Genius Hour Reflection Time!
Hey friends (:
I just wanted to do a little reflecting on my genius hour project and also update you on where I'm at!
I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as i wanted to my genius project thus far because of homework, assignments, and my job, but i did make some progress. We can dance party to that for a minute!
I have found flights to the Netherlands for about $350-$575 nonstop. that is very reasonable, especially considering flights to British Columbia are closer to $700 (sigh). Even more spectacular are the flights I found from Amsterdam to Geneva, Switzerland .. from $80-$150 (dance party, part two). Where the current dilemma lies is the flight from Geneva back to Toronto where we are looking at about $700-$1000. I am going to keep looking to see if those prices go down. The other option is to fly back out of the Netherlands, where the flights are back around $500 with the additional $100 to fly back to Amsterdam from Geneva, still cheaper than a flight home from Geneva. Will keep researching and debating the flight home situation.
I have decided on a couple other things for my trip. I know I want to definitely do a bike trip while I'm in Holland. My Oma would go back to holland every summer and do a wicked bike tour, even up until age seventy-five. had she still been around, I'm sure she would still be biking there every summer until she was well into her eighties. So I am committed to the bike trip idea through some smaller towns, which will also give me a great first hand look at the beautiful scenery. If I pass at least one field of tulips I will be insanely content. There are many group bike tours that you can book prior to or when in the Netherlands. However I am currently "kindly asking" (convincing/pressuring) my cousin to go on this part of the trip with me so we can bike one of the exact bike routes that my Oma had previously biked (... say bike one more time haley). My aunt is contacting some of my Oma's friends from her trips to try and map it out for me, which I am extremely grateful for. Will keep y'all posted on that.
I have already contacted my family members abroad about shacking up with them, and they are more than happy to accommodate. They live on a house boat, so I can cross that off my "make this trip authentic" list. On the map below you can see Aalsmeer, which is a small town outside of Amsterdam (twenty-nine minutes via vehicle), which is where I will be staying. Staying there means Amsterdam will be accessible but not too close, so I can experience city life and small town life. Aalsmeer is pretty central to most of the Netherlands, and a great starting point for my bike trip, to which I will likely go in a south-east direction. I have also embedded a "Netherlands bike trip" video so we can all get amped up about this crazy-fun-adventure.
Ps. I have contacted my grandma about sitting down over some lunch and tea to get a start on my switzerland planning. That is happening next week, so stay tuned for a post about my progress with that (:
Pps. I feel like my thought process on this trip planning is a little bit .. very much .. sporadic. It is difficult relying on others for aspects of research I need. Not to say i am not grateful, because of course I am, it just makes it slightly harder to stay organized. One educational tool that i learned about this week was bubbl.us where you can make a graphic organizer or concept mapping tool, to organize your thoughts and ideas. After I talk to my grandma I am going to make a concept map for both switzerland and holland to get organized. This is also a tool I will utilize in my classroom and encourage my students to use.
I just wanted to do a little reflecting on my genius hour project and also update you on where I'm at!
I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as i wanted to my genius project thus far because of homework, assignments, and my job, but i did make some progress. We can dance party to that for a minute!
I have found flights to the Netherlands for about $350-$575 nonstop. that is very reasonable, especially considering flights to British Columbia are closer to $700 (sigh). Even more spectacular are the flights I found from Amsterdam to Geneva, Switzerland .. from $80-$150 (dance party, part two). Where the current dilemma lies is the flight from Geneva back to Toronto where we are looking at about $700-$1000. I am going to keep looking to see if those prices go down. The other option is to fly back out of the Netherlands, where the flights are back around $500 with the additional $100 to fly back to Amsterdam from Geneva, still cheaper than a flight home from Geneva. Will keep researching and debating the flight home situation.
I have decided on a couple other things for my trip. I know I want to definitely do a bike trip while I'm in Holland. My Oma would go back to holland every summer and do a wicked bike tour, even up until age seventy-five. had she still been around, I'm sure she would still be biking there every summer until she was well into her eighties. So I am committed to the bike trip idea through some smaller towns, which will also give me a great first hand look at the beautiful scenery. If I pass at least one field of tulips I will be insanely content. There are many group bike tours that you can book prior to or when in the Netherlands. However I am currently "kindly asking" (convincing/pressuring) my cousin to go on this part of the trip with me so we can bike one of the exact bike routes that my Oma had previously biked (... say bike one more time haley). My aunt is contacting some of my Oma's friends from her trips to try and map it out for me, which I am extremely grateful for. Will keep y'all posted on that.
I have already contacted my family members abroad about shacking up with them, and they are more than happy to accommodate. They live on a house boat, so I can cross that off my "make this trip authentic" list. On the map below you can see Aalsmeer, which is a small town outside of Amsterdam (twenty-nine minutes via vehicle), which is where I will be staying. Staying there means Amsterdam will be accessible but not too close, so I can experience city life and small town life. Aalsmeer is pretty central to most of the Netherlands, and a great starting point for my bike trip, to which I will likely go in a south-east direction. I have also embedded a "Netherlands bike trip" video so we can all get amped up about this crazy-fun-adventure.
Ps. I have contacted my grandma about sitting down over some lunch and tea to get a start on my switzerland planning. That is happening next week, so stay tuned for a post about my progress with that (:
Pps. I feel like my thought process on this trip planning is a little bit .. very much .. sporadic. It is difficult relying on others for aspects of research I need. Not to say i am not grateful, because of course I am, it just makes it slightly harder to stay organized. One educational tool that i learned about this week was bubbl.us where you can make a graphic organizer or concept mapping tool, to organize your thoughts and ideas. After I talk to my grandma I am going to make a concept map for both switzerland and holland to get organized. This is also a tool I will utilize in my classroom and encourage my students to use.
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