One Year Home

Hard to believe that just over 2yrs ago, we were at the beginning of our year-long backpacking trip with our kids.  In some ways, it seems that it was a lifetime ago.  And now, it’s been over a year since we’ve been back to ‘normal life’.  While the past 13 months have been a bit of a blur, full of highs and lows, here's an update of where we're at:

Bad Things Can Happen To You On Home Turf Too

When we first told family and friends about our intentions to take our family on a 1yr backpacking trip across South East Asia, we were surprised by the negativity we received.  Some people even went so far as to say that we ‘were going to get the children killed’, especially by going to some of the developing countries on our itinerary.

In our day and age, on one hand the world is a ‘smaller place’ due to ease and accessibility of travel.  Yet on the other, the threat of terrorism and general fear of the unknown while traveling, particularly with a family, keep most people from chasing their dreams.  Other excuses such as waiting until the children get older or for more financial security also crop up.

But this past weekend, a day after returning home from our wonderful family holiday in Bali, we got some life-changing news:  my only sister was killed in a freak accident.  It happened in Canada, a ‘safe’ country, while going for a leisurely drive in the country with her family.

At 36 years of age, she has been taken from this world much too soon. 

But it gives me some peace to know she led a fulfilling life, full of zest and a sense of adventure --a life with no regrets, especially after the long awaited birth of her 2 boys.  She had a great education that led to a successful career, through which she met her future husband. They both loved to travel and even took a year off to visit places of their dreams such as Africa, South America, Europe, Egypt, India, SE Asia, China, and Australia.  Even after their first child was born, she and her husband made the 20ish hour journey to visit us in Australia, with child in tow. And after the recent birth of their second child, they travelled by air to San Diego for a holiday.  They were even on a short-getaway at the time of her death.  She didn’t do things by half-measures, and always did her best by all the people she knew and loved.  Above all, she loved her husband and children the most.

With Auntie in Melbourne, December 2010 just before we left on our trip.

All the cliché’s in life are true:  ‘Life is too short’; ‘Only the good die young’;  ‘Live life to the fullest’;  ‘You only live once’;  ‘The only thing to fear is fear itself’.

Try to not put off chasing your dreams, especially if it is to travel the world.  But most importantly make time for the people and the things that you love.  Don’t let fear of the unknown stop you-- bad things can happen to you anywhere, anytime.  As the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) put it, her accident was ‘an act of God’.  I know He will take care of her now; may she rest in peace.

With her precious family just a month prior to her death.

Meet Our Newest Family Member

We’ve been back 7 months now, and have just added to  our family of four. Daisy was born 9 March 2012 and has beautiful soft golden curls, black-brown eyes and is gentle yet playful.  At present, she weighs about 4.6kg (10lbs) and is of average height--she's not going to be a 'big' girl. Our girls are over-the-moon with Daisy, and the I think the feeling is mutual.

What's A Birthday Without A Party?!

People that know us would probably agree that we don’t spoil our kids—at least not with material possessions anyway.  But we do love to indulge them with typical childhood experiences and this includes annual birthday parties.  In fact, our youngest daughter's been looking forward to it since we’ve returned home.

Much Needed Family Fun

Now that we are back to our day to day lives, we’re finding it a bit of a struggle to not get sucked back into a society that is all rush rush rush.  Ideas for affordable family fun at home becomes a bit more of a conscious effort.

Our Cost of Living In Australia

When people hear about our year long travels with our 2 kids, almost immediately they jump to the conclusion that the trip was very expensive.  More and more, people are slowly coming to the conclusion that the cost of living in Australia is very high.  Without a doubt there was a price tag attached to our trip, yet relative to just staying at home, living day to day life in Australia, just how did it compare??

Report Cards in Kindergarten?!

After 5 months at school in kindergarten (aka ‘Prep’), Maddy came home with her first report card.  Between our little bit of ad-hoc interest-led style of home-schooling while we were away, and now being a part of the public state education system, albeit following the International Baccalaureat philosophy of learning, we were keen to read how she’s officially doing.  And the results shocked us quite a bit. 


(Disclaimer:  This isn't meant to be a boring I'm-bragging-about-how-great-my-kid-is post, but merely another chapter in our ongoing *experiment* as parents.  So if you chose to continue reading, which I hope you do, please keep this in mind!) 

