Around the world in under 20 days

After exhaustive searching - get a load of the best priced itinerary for our "potential" trip...
Winnipeg, Chicago, New York, Kuwait, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok, LAX, Denver, Winnipeg

For those who aren't familiar with it, Borneo has lots of great things including turtles, orangutans, headhunters trails, bats and fantastic beaches....but Thailand is winning unless we have no results from our attempts to get permits. It is proving difficult.

Thailand is also saying we need a "minder" which may prove too costly. Still waiting on details.

So things are moving along. 7 weeks to go.

Quick question

Thailand or Borneo? Roughly the same cost. Which sounds groovier?

Elephants, rafts, monkeys, long neck women, beaches

Headhunters, orangutans, bats, caves, beaches

Hooray for Bollywood

Working hard at getting us an interview with a top Bollywood director. Hopefully Shea will be able to learn a little more about the film industry in India and will get a chance to visit a film set. There's a possibility she may even appear in a film (although to be honest they love all foreigners as extras so everybody is at risk of being pressed into service - Unky Duck could play the part of an aging hippie)

I found a commuter flight for $24 from Delhi to Mumbai. Hopefully everyone packs light.

I'm definitely kicked up about India. I'm getting lots of help from the network on Virtual Tourist. It's great fun to do the research.

Weekend Update

Lots of new news on the SRWT front.

Most exciting (well, I think it's exciting) we have a nod of approval from Manitoba Film & Sound for all our funding. That's sort of the difference of night and day to us. Means we'll be able to borrow against their commitment for the cash to finish off the series. We still have to do some creative accounting but it looks like a go!

Ken visited the Chinese Embassy in Toronto today and despite his best efforts - we're not going to China. Too much hassle for a hillbilly crew. We want to go somewhere we're wanted anyway.

Ken also heard back from the guys from the European satellite network. They definitely want the show - but we don't really know what that means in terms of cashola. Their signal beams into 135 million European homes. Hopefully some of those people will want to buy a t-shirt or something.

I'm working hard on setting a new itinerary. It's looking possible for India and Thailand. I'm liking the variety - tigers and the Taj in India and Elephants, rafts and fantastic beaches in Thailand. Lots of food and culture and great stuff to do.
There are good deals to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia but it's not that different from Thailand and I'm still big on getting variety. The flight to Delhi is amusing - 14 hours out of LA to Taipei. Then a stopover for an hour and then 7 hours to Delhi. Piece o cake. Was hoping we might finagle a stop at a Bollywood set. Still working on it.

There's your Friday update.

Congrats Shaun!!

Shaun's curling time won an event tonight in stunning style in the 119th annual MCA Bonspiel. It was an amazing game and Shaun's dad who skips made a double raise takeout for the win!

Great fun. Huge supportive crowd. Awesome game.

Tentative Schedule

Here is the tentative schedule I've worked out.

I'm thinking about making a change on the Thailand leg and skipping the trek and Chiang Mai and doing the elephant thingy further south on one of the tropical islands...probably not that hard to ascertain my rationale.

(Some of you know I still have nightmares over my last Thai trek in 1995)

I'm also looking into alternatives to Samed Island including Koh Samui and Phuket and Phi Phi Island (where The Beach was filmed)Hoping for a few days of R & R at the end.

The China itinerary is pretty close tho, I think.



March 22 Fly Winnipeg-Vancouver
March 23 Arrive Beijing
March 24 Sightseeing - Tianamen Square - lots of other great stuff
March 25 Band interview
March 26 Sightseeing - Great Wall
overnight train to Xian
March 27 Terra Cotta Warriors
March 28 Fly to Shanghai - sightseeing
March 29 Fly to Bangkok direct from Shanghai
March 30 Bangkok
March 31 Band Interview
April 1 Sightseeing
Overnight train to Chiang Mai
April 2 Sightseeing Chiang Mai
April 3 Trek - Elephants - Bamboo Raft
April 4 Trek - Travel to Samed Island
April 5 Beach
April 6 Beach
April 7 Beach
April 8 Beach
April 9 Fly Home

Chugging Along

We received the letter from SCN yesterday, just in time to send in the package to Manitoba Film & Sound to apply for our tax credits. All was in order and the package is in!

So, we'll continue to plan for the remaining episodes and Allan will follow up with MFAS next week and we should be able to finalize details in the next few weeks.

We should get an update from Joseph in the next week or so.

I suspect, a meeting is in order.

It's never easy.

WHEN SRWT becomes a big success it will be after lots of hard work.

Spoke to Ken last night (P didn't go Unky Duck.)

Ken reported that Joseph was in meetings from dawn to dusk and was headed to the Sundance Film Festival. We'll likely get his full report next weekor the week after.

