In 2018, my mad family and I set off around the world on a 43 and a half foot sailing boat. Most of a year later, we hauled the boat out of the water on a little island in the southern Caribbean called Curaçao and took a break from sailing to go on a, Read More
Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park is our new favourite place in Vietnam. We’ve backpacked through Vietnam several times in the past, the first time in 2003. Back then, Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park had only just been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But we hadn’t heard of it and tourists were, Read More
We love Asia and so do our kids. Asia is different to our home in the UK. The culture, the food, the people, the transport, the climate, the language. So much for your kids to learn and experience. Travelling or holidaying in Asia with kids is a fantastic adventure, one that will stay with them, Read More
Australia is enormous. Not just big. But off the scale huge. I’ve always thought that it’s quite a long way to Nanna’s house in North Wales from our house near Portsmouth on the south coast of England. But Australians would consider driving that distance to get to the shops. We’d landed on the biggest, Read More
A Smug Monday post by Sam (aged 11) and Evan (aged 9) After a long sweaty slog through the stinky streets of Sandakan, in Malaysian Borneo, we arrived at the offices of Crystal Quest, the only (legal) way to Turtle Island. Once there, we took an hour long bumpy and calm boat ride with Alex, Read More
From about the age of six, I remember playing a board game called “Air Charter”, and one of my favourite and hardest to pronounce destinations in the game was Kuala Lumpur. With SARS at its height in 2003 when we were last travelling in Asia, we never made it to Malaysia. But now, forty, Read More
Where to start with Laos? It’s crazy to think that we’ve been here a month, and this is the first time that I’ve found to write anything about the place. And it’s not like things have been mad-hectic busy either. We’ve properly relaxed into travelling, and have really only stayed in three places. But, Read More
Everyone says that you’ve got to spend some serious time in Luang Prabang. Everyone raves about the history, the atmosphere, the architecture, the scenery, the people, and above all, the food. It’s such a popular place with travelling types, that I was more than a little sceptical about what we’d find when we bounced, Read More
We’re two hours into a six hour minibus journey in the mountains of Northern Laos, on our way to Nong Kiaow, and I’m trying to take my mind off the smell of vomit by listing all the things I hate about backpacking. Evan, our slightly travel sick nine year old, has thrown up, Read More
Someone once said “Travel not for the destination but for the joy of the journey”. And I would agree. Travelling isn’t just about destinations. Some of the biggest adventures happen on the way there. Travel in Myanmar can definitely be described as an adventure!