So, here we are again... One day to go. That familiar swell of excitement mixed with the flutters of anxiety invading my every thought. There's been a lot of planning and organisation gone into every aspect of this trip, but I can't help but worry about what's been missed. This trip has been in the planning stages for the better part of three years. It's been in the back of our minds slowly gaining momentum while we've been getting on with the routine of everyday life. Thankfully we've had plenty of distractions to keep our thoughts occupied, but during those short periods of tranquillity that are so rare when you have two small children, we were forever dreaming and slowly putting the plan into action. The gap between trips wasn’t supposed to be so long but ... read more

Bangkok is what it is, and everything you expect it to be... Hot, humid, Smoggy, frantic and what the hell is that smell? No wait, it's gone... No... there it is again! We LOVE this city, love, love, love this city. We've stayed here or passed through countless numbers of times, and although somewhat tired of the scene that surrounds Khao San road, it feels like home every time we set foot within its limits. We feel so comfortable here, we know how it all works, and we’re immune to the annoyances and scams that await the Gapper fresh off the plane... This time is different though, this time we have two children with us, one of which is still very much a baby. Will we see the city and this country through a different set ... read more

So… The first question you may ask is what possessed us into thinking taking a 6 month old baby half way across the world for a holiday was a good idea? As much as we’ve changed our lives to accommodate Nate (our beautiful son); we also want him to understand that our lives revolve around a passion for travel and his arrival isn’t going to change that. So, that’s our compromise, we pour all our heart and soul into providing a nurturing environment for him to grow up in… he just has to behave on a few long haul flights. The second question may be “why Japan?”… We have a real love for Asia, its people, its culture, its food… Japan is somewhere we’ve wanted to visit for a while, missing it on our RTW trip ... read more

'I love my India'. We see this written everywhere and start to wonder to ourselves... will we love OUR India? Will this country captivate us like others we know or horrify us into never coming back? This is our story, this is OUR India. Our initial plans for entering India involved an overland journey from China, through Nepal and the Himalayas, but due to the pregnancy and the recommendation that pregnant ladies should stay below 3000m we changed plans and connecting in Bangkok from Hong Kong we jumped feet first into India’s second largest city, Kolkata. Kolkata Once leaving the airport we hooked up with a guy we got chatting to on the flight and jumped in a taxi, the ubiquitous Hindustan Ambassador. While we travelled to Sudder street, Kolkata's equivalent of Khao San Road in ... read more

We decided to take a somewhat alternative route into Vietnam as we wanted to visit the mighty Mekong delta first and the best way to see this area of vast rivers and numerous waterways is by boat. From Pnom Penh we took a bus to the waterside town of Neak Luong, and then jumped on a boat for the two and a half hour journey to the border. The border crossing was pretty uneventful, and afterwards we jumped onto a different boat for the Vietnamese side of the journey. This side of the journey was much better as the waterways narrowed considerably and it was easier to get a good view at the local people and see how important the water is in their daily lives. After a couple of hours the boat dropped us off ... read more