Ken spent a fair bit of time with Skip who owns Globalcast Media. This is the satellite broadcaster he started talking with through Debra last year. Skip has indicated he wants the show. Ken is unsure if this time it will be a straight purchase or airing it and making the money on the back end through sponsorship and web retail sales. The satellite numbers are huge and were a big help when I was planning Kenya and Egypt. I'd love to have some concrete broadcast market info before I commit to any new destinations.

Other than that, Ken said that Kaleidoscope has told Joseph they want to get together to specifically talk about SRWT and partnerships but Ken did not get a chance to followup with Joseph to see when that was going to happen.

On the home front, Allan has the package ready to send to Manitoba Film & Sound for the tax credits. He spoke with them yesterday and it certainly looks like we'll qualify.

I've been in touch with the governments of Thailand, China and India to see about film permits etc. We'll probably choose the destinations that make it easiest for us.

Allan will be in touch with the Canadian embassies as well. That worked very well for Costa Rica.

Still a lot of work ahead but everyone is very pumped.

Shea has been sick all week (should get the test results today - it's likely something she picked up in CR) She's been really down for the count. Missed her band camp and ringette tournament.

As I said at the beginning....it's never easy.

But onward and upward.

It's official!

The offer from SCN is in the mail. I should receive it tomorrow and it is for the full amount we discussed. That means all systems are go!

Phew. Good news but scary.

Great timing as Ken and Joseph hit Las Vegas.

Congrats all.

Whew....amazing work

A big thank you and congrats to Unky Duck and Denise who worked like crazy over the weekend to build an amazing portfolio of shows. We sat down and watched them all tonight, 2 NZs, Kenya, Egypt, Jamaica and Hawaii. What an unreal experience.

Ken's off to Vegas tomorrow and we will see what NATPE brings.

Thanks to all of you who continue to drop by the blog for updates.

A lot of intensity by the SRWT crew

Today was outrageous at the Picanteria. I worked frantically to create interesting pop up material for Jamaica, Hawaii, Kenya, Egypt and New Zealand. Denise and I continued to fill in gaps and fine tune New Zealand 1 & 2. A little script writing, a little rearranging...we have two really captivating episodes. Truly outstanding job D!

Unky Duck's slaving on Kenya 1 and 2 and will finish Hawaii and Egypt tomorrow.

Marnie performed heroically getting brand new sell sheets and a poster designed and prepped for Ken who made sure everything was printed and on its way to Vegas.

We owe Ben at Midcan a huge thanks as we got in tonight with short notice and spent 2 and a half hours voicing scripts. Shea was really on tonight with her expressive delivery. I can't wait to get these all together. You're gonna love 'em.

Carrie and Marnie, Denise and Unky Duck worked late tonight - Carrie and Marnie helping out with transcribing scripts and shooting them over to Midcan where Shea and I were voicing and Denise and Unky Duck traded ideas and hard drives.

Now it's nearly 11 pm and Shea and Allan are finishing off the Egypt voice. (Shea is collapsing on the floor now finally having mastered the word "wonders".)




We're done! More fun and games tomorrow and the shows are off to Sin City.




Oh....and we did some serious ad agency work today also...thanks Shaun, Kath and Amanda. An awesome team.

Some great poster material

The wardrobe/makeup/hair chicks did a great job keeping Shea looking fresh, different and gorgeous throughout the shoot - even in some difficult conditions.

Wanted to throw a couple of samples of their work and Shea's excellent genes on here. Speaking of which...happy birthday Shea's dad Ted.

In the homestretch

Back in San Jose and getting ready to fly home tomorrow.

This was (for me) the most physically and mentally demanding episode yet. I'm pretty sure that if this had been the first it would also have been the last.

Icing on the cake was a scathing e-mail I received from our original tour company today. This guy and I couldn't seem to see eye to eye on anything. A little churn in my stomach started back in early November and I really think I should have listened to it. I will definitely be more careful in the future.

The upside is we have an excellent episode here and we met some truly fantastic people.

Selim - our incountry tour guide and host and his wonderful family.
The whole band Delye - each and every one a charmer.
Danny and Warner - really, really good people.

A memorable trip and and outstanding episode.

....and Shea you were amazing.

A very difficult decision.

After a flurry of activity rearranging everything so that we could try to squeeze in an episode in Selim's homecountry Nicaragua, we have finally pulled the plug and will be returning to Canada as scheduled on Tues. eve.

It would be hard to explain how tough it was to make the decision. Agonized about it for the past 36 hours.

