Aaarrrgghhhh! We’re really going!

In less than 2 weeks Ali, Alfie and I fly to Malaysia which is the first stop on a 6 and a half month journey around some of SE Asia. Aaaarrrgggggghhhh!!!

No one has managed to talk me out of it. Actually no one has even tried… “brilliant idea”, “very brave”, “follow your dreams”, “perfect time”. These are some of the things that our awesome family and friends (and even some strangers) have been saying to me. And it’s kept me going, given me confidence and a surety that what I was embarking on was absolutely the right path for us. Something that I never thought was available to me was suddenly very easy to do.

We’re fortunate to be able to do this and I feel pretty indulgent to be honest but equally I don’t intend to take any of this opportunity for granted and know that it will be a fantastic experience for my boys and I. Our lives will be richer for it and the memories we make will last a lifetime.

I have formally deregistered the boys from school and from 17th January the responsibility lies with me to keep them educated until we return in August. I’ve subscribed to a couple of online resources and apps, will be taking their kindles for reading, some work books with us and plan to cover relevant topics in certain countries such as history and geography. The aim is to keep a routine of doing some work for 2 hours a day, 5 days per week, the majority of which will be covering English and Maths.

We’re going to be writing this blog to serve two purposes. The first is to have one central place for all of our family and friends to keep abreast of where we are and what we’re up to. The second is so that it will stay as a permanent record and reminder of our trip for years to come. This blog will be the equivalent of what would have been a well thumbed family photo album in my youth, my boys and I will be able to refer back to this so expect lots of pics!

So I’ll end this first post with a rundown of where our journey will take us. Not all of it is booked although pockets of it are, so there’s some room for amendment as we go.

19th Jan we fly from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We’ll be spending the next 5 weeks travelling around Malaysia including Langkawi island, Penang, Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Melaka, Tioman Island and Singapore.

We then move on to Cambodia for 3 weeks followed by a brief week in south Vietnam exploring the Mekong Delta.

From Vietnam we fly to Tokyo where we’ll begin a 4 week exploration of Japan. We’re staying in Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Okayama, Hiroshima, Osaka and back to Tokyo for Easter. Alistair is looking forward to spending his 11th birthday at the Universal Studios in Osaka. We will be in Japan during their stunning cherry blossom season.

Mid April we’ll be moving on to the Philippines where we’ll spend 2 weeks visiting 2 islands, Cebu and Negros. There we’ll hopefully have a bit of down time.

On to Indonesia next where the plan is to start in Bali and explore some of the many islands from there. One place we’ll definitely be visiting is Komodo Island where we’re hoping to see some Komodo Dragons in the wild!

Both Alfie and I will spend our birthdays in Borneo (his 10th and my 40th) which we’re very excited about! We’ll be staying in some eco lodges, doing some jungle trekking and seeing some amazing wildlife in the rainforests and river ways there around Sepilok and Kinbatangan. This will be a dream come true for me.

The plan is to then fly north and explore Vietnam for the next month. I’ve heard great things about Vietnam and whilst this part of the trip seems a long way off, I’m really looking forward to it.

The final part of our adventure will be spent in Laos and possibly some of it in Thailand as we’ll have friends there during the European summer time.

Then we’ll be coming home. Back to reality, school, work and our wonderful family and friends.

Thanks for sticking with me until the end. I promise they won’t all be this long and I also promise more pictures to come!

Milo and her boys xx

#zerotohero #travel #family #parenting #adventure #mumsandsons #asia