Been There, Done That

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

So that’s it then. We’re done. Eight months have passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye and as we write this we’re at 35,000 feet above the Atlantic aboard our nineteenth flight, our last flight, and in the final leg of our complete circumnavigation of the globe…the conclusion of our around-the-world adventure.

What a trip. It has been a truly memorable journey and an experience we will cherish forever.

We’ve seen some amazing places…

We’ve watched the sun rise over the ancient Temples of Angkor in Cambodia and watched it dip below the trees in the African bush. We’ve seen snow-topped mountains, verdant rolling hills, and white sandy beaches. We’ve been lost in the chaos that is Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, we’ve chilled out on deserted beaches in Thailand. We’ve visited some of the most amazing historical sites in the world and seen more World Heritage Sites than you could shake a really, really old stick at.

We’ve done some pretty cool stuff too…

In New Zealand we held on for dear life in a white water raft on Grade 5 rapids and then jumped out of a plane. We camped with dingoes on the largest sand island in the world and then wiped out learning to surf in Australia. We dined on insects in Bangkok and went on an elephant trek in Northern Thailand. In Laos we jumped into a waterfall, went tubing into an underground cave, swung into a river, and fell off of a motorbike. We had our feet cleaned by fish in Cambodia. We motorcycled along the coast from Hue to Hoi An in Vietnam and partied all night with the locals in the tiny fishing village of Mui Ne. In South Africa we went wine tasting on bicycles, tracked the big five on safari, and watched our boys compete in the World Cup Finals.

And along the way we’ve met some wonderful people…

During our trip we’ve visited over 50 places in 11 different countries. Although we were only really passing through on many occasions, we were fortunate enough to meet some amazing people. Like Pop (P-O-P as he would say) the 8-year-old street bookseller from Cambodia who goes to school in the morning and then sells books in the afternoon to help make money for his family. He had the biggest smile you’ve ever seen, a great little personality, and he could teach you more about world geography in 5 minutes than you ever learned in school! And the Vietnamese woman who, after chatting with us briefly one day, invited us back to her home to meet her family over some tea and coffee. We met her mother and father and some extended family over a cup of strong Vietnamese coffee and she told us how she’s trying to help put her daughter through college in Danang by selling nuts and coconut treats that she makes in the streets everyday. And then there’s the 25,000 South Africans that we danced and sang the night away with in Rustenburg to celebrate the opening match of the first ever World Cup Finals in Africa. Black, white, rich, poor all came together to celebrate the World Cup and get behind the Bafana Bafana. Magical.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

Of course, the trip wouldn’t have been the same without some of our fellow travelers that we met along the way, like the slow boat crew in Laos who helped make Lee’s 31st birthday one to remember, Chris, Sarah and Shop-run Gary who we chilled out with in Southern Thailand and who inspired Lee to get some new body art, the cyclists who cycled the length of Africa and then boozed their way around South Africa with us, Foxy/Moonhead/Taff/et al who made the football much more enjoyable even though our teams were terrible, and last but certainly not least are our favorite travelers – our partner’s in crime, our trip buddies, our travel companions, Kate and Lizzie, who we’ve had some brilliant times with over the last 8 months and we feel like we’ve known them forever (we mean that in a good way guys ☺)

It really has been the trip of a lifetime. We already feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do this but it will be over the coming weeks and months, maybe even years, that it starts to sink in how enriching this experience has been for both of us.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

Round-the-world in numbers: the story so far

Most of the counting we have been doing on this trip has been related to money - how much is this hostel room?  What is the exchange rate? Lee you've already spent this much on beer already, Courtney if we forgo using moisturizer we'll save this much money, etc, etc.

After just 2 days in New Zealand we realized that we were going to have a tough time keeping track of our daily expenditures, and therefore our budget, so we invested in a cheap calculator to help.  With the assistance of that same trusty little number crunching device, we decided to look at some other numbers related to this trip and the result is the following summary.  Our trip by the numbers...