Influencing factors: Continental Airlines making it really difficult to change flights affordably....so much stuff was stolen last evening from our casitas in La Fortuna - my laptop, Shea's and Marnie's IPODs, Allan's PSP, Clark's camera..it really was a kick in the pants....we drove down to San Jose this morning after a 4:30 am wakeup to pack and get ready....police report filed about 7:30 am. Very windy (that's wind rhyming with kind) roads, I puked out the window of the moving Toyota, cloud cover on the trecherous roads worse than any Manitoba blizzard, couldn't see 4 feet in front of the car - I was afraid I'd be responsible for someone's death on the highway...upon reflection - just not enough footage of the "tropical" Costa Rica, spent too much time in the cold rain....owner of the waterfall rappel was less than welcoming yesterday - not what Selim had arranged at all - so we skipped it.

On the upside, Delye the band was fantastic and we've made some true friends here in Costa Rica. I would say that's the best part of being involved in the show.

Selim was gracious when I spoke to him about not going to Nicaragua on this trip despite all the hard work he put into the plans already. I'd really like to come back when we can do the job right.

For now we're going to complete Costa Rica properly with some great beach stuff and we'll be able to have Shea do what she needs to do to help us finish NZ2 and Kenya and Egypt for the Las Vegas show.

Selim - you are one in a million.
Ken and Shaun - can't thank you enough for trying so hard to make it work
P - thanks for your continued support and enthusiasm
Allan - it's never been more clear to me how much I need you
Shea - words can't express how proud I am of you
In country SRWT crew - thanks for helping me with the decision
Ryan - welcome home
Denise - we're on our way - see you soon.

could this get any nuttier?????

Furiously trying to squeeze in just one little more episode in Nicaragua before we return to Canada. Very challenging particularly with the creative way I book flights. Trusty Ken and Shaun are command central working on flight changes and executive producer approval for expenses. On the upside, Ken had an uplifting conversation with Joseph from Sandra Carter Global and it seems like the show is taking off.

Sounds good from here in the drowning puddles of La Fortuna CR.

Changed our interview date with the Costa Rican band from Tuesday to tomorrow so it´s a long drive then interview then it´s off to Nicaragua for the intrepid SRWT team....believe me - we absolutely could not do this without the conviction and hard work of the gang back home.

Our deepest and sincerest thanks.

Sorry Denise to put all this pressure on you.

Whew ..another successful day

Today was whitewater rafting day. An hour and a half bus ride, 15 minute safety briefing and we were off. Sure made bringing the underwater camera worthwhile. Robin carried that big heavy thing on the raft the whole way. Look ma, no hands!! Unky Duck would sail ahead with his boatpals Allan, Carrie and Marnie, unload and shoot our raft with Shea, me, Robin and two guys from California....along with our incredible guide Danny. Danny was a real showman who kept us entertained throughout bus rides and the raft experience. Shea says it was the most dangerous adventure yet. She and I held on to each other at the really rough spots so we made it through. Class IV rapids. Quite intense for rookies. Allan and Carrie did go overboard at one point. This was the real thing alright.

Not to sound too envious

but Unky Duck´s blogs are way more fun with all the photos he can put on there. Looks a lot like we´re having fun. We actually are. We had a great day today - We went horseback riding to a huge waterfall - Shea was fantastic! The clouds even finally let up a bit so we could actually see the cone of the volcano - it´s been pretty rainy the whole time - it´s funny- the rain stops and starts all day - you never know when it´s going to happen.

We climbed a loooooong way down to the base of the waterfall for a swim - I was awfully worried about climbinb a loooooong way up - but the old ticker held on and it turned out to be no where near as bad as I´d imagined.

Shea had her mud facial and massage at the spa today - it´s going to be a really cute segment. She´s doing great in front of the camera and the wardrobe-makeup-hair crew keep her looking spectac.

Ken and the Stuarts all left today so it´s just us chickens left.

Watch Unky Duck´s blog for great new photos. We actually had some real internet time tonight. Can´t wait to see what he posts.

Adios mi amigos from La Fortuna Costa Rica. (look it up for more detail about this place)

ok that seemed to work

We sold a bill of goods about what our new year´s celebration would be like. Turned out to be a horrible smoke filled loud disco - not so great for old people (like me) and young girls. But around back they had an area that was much nicer and had a good band. We danced a bit, rang in the new year and left.
Today we´re visiting the hot springs. But it´s pretty dismal out - might not be worth shooting.

Hope everyone´s new year was excellente.

Feliz y Prospero Ano Todos

Travelled by boat to Nicaragua yesterday - got some excellent footage of howler monkeys - it will be really cute. Today is basically a day off - we´re hoping tho to get footage of hot springs today. Tomorrow we ride horses to the waterfalls and possibly take an aerial tram. The Stuarts leave tomorrow and the shoot starts in earnest. It has been mostly rainy and cloudy here at the base of the volcano. I have no confidence this blog will upload so will try this and then add a little more.