So that’s that - we’ve finished our adventures for now. We have managed to see all sorts of different sights and cultures and meet some amazing people. I suppose I take two key things away from it all, firstly how lucky we are to have been able to take such a long period away and secondly the incredible number of people we have met who gave us kindness and warmth. There’s obviously a lot of bad out there and problems do occur, but we have crossed paths with a remarkable number of friendly people at each turn helping us out in all different ways.
We started our adventures at the end of 2021 in Mexico, enjoying time with Charl and Nev investigating the Yucatan ruins and catching up. We then settled in Oaxaca for a few months with its amazing people, food and perfect climate. We’ll be back!
Oaxaca: best place to live
We took a short hop in Panama to see the canal.
Panama: best canal
We enjoyed the beaches (and mud) of Columbia. It was the country I felt most uneasy in, but I would go back just to enjoy the beaches again.
Columbia: best beaches
We had some adventures round beautiful Peru: dune buggying, plane rides and hiking our way round. We saw some awesome sights with Sara and her kids including massive condors and the floating villages on Lake Titikaka, before living in Ollanta for a bit while Olive went to the most beautiful school setting ever. Macchu Picchu was pretty cool as well.
Peru: best landscape
After some creature comforts back in the UK over the summer and an Irish detour, we headed on a looong journey to New Zealand. Olive had a term in Titirangi before we toured round the two islands in our trusty Toyota Hiace, having lots of adventures on the way: waterfalls, hobbit holes, helicopter rides, kayaking and holding our breath in Rottenrua.
NZ: most repeatable experience but also smelliest city!
After a family stop in Singapore we spent a month in a lovely apartment in Penang with Bev and Darsh. The heat didn’t stop us eating some tasty Malaysian food and seeing the sights, but it was a bit hot!
Penang: best apartment
We carried on feeling hot in our favourite country Vietnam with its beautiful rice fields and friendly people. Spring and Toc looked after us so well in Hoi an that we took Kathryn and Richard back there when they visited us. Olive made a great friend with another Phoenix.
Vietnam: best country
In the middle of our Vietnamese time we had a chill in Pai and enjoyed the food in Chiang Mai before we sizzled in Bangkok.
Thailand: hottest place!
Uncle Mejar looked after us for a few days in KL by feeding us lots of Olive’s favourite - Roti canai.
KL: best Roti canai
Then we spent our last couple of months in much cooler Indonesia, phew! Sara, Hugo and Harrison joined us again for a jaunt round Flores where we got to see some Komodo dragons.
Flores: best dragons!
Our last leg was in Sulawesi where we learnt about the extraordinary Toraja culture - a gem of a place to wrap up our travels.
Sulawesi: best culture
