So, we decided that as Tim and Soph had both completed their ALevels and GCSE’s (respectively) we’d go on a big trip to celebrate. It started out as being a 3 month trip and gradually got whittled down to 5 weeks.
I’ve spent about 6 months planning every detail of this trip like it was a full time job, with 30+ different itineraries planed to the enth degree, down to taxi costs. But I think we’ve settled on a fairly fun and adventurous route, ticking most of our family’s boxes:
🇨🇳 Shanghai
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🇻🇳 Hanoi
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🇰🇭 Siem Reap
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🇻🇳 Hanoi
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🇻🇳 Phong Nha
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🇻🇳 Hoi An
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🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur
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🇮🇩 Labuan Bajo
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🇮🇩 Komodo
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🇮🇩 Lombok
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🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur
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🇬🇧 Home
That’s about 8,000 miles, 10 different planes, countless night markets, one overnight train and 6 children 🥴
I’m bummed I wasn’t able to do orangutans or jungle tribes this time, so I’m 100% going to make us do an Indonesia only trip in the next few years so we can do these. One of the tribes you can stay with practice authentic tattooing with a stick, which might make even me interested in getting one.
Anyway, bags are being packed presently, though we are travelling fairly light as usual. The kids all have EasyJet sized hand luggage as their bags, Jonathan and I are sharing a case with all the family stuff (toiletry bags, DEET, SPF, snorkelling masks etc) and a rucksack each. Also bringing a compact Pockit travel buggy.
I’m sure as usual it will feel far too much, as despite being quite frugal packers, we always end up with more than we need.
✈️ We leave from Heathrow on 15th July to Shanghai via Beijing, and return in 5 weeks time from Kuala Lumpur.
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