5 number of continents visited
11 number of countries explored
144 number of days traveled
43 total number of places that we've stayed in
2 number of motorbikes rented

before the "incident"

50 percentage of rented motorbikes that were crashed
20 number of books read
18 number of flights taken
4 number of different cameras used (so far)
2,195 number of photos taken
10 different modes of transport used

One of the higher quality buses we rode on

35,317 number of miles traveled
24,901 distance in miles around the world at the equator
1 bag of insects eaten

Yum

15,000 height in feet from which we jumped out of a plane
15 number of beaches laid on
3 number of public rallies/riots/protests we have witnessed (civil unrest seems to be a theme on this trip)
9 number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited

Sydney Opera House - UNESCO World Heritage Site

190 cost in US dollars of one speeding ticket in Australia
26 number of bus journeys taken
23 percentage of bus journeys where we feared for our lives

This was a contender for worst bus trip

65 percentage of bus drivers in New Zealand named "Peter"
10 number of capital cities visited
8,500 approximate weight in pounds of the elephant we rode in northern Thailand

53 current age of former England captain and all-round footballing legend Bryan Robson, who we saw hanging out near our hotel in Bangkok
171* number of canadians met while traveling (*estimate.  actual number unknown but it felt like at least that many
27 number of new facebook friends
8 average cost in US dollars of a beer in Australia
0.45 average cost in US dollars of beer in Vietnam
15 number of dorm rooms stayed in
36 percentage of dorms that had smelly and/or noisy roomies
7.5 size of the flip flops Lee inherited after his were stolen from outside an internet cafe in Laos (they are a bit snug)

With only 3 days to go until the start of the World Cup, we'll likely have plenty more statistics to think about over the next 4 weeks.

Things Seen on the Back of a Motorbike in Southeast Asia

4 Upside down dead pigs
1 television
1 family of five
50 dead ducks
1 full size refrigerator
1 six foot ladder
100 plus coconuts
1 Courtney
4 five foot tall porcelain vases
1 glass display case full of pastries and danish
1 large spool of chain link fencing
2 ironing boards
1 sleeping child
1 Lee
100 plus sheets of rice paper
1 Monk smoking a cigarette
10 large truck tires
60 plus pots and pans

Koh Lanta

After 7 weeks, 4 countries, 20 towns/cities, and over 3,000 miles our Southeast Asia adventure was nearing it's end.  After so much traveling, and with a week left before our flight to Greece, we decided to head to southern Thailand for some beach time.  We chose to go to the island of Koh Lanta as we had heard that the beaches are beautiful and it's a little quieter than some of Thailand's other islands.  Koh Lanta is on the west coast of southern Thailand in Krabi Province.  From Phnom Penh we decided to grab a cheap flight to Bangkok and then another to Phuket and from their we hopped on one of the numerous boats that ferry visitors to and from the islands in high season.

On the boat from Phuket to Lanta

 

We had one thing in mind when we decided to go to the Thai islands - bungalow on the beach!  After a bit of comparison shopping (we spent the first night in a place called Moonwalk Resort.  Nice bungalows and swimming pool but the owners weren't very friendly or helpful and it was a bit pricey) we found our happy place - Lanta Emerald.  Bungalow 30 feet from the beach, swimming pool, awesome beachside bar and friendly family running the place.  Perfect.


For the first couple of days we hung out on the beach and by the pool.  By the third day we were ready to do some more exploring.  At this point, we've been moving around so much that neither of us are very good at staying still for long.  Having learned nothing from our experience in Laos, we proceeded to rent another motorbike to get us around.  Bit of a risk given Lee's motorbike driving record (experience: 1 day/ accidents: 1) but it really was the only way to get around on the island.  That or forking over about $10 a ride to a local tuk tuk.  It only cost $7 to rent the bike for the whole day so we decided it was more important to save our money than our skin.  Fortunately there were no spills this time and Lee now considers himself an expert motorbike driver (experience: 3 days/ accidents: 1.  A much more respectable record).

Lanta Old Town

 

With the bike we were able to visit Lanta Old Town on the other side of the island and we also discovered some stunning secluded beaches along the southwest coast.  On a couple of occasions we attempted to find some markets to do some shopping but nobody quite knew when they would be open.  We received several tips that a rather large market would be open on Sunday up by the ferry pier,  We were even told the best time to go (3pm apparently).  So we scooted up there mid-afternoon only to find that it had finished up earlier that morning.

