jake after two and a half months of no haircuts or beard trims (at the airport in Ushuaia)

As soon as we got to Miami, I bought a cheap beard trimmer and whacked that beard right down to size, and a week later, after we got back home to Bonaire, our friend Barbel came over and gave all the Richters nice, short, haircuts. I took care of my own beard trimming, though.

A freshly shorn Jake back home on Bonaire

So maybe not quite the Brad Pitt look, but at least life is now back to normal (more or less). And I feel well groomed once again.

Andrew ended up getting his trim too – check the photos in his Tweet.

We’ve received some e-mails from our readers asking whether we are impacted at all by the massive earthquake (8.8 on the Richter Scale – no relation) that hit Chile early this morning and caused loss of life and lots of damage in Santiago, Valparaiso, and other places we recently visited. The earthquake also generated a sizable tsunami – large enough to cause tsunami warnings from Antarctica to Australia.

We’re able to report that we are east of the Falklands at the present, which also puts us east of Argentina and the other side of South America from Chile, so the earthquake and tsunami are not affecting our ship in any way.

Whether the earthquake and tsunami will impact our travels at the end of next week remains to be seen, however, as we were to return to Santiago next Thursday, and then go on to Easter Island on Friday (and Easter Island is due west of the Chilean coast).

More importantly, our hearts and hopes are with those in Chile affected by this horrible natural disaster. We especially hope that all the new friends and acquaintances we made in Chile a couple of weeks ago are okay.