The Famous Chilli Dog's World Travels

Where has Chilli been?

Each entry on this list is a place that Chilli has been - eight so far! The links in this section are links to diary entries that Chilli has sent back from his travels. You don't have to read them in order, each stands alone.

NB: Some of the diary entries are on different servers so use your "BACK" button a few times to get back here afterwards if you get lost.

• Melbourne, Australia - With Leon and Audrey (January, 2002)
• Auckland, NZ - With Jemma Allen (Middle of 2002)
• Rodney, NZ - With Richard Smallfield (Summer, 2002/3)
• Italy - With Dagmar.
• England, UK - With Lynne.
• IN PROGRESS SF Bay Area, California, USA - With Meerkat.
• Sunnyvale, California, USA - With Linda Gentile
• San Jose, California - With Ashi

Why is Chilli, a world traveller?

You want to know why is a small brown stuffed dog travelling around the world with his very own passport, journal, and web pages of his travels to boot?

He travels because I want to, basically.

I'm disabled and chronically ill (link is to a medical autobiography, probably boring) - as you've probably realized if you're reading this website - and can't go myself, so he's going for me and sending back many pictures and stories of his adventures. Hopefully one day I will get well and be able to go to these places myself, but until that miracle occurs I shall have to be content with having adventures second-hand through Chilli.

Read Chilli's Travelling Journal!

Chilli now keeps his travelling journal on the web! You can find it here on LiveJournal.

Please feel free to go and read it, and if you are interested you are welcome to leave comments about any entry and Chilli will read them and perhaps reply to you!

The journal isn't complete at the moment because we don't have all his old entries. But it's getting there and becoming more complete each month. And, of course, all new entries will be put up there.

Chilli wants to slowly work his way across North America ending up with AceLightning in New Jersey on the other (I think) coast. Don't beat me if I'm wrong - my USA geography is about as good as your Australian geography I'd bet. Where's Darwin in relation to Victoria? *wink*.

And after that, where next? It might be Dublin, India, more of America or Australia, he can go anywhere with an Internet connection, or possibly anywhere with a postal service even!

Where did Chilli come from?

He was given to me by somebody who used to be a PCA/personal carer I had when I was living in Carlton - Jules aka Julie Brown (unfortunately not on the net so she can't see these pages :(). She rang me to see if she could come over and discovered I was in hospital for a while, so instead of ringing me at hospital, she just turned up, and with Chilli as a get-well present! My body has continued to get worse, unfortunately, but Chilli has certainly raised my spirits dramatically as he travels around the world!

I still ring Jules occasionally and tell her how Chilli is getting on, but I do wish she could see these pages! Get an internet connection, Julie!

What's Chilli's Secret Ambition(TM)?

He wants to visit every family in every country in the whole wide world! Or at least one person per country. How do you think we might help him get to the more obscure places and countries?

Why is he called Chilli, anyway?

Nothing exciting, that's just the name that came on his ear tag he was brought to me in hospital hospital complete in a slightly chewed bag (either by Chilli or by the carer's live variety of dogs, the case remains open).

Does Chilli have a family?

Yes! I found a almost exact replica of him (only difference is a lighter colour) and a larger version (the little one could stand between the legs of the elder one.) I reported this to the journal list (see below for what that is) asking which I should buy, a sibling for Chilli or a parent, and and one of the wonderful members of the journal list promptly offered to reimburse me to buy me both! Yay! Thankyou Audrey!!

Next was what to name them. I got the final choice but his sister will be called Saffron (suggested by Dagmar, his third host) because a) it's another type of spice like Chilli, b) She's a slightly lighter colour then Chilli and Spice and therefore a vaguely safronnish colour c) I am in love with Saffy/Saffron from 'Absolutely Fabulous' (for those who can't place her, the curly haired mousy daughter who was the sensible one. I could SO relate to her!!! and I love people with long and/or curly hair and she had both).

His mother will be called Spice because both her children have spice names. This was suggested by somebody who will take him around New Jersey once he makes it there - yes, it's AceLightning again! What would we do without her? *wink*

Here's some pictures of the family, with a commentary by Chilli himself.

Who decides where he goes next?

Officially, the person who has him currently gets to decide next (as long as they're on the journal list (again, see below)), but in practice it's always so far becomes obvious as he travels where he's "supposed" to go next. There has always been somebody who's about to go on holidays, or some other wonderful adventure, and wants to take him with them and this person has always got to have Chilli next.

I'm interested in Chilli and his adventures, does he have a fanclub?

The best place to keep up with his adventures is actually on the mailing list for Journeying/Journalling, my own online journal, kept almost continuously since 1997. This is for two reasons, firstly because Chilli and his adventures were first conceived by my friends on the Journal List, and secondly to "keep him is the family", so to speak.

The people on the journal list are all my friends and biggest supporters, so if you want to find out what Chilli's up to, I suggeest you start reading Journeying/Journalling and see if keeping up with it is for you. If it is, start leaving comments there (with a name so I get to know who you are). Then, on the journal's front page to the journal mailing list and if you honestly tell me how long you've been reading the journal and why you want to join the list ... and well, I've never turned away anybody why asked to join so far!

Friends

Chilli's adventures have inspired one of the journal members to create the Stuffies Day Out pages, with links to other travelling companions, one of which even travelled to the President of the USA.