Accommodation In Asia: To Pre-Book Or Not?

One of the most asked questions we get is whether or not one should pre-book their accommodation when traveling on a budget in Asia.

As many of our readers should know, when we travel we rarely book in advance.  For many people, this is utterly unconceivable—scary even!   Here, we’d like to share with you our thoughts and tips on how we make this work.

3 Best Things About Going Home

Appropriately, today marks the start of the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac.  Some of the predictions for this lunar year are 'for great deeds, innovative ideas and big projects...that it will bring excitment...and give happiness and success to good honest people'.

Sounds like the perfect start for us when we get back!


So in the spirit of looking forward, here is our list of our '3 Best Things About Going Home': 

Five Things We'll Miss About Our Year Of Travel

Our year of traveling together as a family is rapidly coming to an end and although in many ways we are looking forward to going home, we can’t help but be a bit wistful about leaving behind certain aspects of the past year.

 

What will we miss?

It's Time To Go Home

This time last year, we were busy packing up the house and counting down the days until we would begin our adventure.  As of today, we’ve officially been on the road, living as vagabonds, nomads, for 357 days.  Wow—that sounds so long.  And now we have another count down—for the number of the days we have left until we return home. 

So the question of the day is: How do we feel?

Our 5 Favourite Winter Activities For Families In Vancouver

Vancouver is a gorgeous city—it’s no surprise that it has consistently been dubbed the ‘Most Liveable City In The World’.  It’s got it all—the coastal location, with a mountainous backdrop, forests andparks a plenty, great food from all corners of the world, an arts andculture scene and friendly, environmentally and minority sensitive,ethnically-diverse inhabitants.

Watching a sea plane land in Coal Harbour, Vancouver, B.C.

 

Dear Santa, For This Christmas We Wish...

Christmas is a time of mixed feelings for us. When we were kids, Jim and I remembered it being an exciting and magical holiday, mostly likely due to the gifts from Santa and from our parents. But giving was fun too, and as kids that usually meant making something for our parents at school. As adults, it became a time to buy that special gift to show our loved ones how much they mean to us. But above all, Christmas meant visiting with family and friends.

But maybe it’s the times we live in, or simply ‘getting older’ but somewhere along the line, it seems that the magic has given way to pure and frenzied consumerism, especially in Western Christian societies. It now seems only about ‘what to get whom’, and how much we are going to spend on gifts and the size of the present. Instead of ‘warm and fuzzy’ get togethers, social events are instead often tense and attended with feelings of obligation. As you can tell, we’ve become quite jaded by Christmas—some might even say ‘scrouge-like'!

After 10 Months of Living With Less

We’ve been almost 10 months now, living on the road, being 'location independent'.  Until now, we’ve not been in one place for longer than 11 nights.  And still, all we have are our 2 backpacks and 4 day bags.  This is the travelling lifestyle—having to ‘live with less’ in order to ‘get more’.    

Theology 101 For Preschoolers

Immaculate Conception Church, Panjim (Goa)

Two common and connected themes regularly run through our travels thus far—religion and theology.  In SEA, South Asia, and India they do not just exist 1 day a week in ‘special buildings’ but are overtones in the day to day life.  Buddhism was the main one in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bali, where daily offering rituals with incense are made by its followers and their orange and red-robed monks seek food and alms in the streets.  Hinduism is India’s main religion and represents approximately 82% of its population (LP. South India, 2009).  Aside from the many colourful temple ‘gopurams’, some which soar high into the sky, religious processions can often be seen (and heard) dancing through the neighbourhood.  Muslims are represented in all of the countries that we’ve visited.  Their mosques stand distinctive as do their clothing, particularly when the women are in full hajab.  Catholicism is the main practice in the Philippines, in Vietnam and parts of South India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala & Goa.  We’ve visited so many churches, cathedrals and basilicas, especially while in India, each unique and beautiful.  It was just a matter of time before our ever-observant and ever-inquisitive children began to question what all this was about.  

Merry Christmas!

Our last one at home for a couple of years.