Secluded beach

 

In the evenings we tried a few different restaurants/bars for dinner and drinks but the best one on the island seemed to be our very own beach bar, the Ting Tong Bar.  Run by a friendly group of Sea Gypsies (there's actually a Sea Gypsy Village on Koh Lanta.  Seriously, look it up. ok here you go: http://www.koh-lanta-hotel.com/attraction.htm) the Ting Tong Bar was hopping every night.  "Toffee" seemed to be the main man and he spent each night making sure everyone was enjoying themselves.  The food was pretty good too.  Our favorite dish was probably the seafood Mussaman Curry, delicious!  We also met a nice couple from London, Chris and Sarah (they were actually our bungalow neighbors) and their friend Gary who we hung out with for a few days.

View of sunset from the Ting Tong Bar

 

Koh Lanta is definitely on the list of places we have to go back to.  To be honest, most of the places we visited in this part of the world are on that list.  Until next time.

Thailand to Laos

Crossing the border
Although Thailand was amazing and there was still so much we hadn't seen, we had to keep moving to stand any chance of completing our ambitious itinerary and seeing Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia in little more than 5 weeks.  We decided to cross the border from Chiang Khong in northern Thailand to Huay Xai, a small riverside town in northern Laos.  From there the plan was to travel south either by bus or boat to Luang Prabang - more about that later.

Pai to Chiang Khong
After a bit of research we decided the best option to get to Chiang Khong from Pai seemed to be the overnight "VIP" minibus.  We purchased tickets for 650 baht each which also included a room in Chiang Khong as we would be arriving at approximately 3am (we read that buses rarely stick to schedules so we were prepared for an arrival time anywhere between 3am and 6am).

The VIP sounds luxurious but it was far from it.  The first few hours on the bus were cramped, bumpy and mildly terrifying but other than that pretty uneventful.  At about 1am we pulled into a 7-11 in the middle of nowhere (they're everywhere in Thailand) for a quick comfort stop - food, drink, toilet, stretch, etc.  After 15 about 15 minutes we were loaded back onto the bus in preparation for getting back on the road.  The driver however decided he wasn't ready to get going yet and proceeded to mill around inside the store checking out magazines and having one or two more cigarettes.  This went on for something like 15 minutes.  Originally we thought he was just taking an extra long break, which was fine with us as our main priority was him staying awake long enough to get us to our destination in one piece, but then we discovered the real reason for his lolly-gagging - he was supplementing his bus driver salary with a bit of side business in drug-running!  The pieces started to fall into place while we watched as he participated in a well-rehearsed sequence involving himself, a 7-11 employee and two teenagers who arrived (obviously slightly late) on a motorbike.  If we had any doubts as to what was transpiring they were erased when one of the teenagers gave our driver a little nod and smile as he peeled out of the parking lot on his motorbike - another happy customer.

Another successful transaction completed, we continued on our way.  A couple of sleepless hours later we arrived in Chiang Khong.  The room that was included in our ticket was, as expected, terrible but we were so tired that we really didn't care and fell straight to sleep.  The following morning we left Thailand on a longtail boat across the Mekong which cost us a whopping 40 baht ($1.30) each.

Laos
In Huay Xai on the Laos side we grabbed a room for the night at the Saybadee Guesthouse (very nice room with a huge bed and view of the Mekong from the balcony for $9) and then set about securing transport south to Luang Prabang.  We had heard that due to the Mekong River being very low boats were not running and the only option would be a 16 hour bus ride.  However, after asking around a bit we were pleased to learn that the Chinese had opened a dam or two up river and the boats would start running the following morning.  We booked ourselves a couple of spots on the first boat out in morning, a bargain at 250,000 kip each! (only about $27 for a 2-day trip)

Taking the Slow Boat
There are so many stories about the slow boat online and in the guidebooks and the majority of them say how bad it it - overcrowded, ancient boats, unsafe drivers, scams, unpredictable schedules, etc, etc.  Faced with the prospect of another long and bumpy ride on a crowded bus on dodgy roads, we decided the boat would be the way to go.  Besides, we'd also that the boat afforded riders with views of some great scenery along the way and a glimpse of many Laos villages that are scattered along the river.

Most of what we heard about the boat was true.  The boat was decrepit, it didn't leave anywhere near on time, and it was crowded.  In fact, crowded is an understatement.  It was bursting at the seams.  From the time got on and the time we finally departed, the boat dropped about a foot or more in the water.  Luckily we were among the first people on so we had our choice of places to sit.  We chose to spread out on the floor in the front of the boat, away from the noise and fumes of the engine and more spacious than the rickety wooden benches that were crammed together in the middle section.  This was probably our best decision of the trip so far.

