tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46959135886874694622024-09-04T04:26:38.927-07:00A blog about motherhood, being an expat - Australian woman living in Scotland and the journey of indie publishing the book 'You Won't Remember This- travel with babies'Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-51200180277461575572017-08-28T05:04:00.001-07:002017-08-28T05:04:19.662-07:00

Flamingo Rover started life as a travel blog, over time it morphed into a life of an expat Aussie in the UK blog, and then a life of an expat Aussie mum in the UK blog. In time it also moved off-line and became a publishing platform as well. With the launch impending of the new website the Flamingo Rover blog will move from blogger to wordpress and be under the Sandy Bennett-Haber umbrella

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0Edinburgh, UK55.953252 -3.188266999999996255.810968 -3.5109904999999961 56.095535999999996 -2.8655434999999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-37774111479145389732017-07-12T03:38:00.001-07:002017-07-13T06:33:40.603-07:00

Host travellers via Airbnb- If you have the space spruce up your spare room and create a hosting profile on airbnb – it is a great way to bring the travel vibe into your home. You can sit down to breakfast with travellers from all over the world – just like being at a backpackers – at home. And it can help you make some extra money to go towards your next holiday. Travel

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-22386840576149691182017-06-30T02:33:00.000-07:002017-06-30T02:33:30.093-07:00

I am always delighted to touch base with the lovely folk who have contributed stories to You Won't Remember This. Sometimes this is in person. I managed to get a picture of myself, Helen Sheil (aka my mum) and Sarah Dyer at the opening night of the My Mother is an Artist, and you can read my overview of the evening for Lothian Life if you like.   Helen Sheil, Sandy Bennett-Haber and

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-48144053263844383012017-05-30T06:20:00.000-07:002017-08-06T07:24:46.147-07:00

So I had a plan – which was to write one blog a month this year. And now it is the 30th of May and so far no blog has appeared. There has been action aplenty in life, and even some bits of writing here and there, but none of it on the Flamingo Rover blog.   In my defence for the non appearance of a blog Finn turned two – which means that I have a two year old and a three year old. Just

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0Edinburgh, UK55.953252 -3.188266999999996255.810968 -3.5109904999999961 56.095535999999996 -2.8655434999999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-25546598577562170532017-04-12T14:50:00.000-07:002017-04-15T11:36:18.956-07:00

For me Easter will always be a special holiday. It is a holiday which smells, not like chocolate, but like boat fuel mixed with salt water. It feels like crisp mornings which will turn into sunny days. For most of my life Easter was spent camping in Mallacoota. A seaside town on the very edge of Victoria, in Australia. Mallacoota, Australia. With a dog.* In her poem Blue Sarong, in

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-7308955237543370102017-04-02T04:45:00.001-07:002017-04-02T04:52:24.067-07:00

I am committed to writing positive sleep stories, and I will get there, but first I need to write out the Bermuda triangle of bad bed times we experienced this week – and then I will get to something positive! Just now I am nostalgic for good bedtimes. It has been a bad week for sleep in our house. Or perhaps I should say it has been a bad week for bed times. Because we always look for

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-27343295472799342182017-03-21T04:49:00.001-07:002017-04-02T03:54:13.647-07:00

I walked in the door this afternoon and it flashed across my mind, for no particular reason that I could not remember where I slept last night. I don't have a wild lifestyle. I just have two small children. Sleeping Woman For the first few weeks after going into his own bed Rafa settled down happily and put himself to sleep. Then he realised he could get out of bed by himself

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-72704441372522425272017-02-24T04:21:00.000-08:002017-03-02T04:47:37.176-08:00

Winter, Jean Antoine Houdon, 1787 I will teach my children lies I will teach them that a mothers love and a fathers love can protect them from everything. That by treating others with respect they in turn will be respected. That by doing their bit to protect the environment, conserving resources and treading lightly on the earth they can make a difference. I will teach my

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-78718977643516609062017-01-23T08:37:00.000-08:002017-03-15T14:13:17.132-07:00

Have you already lost that New Year glow? That warm fuzzy feeling that this year things will go OK, things will be accomplished. You will be calm, intelligent and accomplished? I reached a proper low around the middle of January. The bottom out involved words like: stomach bug, medical fasting, colonoscopy*, husband projectile vomiting, two small children, no family nearby, vandalism to the

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-23709783432531553872017-01-14T02:22:00.000-08:002017-03-11T03:39:32.841-08:00

On 'that' trip. Scotland 2011 In I my pre-mum, pre-writing about travel with babies life I was often to be found curled up with a good book. On occasion I got myself out of the house and had an adventure or two. If you read until the end of my rather long tale of group travel virgin blog you will know that I married my tour guide. That fact basically makes me

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-37778878312005776022017-01-05T11:16:00.000-08:002017-01-18T03:54:18.801-08:00

I wrote a travel story recently that saw me looking back to a trip that I took ten years ago. Writing it was quite an interesting journey in itself – funny how when you look back patterns reveal themselves. That's one of the reasons I love writing. The story did not get chosen for the project I sent it off to- so I thought I would post it here. Slow Starter Darwin to Broome On the

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-54187338039235380462016-12-20T11:45:00.000-08:002017-02-28T02:32:42.584-08:00

A week or so to go: Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming... and I've done very little. Edinburgh is bloated with pre-Christmas activities. I think perhaps the intention is to distract us from the gloomy weather setting in – so the locals feel cold and are indoctrinated to think 'ah Christmas is coming' rather than 'ah, must immigrate.' Even though, once the

