Our Plans

After hours (and I mean a lot of hours)  scouring the internet, reading travel books and watching every TV program related to distant and exotic travel, we started planning when, where and how. 

The best time for us to go was September or October 2010.  That gave us a few months to sort out our money, sell/ store our possessions, quit our jobs and move out of our rented home. Starting off spending a couple of months in Malta to see family while we sort more of our bigger travel plans for December. 

Deciding that we would like to visit China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand seemed a good plan. If the travel bug gets us we would save our money up again and make our way through the Americas some other time.   We  would have liked to visit other countries in Asia along the way but as this was our first big adventure, and we didn't want to cram too much into one trip.

Each of these countries hold many exciting cultural, historical and natural wonders that we wanted to experience.  It would not be possible to see or do everything that we wanted to and our plans are not strict by any means.  We had a rough idea of what sort of things we would like and planned not to plan any more than is absolutely necessary.  After checking out the best times of the year to visit places, the first proper plans were to go from Malta in early December 2010 to Northern Vietnam, Hanoi to be precise, spend 2 to 3 months in Vietnam before working our way through Cambodia, Laos, China, Japan (finances permitting), back down to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and then New Zealand.

Travelling for about 12 months continuously meant we had to travel light, this was a new experience for me.  I always over pack for every holiday!  I had to choose essential things only, we would have to carry everything we  needed for a year in two back packs.  Veteran backpackers know what is needed and what is not but I found this was the most difficult prospect personally.  Waffle found this easier to do but I couldn’t choose what to take and what to leave behind.  Eventually, after re-evaluating my choices over and over, taking loads of things out, my back pack was manageable (I am sure that it could be lighter but I am still happy with it and if needed I am prepared to sling stuff out on the way).    

So, in Malta, enjoying the sunshine on the Mediterranean and not missing the cold and frosty early mornings getting to work, we found our cheapest flights to Hanoi.  This meant flying back to the UK (seemed the best choice at the time) then to Singapore for an overnight stay and finally a transfer to Hanoi.  We arranged our’ Visas on arrival’ for a 3 month stay in Vietnam, set up our travel insurance, booked hotels to get us started and booked to get our vaccinations up to date in Malta.  Now we were ready and eager to go...