How did we get here?

Greetings Fellow Travelers,

Link to Map of World with Chinese character labels

Boston is the city where we started. From Boston, Alicia flew west, and landed in the city that is known as “City by the Bay.”

Looking at these two maps, can you figure out where we started from and where our first stop was? We first flew from the east coast to the west coast of the United States.

If you answered “San Francisco” which is known by that name, then you are correct!

Using a push pin and a piece of string, pin one end of the string to the place on the map where Boston is, pin the other end of the string to the place on the map where San Francisco is.

Teachers, you can actually download this, blow these maps up and put them up in your classroom. This is a good mapping activity you can do with your students. The continent labels are in Chinese characters, which is good for students to see; you can label them in English as well.

From San Francisco, we flew west again across the ocean, and landed in a city in China that is an island. The name of the island means “Fragrant Harbor” in English.

Can you guess which city it is?

Look it up on the web if you can’t figure it out! Did you get
Now, take another piece of string, and pin one end to San Francisco and the other end to…
Hong Kong!

Ok, now, what ocean did we fly across to get here?
Find it on the map, and place a blue circle of string around it!

Now, for the last stop of the flight – we flew south from Hong Kong over the South China Sea: put a blue circle of yarn around that.

We flew over the Straits of Malacca – find the Straits and put another blue circle of string around that! We finally landed in a city with the initials K.L., in a country that begins with the letter “M.” Can you find this city on the map?

When you find this city, pin another piece of string from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur.

What country is it in?

Wait! The trip isn’t done yet!

From Kuala Lumpur, we drove south by car to the city where our conference was. This city begins with an “M” and has the same name as the Straits. When you find this city, pin a string from Kuala Lumpur to Malacca, and put a big star on Malacca.

Note: Malacca is spelled “Melaka” when you are in South East Asia – so you will see it spelled both ways on different maps – it’s still the same city!