Best Family Beaches in Asia

For those who know us well, we’re a family of beach bums!  We absolutely love being at the beach:  the kids love to play in the sand and frolic in the water and mom and dad love to laze in the sun, go for a swim and maybe even read a book. As such, we consider ourselves somewhat of ‘connoisseurs’ when it comes to picking to perfect beach. 

So what do we consider a perfect family beach?

Where To Find New Friends

One of our favourite aspects about travel is the people that we meet, be it a local or fellow tourists like us.  And sometimes friendships can be formed quite quickly and intensely.  We’ve met many people who we are lucky to call friends from previous travels, with these friendships surviving distance and in most cases language barriers too.  And now with email, Skype, Facebook and Twitter, it’s easier to keep in touch.

Yet as the XIV Dalai Lama put it, “We have been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.”

Is There A Perfect Age For Children To Travel? Part 2

So what’s a good age that the children should be for travel with family? We’ve been traveling overseas with our kids since they were 3months old, mostly to see their extended family in Canada.  Babies can be easy travellers, especially if they are breastfed and if they can sleep anywhere.  You also save on their airfares.  When they were toddlers, we found travel to be a bit more challenging, especially if they still required 2 naps a day.  It made it hard to see and do everything that we wanted to in a day.  Finding the right food for them, and their emerging mobility (to 'stroller' or not?) were further considerations we had to constantly grapple with.

Last January while most 5-yr olds in Australia were getting ready to start school for the first time, we were taking ours for a 12-month long family trip to Southeast Asia.  We felt that this was really an ideal time for her to do such a trip, without having to worry about missing school or having to home-school.   Also we liked the idea of a delayed start to build up her resilience and emotional maturity.  So was it a good age for her to travel??

Is There A Perfect Age For Children To Travel? Part 1

“What’s the right age to take kids on extended family travel?”   

“What age is too young to travel to developing countries?” 

These are probably the most common questions most parents grapple with as they dream of a nomadic lifestyle, or at the very least, a few months’ trip away with the family.  With more than one child, you also have to find the right time for all the children involved.  I don't know if there is a perfect age, but this is what we found.  

7 Must-Visit Playgrounds in Southeast Asia

A rare sight sometimes in SEA

Aside from the typical list of things to see in Asia, if you are traveling (or thinking about traveling) with children under 10 years of age, chances are at some point you’ll be desperate for a great outdoor playground.  This was a major theme during our travels with our 2 pre-schoolers in tow as we travelled through 9 countries in SEA last year.   Visits to ancient temples, breath-taking beaches, bustling markets, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, not to mention the countless hours spent on buses, trains, and planes were no match for the pleasure that swings and monkey bars could offer our kids!   But sadly the notion of play is not as readily indulged in developing countries where poverty and survival are the over-riding themes for children and their families.  While fun, well-maintained purpose-built outdoor play spaces were rare luxuries, we did come across a few gems that we’d highly recommend for a visit if you happen to find yourselves in the area—the kiddies would be happy!

Have We Been Home Over Two Months Already??!!

Finally!  We’ve been home just over 2 months now and we are happy to report that things have settled down to a more manageable pace.  It’s been a busy and stressful few months—so what have we been up to?

But How Did We Actually Pay For Our Year Away?

Ok, so we told you how much our year away backpacking with 2 kids in SEA cost us.  But how did we actually pay for it all??  We certainly didn’t win any lottery, nor did we actually save that amount of money. There were multiple factors that worked together which resulted in the actual net cost of the trip being only a fraction of that total expenditure figure. 

So How Much Did Our Trip Cost?

So the post that many of you have been waiting for:  How much did our year of traveling with 2 kids really cost?  Well the dust has finally settled enough for us to do the final number crunch (being the daughter of a Chartered Accountant, I can be a bit obsessive about number crunching).  The results surprised us.

Three Week Post-Travel Musings

Unbelievably it’s now been 3 weeks since we returned to Australia.  Since you are reading this, presumably you are curious about how our ‘re-entry’ experience is going.  The news may or may not surprise you.

One Week Post-Travel

We returned home one week ago. There were 3 main things about going home that we were looking forward to.

Did they live up to our expectations?