• Janette Rovansek
  • Janette Rovansek

Sri Lanka Vision Trip

A 7-day adventure by Janette Read more
  • Trip start
    March 15, 2017

    First leg of trip (Denver to Chicago)

    March 14, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ -3 °C

    We challenged ourselves to only bring a carry on back with all our clothes so that we wouldn't end up without our luggage. So far we are winning, 2 people are now without their bags and we haven't even made it out of the USA :)

    Today was a long day, we got to the airport at 9am and our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:50pm. Because of all the closures on the east coast our plane didn't get off the ground until 3:30. When we finally landed in Chicago we still had to get to the ticketing counter and check in at Qatar Airlines for our flight to Doha. We ended up at the counter 54 minutes before our flight left and they wouldn't allow us to get on the plane. They actually made us move and rolled up the rug in front of the ticket counter and went home. We are now at a Hyatt in Chicago waiting for tomorrows flight at 7:55pm.

    We are hoping to do some site-seeing in Chicago tomorrow before we try again to catch our flight.
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  • Chicago Hyatt

    March 15, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ -1 °C

    Sightseeing in Chicago

    Since our flight doesn't leave until 7:50pm tonight so we decided to take the subway into town and visit a couple of tourist attractions. The first stop was getting to a store to buy some cheap sweatshirts since all we packed was warm clothes. Currently in Chicago its 20 degrees and very windy.

    We ended up at an Old Navy and buying a Chicago Sweatshirt and an NY sweatshirt which was hard to find since they already had their summer gear out.

    We headed towards "cloud gate" which is better known as the bean. We were frozen but we made it. Took some pictures with some firefighters from Melbourne which mostly contained of women still no idea why they were in full gear but they were very nice.

    We then headed towards the bridge so we could take a look at the river they dye green for St. Patricks day but as you will see has faded and just looks dirty.

    Our last stop was to get some famous Deep Dish Pizza which we found at the famous Giordano's.

    We then headed back on the subway so we could get to the airport early to make sure this time we didn't miss the plane.
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  • Hamad International Airport

    March 16, 2017 in Qatar ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We did indeed make it out this time and the flight was packed. Mia and I sat in the middle section in-between 2 very nice men. The man by me was rather large and sat halway in to my seat and also had his feet under the chair in front of me which made for a very uncomfortable 13 hour flight. The man next to Mia was very nice and made sure that she was o.k. during the trip. Once we landed in Doha the airport was amazing and listed as one of the most luxurious airports in the world. We were not able to take alot of pictures so I won't do it justice.Read more

  • Compassion Project in Madampe

    March 17, 2017 in Sri Lanka ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    After no sleep we were on our way (2 hour drive) to visit our first project which is a child survival project. Its a program that helps moms and their children develop together and survive. We got to see all the moms and their kids and go visit one of their homes to see how they live. She had no running water, only 1 wood frame to sleep on with her and her son and no kitchen to prepare meals.

    We were then able to meet some of the kids after they got home from school. Mia had a crowd of kids around her that she was taking pictures of the kids and putting funny faces on them. They thought it was the best thing and kept laughing at what Mia was doing.

    After we spend all day with the kids, we then drove another hour north to another hotel but this time it is on the beach.

    Mia was exhausted and barely could make it through dinner.
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  • Park

    March 19, 2017 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    After church we loaded up the kids on our air conditioned tour bus we took the kids to a park.

    They love to dance and sing and made us sing pop songs that they could dance to.

  • Compassion project in Ingodawela

    March 20, 2017 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    This project is in a flood zone, alot of the houses were hit by severe flooding and are trying to rebuild. We visited one house where the family lived in very wet conditions and the wife was very pregnant and you could smell diesel in the house from trying to run electricity maybe from a generator. They only had half of their house rebuilt and ran out of money to complete the rest. They said it takes 1,000 US dollars to build a cement house with 2 rooms.Read more

  • Compassion project in Ingodawela

    March 20, 2017 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Everywhere we go they offer us food and drinks. They have nothing but they make sure we are taken care of. Mia is trying this sweet snack that they bake in a large leaf, it wasn't that bad. We also got to see how the women sew bags and purses and sell them for money for the church. We bought one for 5 dollars to support the church. We also got to ride in a tuk tuk to visit the ladies home who is in the picture. The son climbed the coconut tree to get us something to drink.Read more

  • Cinnamon Red Mawatha, Colombo

    March 20, 2017 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We are now back at the first hotel which was a 3 hour bus ride. It's in the heart of colombo which is very crowded. We are done visiting our projects and get to be a tourist for a day. We are headed to a Buddhist temple tomorrow and a market to shop and then our flight leaves at 3am. We have to arrive at the airport 5 hours early because they are renovating the airport.Read more

  • Trip end
    March 21, 2017