Just when we thought the boat was full, another tuk tuk would pull up and unload a bunch more backpackers.  Then another...and another.  They just kept coming.  Along with a few others, we attempted to protest to the driver that the boat was too full and a second boat was needed to accommodate everyone but we were completely ignored and soon after the engine was fired up and we were off.

Despite all that, we had great time!  We met a fun group of people on the boat and together we created a bit of a party atmosphere in the front section (the people stuck in the back hated us).  Day 1 of the boat trip was also Lee's birthday which Courtney wasted no time in telling everyone.  Midway through the day Lee went to the bathroom and when he returned he was surprised with a full rendition of Happy Birthday from half of the boat which concluded with Lee performing a keg stand on a can of Beerlao (orchestrated by a hilarious Belgian guy called "T-Bone" who ended up being the unofficial Entertainment Director for the duration of the trip).  At 6pm we finally arrived in Pak Beng, the midway point of the trip and the place we would be staying for the night before continuing on in the morning.

Day 2 was a little more subdued as the boaters recovered fromthe Day 1 festivities but we still enjoyed a pleasant meander down the river to Luang Prabang.

A Slice of Pai

Leaving Chiang Mai was sad for us because we loved the feel of the town but we heard from a traveler in Australia (and then several along our southeast asia tour) that Pai could not be missed. We decided to head further north and check out a Thai town set in the mountains. The bus ride would take close to four hours and after Lee read several online forums describing horrific stories of local hill tribe folk, who are not used to motorized vehicles, vomiting throughout the journey on the public bus we decided to spend a couple extra dollars for the VIP bus they have set up for tourists. Our bus ride would cost us 200 baht ($6.25) for the journey up north. All the forums ensured us that it was worth the money because travelers have no problem with the windy, bumpy roads....we were looking forward to the air conditioning and comfortable seats they were advertising.


The VIP van picked us up an hour late from our guesthouse, very typical Thailand hospitality, and then proceeded to drive around town to pick up the other eight passengers. The rest of the group consisted of a Norwegian couple and their three young children, a British couple, and a solo french traveler. After about thirty minutes into the journey on the very bumpy roads the youngest Norwegian, probably around age 3, started getting sick. When asked if he usually gets sick on car rides, the mother replied "no, its usually the older one." We knew we were in for a treat. After holding onto our seats, noses, and stomachs we finally arrived.

Lonely Planet guidebook describes Pai as a hippy town and we would certainly agree. From the streets filled with restaurants serving muesli/yogurt and falafel to the "Keep Pai Green" T-shirts everywhere you turned, we knew there had been westerners in town before we arrived. As we were walking to the guesthouse we were planning to stay in, which was located 5 minutes outside of town and was going to cost 500 Baht ($16) a night, a fellow traveler said she was staying at a place right in town that was "clean and basic" for only 300 Baht per night. We decided to save a couple bucks and check out Mr. Jans Guesthouse. Our room was definitely basic, fairly clean (with a small ant problem in the bathroom), but had a lovely front porch that overlooked a wild flower garden. We explored the town over the next two days and soaked up the small town feel. We went out to dinner the second night with the British couple from our van, Mark and Yaz, who gave us great tips for traveling through Vietnam.

Courtney was dying to go on a Elephant Trek and after speaking to several different companies in town we decided on Joy's Elephant camp, both for the price and the fact it was a family run business. Joy, the mother of the family, owns one elephant and only allows four hours of trekking per day to ensure the animal stays happy and healthy. We paid 900 Baht total and planned to trek for about an hour and a half.

After our banana pancake breakfast (yum), we met at the main office and took a 15 minute car ride out to the camp. The driver, who we learned was also our trek guide, let us out right next to the 3 ton, 31 year old, female elephant we were going to be sharing the morning with. Both of us were taken back by her size and slowly walked into the covered pavilion away from the elephant to watch from a distance. Our trek guide got right to business and started feeding the elephant huge banana tree branches. She looked pleased and ready for tourists to crawl all over her (or so we hoped). We were told to climb up to a platform about 10 feet high so we could mount the elephant. Courtney got on first and Lee sat behind. The guide kept insisting Courtney move closer to the elephant's head and sit directly on the neck, resting her hands on the animal's head for balance. This being completely unnatural, Courtney resisted for a bit but got the hang of swinging with the elephant's movement in no time. Poor Lee had the best ab workout in months having nothing to help balance him but a small rope tied around the elephant's stomach.

