Sophie & Dale are off.. we're taking a year or two off work, renting the house, found a foster home for Stuart (cat!) and are venturing out to the big wide world. There are too many places we want to see so we're going to attempt to see as many as them as possible and are going to keep on going until the funds run out. Hopefully that will be somewhere between one and two years but we'll see how it goes...






Our rough itinerary is as follows;
South America - Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Chile
New Zealand - North & South Island in a campervan
Australia - Alice Springs, Uluru and the East Coast
SE Asia - Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar

We had planned to visit the following too but it's looking less and less likely as time ticks on and our funds get lower.. instead we are now planning to make another trip to India & Nepal as soon as we have saved some money when we get back from this trip (return estimated to be Feb 2010!)...
China - unsure of this route yet.. too far away!
India - even more unsure!!






Yes please we'll take these things back home...

• Food from Argentina (steak!), Thailand (hot & sour soup & green curry), Indonesia (gado-gado & ikan goreng) and Vietnam (hot pot)
  
• Hammocks - super comfy for any time of day
  
• Bemos, ojeks, minibuses - great transport, they are super cheap (if you get the right price), take you anywhere and you don't have to wait for the right one
  
• The weather - from SE Asia... sun sun and more sun
  
• Warungs, hawker stands, market stalls - super cheap and super yummy food any time of the day.. H&S regulations would not approve!
  
• Fresh Fruit & Fruit Shakes - Tesco's you have a lot to live up to! Rambutans, custard apples, mangosteens, chirimoya and dragonfruit are all our favourites
  
• Beaches from Indonesia & Thailand & solitude of NZ
  
• Indigenous & tribal handicrafts & clothing
  
• Bartering - sometimes we love it
  
• Amazing flaura & fauna - orangutans, whales, dolphins, komodo dragons, matra rays, turtles, gekkos, walking trees, bougainvillea, penguins all our favouries
  
• Stepping our your hut onto the beach
  
• Markets - where you can buy anything & everything from soap to swimming fish and watermelon to washing up bowls
  
• Make do and mend - roadside stalls to fix your shoes, glasses, watch, bag... Sophie is now on her 4th bag zip and Dale has had 2 screws replaced in his sunglasses
  
• Sarongs - multipurpose garment that even men can wear!
  
• Flip flops (Thongs!) - and being able to wear them day in day out
  
• Asian driving - we love the 'he who is biggest wins' attitude.. it's scary sometimes but in a funny way seems to work!
  
• Argentinian buses - they just don't get better than that!
  

No thanks we'll leave these things out here...

• Food from Bolivia & Laos - indistinguishable meat is not ok!
  
• Asian Queuing - we were in line for a reason not for the fun of it!
  
• Handwashing - we will love our washing machine with hot water when we get back!
  
• Cold showers in cold countries - Bolivia wins this hands down.. if you want it hot then you get electrocuted the choice is yours!
  
• Transport drivers - the devil's children made to make your life a misery
  
• 9+ hour bus rides - with chickens under your seat, sick swilling on the floor, flying round bends at 100mph 1000m up a cliff face with the driver smoking, texting and spitting out cocoa leaves simultanously while terrible tinny music blares out full blast!
  
• Excess body things - spitting, long nails on men, long mole hairs and nose cleaning with no tissue IS NOT OK!
  
• Littering - out windows or on the floor to the sea, river, road or jungle every time
  
• Open sewers - and getting a mouthful of the fumes as you pass
  
• Hole in the floor toilets - leading to the railway tracks, river or sea, especially when people are doing their washing further downstream
  
• Bartering - most of the time we hate it
  
• Hawkers - especially in Vietnam when you are trying to enjoy dinner
  
• Sandflies & Mosquitos - no explanation needed!
  
• Short term mentality - why fix it properly when you can do a botch job!
  

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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

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