We have been officially on the road for one month as of today. I keep having to remind myself with all of the wonderful people we have met, breathtaking sights and the opportunities that have been presented…we still have the rest of the year to go!
Check out our stats for the trip so far (as of 26 Feb):
- Number of days on the road: 32
- Number of countries visited: 3
- Number of beds slept in: 5
- Total miles traveled: 10,418
- Number of flights taken: 3
- Amount of time spent in the air: 21.5 hours
- Number of squat toilets used: 1
- Number of airport lounges: 2
- Number of times sick: 0
- Blog posts written: 147
- Times washed clothes: 5
- Things stolen/lost: 0
- Things broken: 4 (josh flip-flops, hole in pocket, camera, trimmer)
- Passport stamps: 5
- Visas: 3
- Number of California Pizza Kitchens: 2 (Hong Kong, Singapore)
The month before we left flew by, as I marked off each day with excitement. The past month on the road has been thankfully long and eventful. Every day we look forward to waking up and figuring out what that day holds. We have been marveling at the smallest details and fascinated by the vastly different cultures we are surrounded with. Recently someone very dear to my heart sent me an email with 5 simple questions (which are surprisingly hard to answer). I decided to use these for a monthly check-in. Leave a comment or email me with any question you think I should add that you are wondering about as we continue our travels around the world in 2012.
What do we miss most?
We are quickly learning to live with less, so I don’t miss my stuff (yet). Even what is in our small carry-on backpack, at times I feel like I could carry less. Of course I miss my friends/family, but I know they are supportive and will still be there when I get back. Also, we have met a lot of new friends on the road who are traveling together. We have dinners with them our go to see sights which helps keep us social and its fun to hear their travel stories and tell our own. We are actively trying to email and chat with home when we can via skype, facebook and google chat. I don’t miss any foods from the U.S. yet, but I miss my daily bubble tea from Hong Kong and Singapore!
What are we happiest to be away from?
Not so much happy to be away from anything in particular, but happy to be here and thankful for the opportunity. LIke I have mentioned before, we left such an active, supportive life in chicago, there is nothing we are happy to be away from in particular.
Josh is happy to have new stress unrelated to sitting at a desk or going to meetings. Every day isn’t paradise out here, but it’s much more enjoyable.
It is nice to have peace and quiet. I feel like in the city it was always thinking what is next and a bit more stress was involved with every decision. There is a non-stop attitude in the city, our days traveling are our own to schedule and while we do move around a lot it is much more relaxed.
What do we wish we had in your backpacks?
I would love still to have more options of clothes, only because I do like to still look nice while I travel. Of course, I am learing to live with less and focus on the experience, not what I am wearing and any extra clothes would only make my bag heavier to carry. You realize quickly how much you don’t need in your backpack to get by.
Sunscreen is uber-expensive in Bali so an endless amount of (cheap) sunscreen would be fabulous. 🙂 In Asia, we are paying more for our sunscreen than one night of accommodation in a guesthouse.
What are we finding the hardest to say NO to?
Hardest to say no to spending money. I want every experience possible…to try all the new foods, buy all the fashions, and stay in the greatest places! We are really paying attention to budget so we try to be wise when we do spend money and make sure when we splurge it is worth it. We keep reminding ourselves that this isn’t a week-long holiday but a year-long trip, and the more money we save the longer we are on the road!
How’s our love life on the road?
We are growing to depend on each other and are challenged to make tough decisions together. I am relying on Josh more, trusting him to drive me on a crazy motorbike while I fear for my life. 🙂 We try to spend our own quiet time apart (and by apart I mean sitting next to each other but doing our own thing.) This gives us our own thinking space vs. always having to be in each other heads!
Our first month with sticking to a budget was tough, especially in a country where you don’t speak the language and find we are constantly paying a bit more than we should have to because we don’t know how much we really should pay. Of course we are still under our budget – but we always scrutinize every meal, activity, or extra luxury. We are learning patience and understanding which is sometimes hard when you are constantly dirty/sweaty/tired from long days traveling.
Finally, we are laughing a lot together and we are seeing so many new things. We are constantly asking questions and wondering together. We smile a lot and occasionally I say the wrong thing or Josh takes too long to get out the door, but that’s life and we are adjusting to being together 24/7.
I can’t believe it’s already been a month!!! Love reading your blog and hearing about all your adventures. Praying for you daily!
Hi care and Josh. Just want you to know that CNBC business news had a reporter in Singapore today and he showed the sights of the city with several shots that you had taken earlier. He wound up the presentation saying that this was the most attractive one and proceeded to show the swimming pool on the roof of that exclusive hotel where you had been several days before. Take care
My favorite thing about this post are the words “wondering together.” I just like that, because I think having an experience is one thing and reflecting on it is another! Also I love this list of ‘team stats.’ Now you can add things like number of sharks you saw! Haha, great summary post!
Me and my wife just need a nice “get out there!” push to hit the road. While that doesn’t happen I’ll keep cheering for blogs like yours. 🙂
have a nice trip!
Our get out there push – was a random weekend driving in the car, I looked at Josh and said “Let’s just go”. We realized we couldn’t think too much because there were always reasons that it wasn’t a good time. We decided that we couldn’t regret doing the trip, but we might regret not doing it. Just get out there. Set a date and start working towards that date, no excuses!