At first the guide took us into the hills. The scenery was beautiful with small homes tucked away in the hills. Every so often the elephant would stop to have a nice, long scratch against a large tree trunk or rock. It was hilarious but hard work to hang on. The best part for us was getting into the river. The thought of "playing" in the river with a 3 ton animal was of course frightening but once we got started it was loads of fun. You could tell the animal and trek guide had mutual respect for one another and the elephant did follow direction so that put our nerves at ease. Every time we would climb back onto the elephant she would toss us back into the water. It was a really great experience. After the ride we were able to hang out and feed the elephant some peanuts. The family was very chatty and told us all sorts of things about caring for the elephants.

Chiang Mai

After the intensity of Bangkok we decided to head to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand for some R&R.  There are several options for getting there from Bangkok including flying, busing it, or taking the train.  Flying is obviously the quickest way but it's almost the most expensive and you don't really get to see any of the Thai countryside.  The bus is the cheapest option but we heard a few stories about crazy drivers and a good deal of vomiting.  So we decided to ride the train up.  We booked ourselves on the night train which left Bangkok at 6pm and arrived in Chiang Mai at 7am the next day.  For about $20 each we were able to get spots in the air-conditioned sleeper train which meant we each had our own bed!  The train is a bit slower than the bus but we were willing to accept a longer journey in exchange for a decent night's sleep.  The train ride was great. There's some nice scenery along the way and we got to watch the sun come up over the mountains as we passed through the countryside on the way into Chiang Mai.  For a couple of bucks extra we also got a nice hot breakfast in the morning served right to our seats.

Chiang Mai was beautiful and much more our speed than Bangkok.  The old city is contained within moats and the remnants of the walls that were built to keep out Burmese invaders some 700 years ago.  We stayed in the eastern part of the old city, close to the Tha Phae Gate in a great little place called Baan Nud-Kun (http://baannudkun.com/index.php).  We got a nice sized room with an en-suite bathroom for only 400 baht per night which is about $11.  There were cheaper options but you get what you pay for and this place was definitely worth splurging (haha).

We spent 4 days wandering around and getting lost in the little Sois that meander through the city.  Thai Massage is very popular in Chiang Mai so we decided to treat ourselves.  We went to a beautiful place called Muan Boutique where we had 1 hour Thai massages for $5 each.  Worth every penny.

Every Sunday they shut down Ratchadamnoen Rd and have a huge market that almost runs from one side of the city to the other.  They call it a "walking street."  We were lucky enough to be there on a Sunday so we checked it out.  It was great.  Very arts and craftsy.  So much better than the markets we had seen in Bangkok.  The food was incredible too.  We ate green curry, fresh noodle rolls, pad thai omelet and finished up with fried bananas.  Delicious!  And all for the grand sum of about $2!

Random photo of the day

DSCF0561
Originally uploaded by LeeSenior

We found this while shopping for deodorant in Chiang Mai.

Bug bites

We met new friends Kim and Lauren (hi guys!) over breakfast at Suk 11 and decided to go out with them for dinner and drinks the following night.  Lauren got a tip from a friend about some great places to eat on Soi 38 ("Soi" basically means little street) so we decided to check it out.  After a delicious dinner we stopped in at Cheap Charlie's, a popular bar on the same street as Suk.

After a few drinks, we were still a little hungry so we decided to grab a snack...

Street Meat

This is what Thailand is all about.  Although we've been told a few times, "don't eat food from street stalls, you'll get sick" (Hi Aunt Donna!) you really can't avoid it.  And besides, it's where some of the best food is found!  Although we didn't eat from this particular stall (we actually took this picture because the food looked pretty nasty) we've eaten from a bunch.  Most of the time you'll find some sort of an English menu but if not seeing something you like and just pointing works just fine.  Best of all, it will cost about $1.

Sawatdee Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok in the early evening after our marathon journey from the central coast of Australia to south east Asia.  Our bargain flight turned out to be not such a bargain after we discovered that we wouldn't be fed so we had to purchase drinks and snacks on the plane.  We survived the 9-hour flight on a ham and cheese sandwich and a bar of chocolate.  Tired and hungry we made our way through the airport to find a ride into the city.