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-55734013669257869072016-12-06T03:07:00.000-08:002017-01-18T12:01:56.999-08:00

So much of my communication with the world these days takes place on a screen. Big screens, small screens, in the case of my phone: a repeatedly smashed, repaired, smashed and dropped in the toilet screen. And I am not complaining; computers and phones help me stay in touch with my family and friends in Australia, they help me see the journey of a dear friend as she battles major illness and

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-53099786192395586052016-11-11T02:29:00.000-08:002017-03-10T06:37:53.232-08:00

In the underrated film Sex and the City II Carrie announces 'I've been cheating on fashion with furniture.' I have a similar confession to make, I've been cheating on blogging with editing/publishing.  Twenty writers from around the world (OK 19, plus me!) have trusted me with their stories of travel with babies, they have waited patiently while I edited, had a baby, looked after it,

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-73106618613449783342015-11-13T14:23:00.000-08:002017-02-28T02:33:37.036-08:00

As this wet and windy week has gone on I have fallen in a bit of a physical heap. Various aches and pains laying me low. A sore throat has been the latest symptom added to the list. Nevertheless I managed a 'very' social day yesterday – which included an afternoon playdate at a friends house with lots of mummy and kid chat, and an evening out to celebrate a work colleges promotion – being on

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-83176401996642462382015-10-12T13:56:00.000-07:002017-02-28T02:34:01.809-08:00

I find notes she's left. Little tid bits. A train ticket from Melbourne 2011, half a postcard, a small pile of stamps shorn from past post, a stack of old magazines with pictures cut out, a bag of lace doilies- moth eaten but with some usable fragments, wrapping paper from last Christmas and don't get me started on the drifts of old receipts - avalanche warning! Every time I come across one or

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK55.953252 -3.188266999999996255.8109675 -3.5109904999999961 56.0955365 -2.8655434999999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-31146783559063731192015-06-15T07:27:00.001-07:002017-02-28T02:34:31.768-08:00

Noun ˈ mansion  noun; mansions  plural noun a large, impressive house.. synonyms: stately home , hall , manor , manor house , country house . antonyms: hovel . In May we welcomed baby Finn into our home. With our nuclear family up to four, and our post baby support team swelling the bodies in our two bedroom flat to six, I have been imagining what life might

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-18812721741134192592015-03-25T12:34:00.002-07:002017-02-28T02:34:59.212-08:00

This pregnancy has seen me take many baths. Resting, with the weight taken off for a little while has been helping me get through my busy days. The bath was one of my pre-requisits when we were flat hunting: No bath = No deal. I recall a conversation a month or two back, with someone who commented that baths were good 'me' time, letting you shut the door on the world for a little while.

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-17358581123863746982015-02-28T03:04:00.001-08:002017-02-28T02:35:22.093-08:00

My 18 month old son was exhibiting somewhat disturbing behavior the other day. After my initial surprise at his actions had worn off I realised that his behavior was of course entirely the fault of his parents. He is not in daycare, does not spend large chunks of time with anyone besides us, nor does he watch a lot of television. He has been demonstrating just how susceptible he is to following

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-2015877386291526082014-12-29T09:24:00.001-08:002017-02-28T02:35:45.539-08:00

A day can take you a lot of places, even when you don't really go anywhere at all.  Today at the bus stop I was reading a library book my husband picked out for me. Love with a Chance of Drowning, by Torre DeRoche is a memoir about an adventursome couple who sailed from the USA to Australia via all sorts of Pacific Islands. I am still at the sea-sick stages of their journey (hers not

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-13775777393545975892014-10-02T11:12:00.000-07:002017-03-22T01:17:15.298-07:00

Having a child draws you into all sorts of new communities. Some days our little family: mum, dad and Rafa can be more than enough to handle; on other days gathering others around you is essential. Living on the other side of the world from the friends and family I gathered about me during the first thirty years of my life can make many things about being a parent challenging. On

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-62896312392436184612014-07-30T04:34:00.003-07:002017-01-18T11:53:34.757-08:00

The Matisse exhibition in London has been tantalisingly near, yet far all summer. Yes it is only four and a half hours on the train from Edinburgh, yes I am on maternity leave and my time is my own. But somehow the no's have stacked up against it in my mind. After four and a bit months living out of suitcases home has become a very nice place to be, and the notion of navigating the London

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-68305647565488161742014-07-07T02:36:00.000-07:002017-01-18T11:52:15.253-08:00

I am looking to collect up travel stories with a twist - travel with babies. Do you think you could be interested in contributing a story, poem, memoir, or travel tale? My concept is still sketchy, but I am ultimately looking to create a book of beautifully written and engaging stories from around the world. I am provisionally entitling the project: You Won't Remember This – travel with

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-28368795835086758832014-04-23T04:38:00.000-07:002017-02-28T05:22:52.948-08:00

If you ever find yourself getting tiered of that daily grind of chores – washing the dishes, taking out the trash, doing the laundry, cooking meals ect. I have a great cure. Just pack up your entire house, put most things into storage and put the things you cannot live without into suitcases. Fly around the world, stopping off to see friends, family and magnificent locations. Be sure to

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4695913588687469462.post-34507879355689115742014-04-09T13:17:00.003-07:002017-01-18T11:51:15.627-08:00

Since leaving Edinburgh in November 2013 to begin our round-the-world honeymoon we have slept in 49 beds* and visited seven different countries: England, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. Along the way we have caught up with friends and family around the world We have also... Driven on the left and right sides of the road. Grown two teeth (Rafa) Learned to love swimming

Sandy Bennett-Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072883268587738524noreply@blogger.com1