Several failed attempts to secure a room over the phone from Sydney Airport meant that we didn't have a place to stay yet so we just decided to head to the famous (infamous?) backpacker mecca Khao San Road in hopes that we'd be able to find a place to crash.

After dodging a number of aggressive touts trying to get us into their cab/bus/hotel we paid 300 baht (about $10) for two tickets for the standard airport bus into the city.  The ride in took about 30 minutes and gave us a glimpse of what was to come in Bangkok - skyscrapers, billboards, traffic, and seas of humanity at every turn.

Once at Khoa San Road we spent a good hour walking around trying to find a decent place to stay.  After we were turned away from a couple of places and with our patience wearing a little thin we finally found a place that was recommended in our Lonely Planet book - generally a good sign.  Luckily the New World Lodge (www.newworldlodge.com) had a room for us and we took it right away.  As usual though, first night in a new country we paid waaaay more than we wanted to.  Still, it only cost us as much as we were spending per night in Australia, but rather than staying in a dorm room we had a huge private room complete with our very own private bathroom and balcony overlooking the Khlong Canal.  We even had the luxury of satellite TV which Lee was particularly happy about as when we turned it on there was a football match on.  Courtney was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and Lee managed to get to half-time before turning in for the night.

Although lovely, New World was a bit above our price range so, after a much needed night of rest, we set out in the morning to find somewhere a little cheaper to use as a base to explore the city for the next few days.  After some rooting around online we came across Suk 11 Hostel, a place located just off of Sukhumvit Road, a busy commercial area in eastern Bangkok.  The Suk 11 website was pretty sharp (don't just take our word for it: www.suk11.com), the hostel itself looked like it had a ton of character and it was in our price range so we decided to book 3 nights there.  We weren't disappointed.  Suk 11 is great.  We would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Bangkok.  Beautiful building, clean, spacious rooms (AC available if required) and a great location.  Breakfast is included with the room too and it's great - fresh fruit, toast, tea and coffee and a different Thai style offering everyday such as fruit-rice pudding.

All settled at Suk we decided to do some sightseeing.  Many of the main tourist attractions in Bangkok are along the Chao Phraya River which is often translated as River of Kings, so traveling up and down it by boat is generally the most efficient (and pleasant) way to see everything.  Traffic in Bangkok is a nightmare so we decided to take the relatively new Skytrain or "BTS" as some call it, a 10 year old monorail that runs through the newer parts of Bangkok and conveniently stops at Central Pier where you can jump in a boat to take you up the river.  Nana Station was only a 2 minute walk from our hostel so it was perect.  A one-way trip to the pier cost us 35 baht each (about $2 in total) and we were at the pier in about 20 minutes, a fraction of the time it would have taken us in a taxi.

We decided to buy day passes for the Chao Phraya River Express which allowed us to take unlimited trips up and down the river all day.  Each pass cost about $5 (150 baht).  It seemed like a good deal until we realized later in the day that we'd only be taking about 4-5 trips total and a single ride only cost 25 baht!  Oh well.

One of many beautiful buildings at the Grand Palace

The chaos of Khao San Road

Traveling by boat we visited the Grand Palace, Bangkok's biggest tourist attraction and definitely a must-see, and Khao San Road just to see what all the fuss was about.  We planned to visit a couple of other temples also, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, but spent so much time wandering around the Grand Palace that we were too hot and tired so we headed back to the hostel.  We'll be back in Bangkok again before we leave Thailand so our plan is to see what we missed then.

The Itinerary

Where are we going?

Planning a round-the-world trip is HARD.  We’ve been planning this thing for months and here we are less than 2 weeks before we leave and we still haven’t figured out all the details!  It turns out the world is quite big and you can’t possibly see it all in 8 months.  So, we tried to create a bit of a plan that will allow us to visit quite a few countries but also left it fairly open-ended so we can linger in places we like a little longer and duck out of places we’re not keen on earlier.  The only thing that is set in stone is the flight to South Africa.  We’re heading down there for the FIFA World Cup, which starts in early June and ends a month later.  Did we mention Lee likes football?

Here’s our itinerary as it stands today (Jan 5, 2010):

Los Angeles      01/17 – 01/19                       

New Zealand     01/21 – 02/10                       

Australia            02/10 – 02/23

SE Asia             02/24 – 04/08                       

Europe               04/08 – 06/01           

South Africa      06/02 – 07/19           

England             07/20 - ??