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New Zealand Road Trip: Week 4

Milford Sound

To get to Milford Sound, we travelled to Te Anau, the closest city to Milford Sound. There isn’t much happening in Te Anau, so we decided to only stay for one night and travel to Milford the next day. It takes about 2 hours to get there. The drive up is supposed to be very nice, but since we drove in rain and fog, we didn’t get to see that much.

 

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 4

We had booked a 2 hour cruise with Go Orange for about €45 per person. At exactly 12 o’clock we embarked the ship and started our fjord cruise. Despite the bad weather, we still got to see quite a lot of the beautiful nature in Milford. The fjords were nice, but we can imagine them looking a lot nicer in beautiful weather. Also, after having been to Norway and seeing the Norwegian fjords, the New Zealand ones kind of pale in comparison. They weren’t as spectacular as the Norwegian ones. We did, however, get to see some nice waterfalls. 

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 4

Mount Cook

After spending 2 full days in rainy Queenstown, we continued onwards towards Twizel. This area is known for its beautiful turquoise lakes and New Zealand’s highest mountain: Mount Cook. We started by driving along the shoreline of Lake Pukaki. The turquoise water is really gorgeous alongside the yellow rolling hills of the Mount Cook region. We had to stop the car several times to take pictures!

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 4

We drove towards Mount Cook, which was unfortunately completely covered in clouds when we got there. Therefore, we turned the car around and drove towards the Tasman Valley. Here we hiked up to the viewpoint (only about 15 min from the carpark), to see a gorgeous glacier lake and a small hint of Mount Cook. Afterwards, we decided to drive back to Twizel. But luckily for us, suddenly Mount Cook broke through the clouds and we got to see an amazing view of Lake Pukaki with NZ’s highest mountain in the background.

Another nice lake in that area is Lake Tekapo, which also has a beautiful turquoise colour. From here you can’t see Mount Cook or any of the Southern Alps, but it’s still a gorgeous place to stop. We went to the Observatory (8 dollars entrance) to get a good view and to have a tasty coffee.

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 4

Christchurch

During our last day in New Zealand we went to Christchurch. Since we didn’t get that much time in Christchurch, we decided to take the tram to get a better view of the city. We paid 25 dollars for an hour long trip through the city. It was a nice way to get around, but we did feel like it was a bit overpriced. 

One of the highlights of Christchurch was New Regent Street. This is a small street full of colourful houses and cosy bars and cafe’s. Definitely a must-see when in Christchurch. 

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 4

Other than that, we didn’t do much except for trying very good street food on Cathedral Square and enjoying some drinks in the feeble autumn sun.

We were now ready for some more summer, which was perfect since our next stop was Bali! Read more about that in my next blog.

 

]]> New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3 https://www.wondersoftraveling.com/2019/03/31/new-zealand-road-trip-week-3/ Sun, 31 Mar 2019 02:23:49 +0000 http://www.wondersoftraveling.com/?p=2159 After exploring the North Island for more than 2 weeks, we took the Interislander ferry to Picton in the South Island. Our plan was to travel the South Island for another 2 weeks, before going to Asia. Our visit to the South Island started in Abel Tasman.

Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman is New Zealand’s smallest National Park and is located in the northwest of the South Island. We spent 2 nights in Kaiteriteri, about 15 minutes away from the National Park.

There are several ways to explore Abel Tasman: on foot, by kayak or by boat. We opted for the latter and booked a full day cruise. This cruise left from Kaiteriteri beach and took us all the way to the very north of the park.

Along the way we passed by some gorgeous bays with pristine beaches. Abel Tasman is a beautiful National Park which makes you feel like you’re in Thailand and not in New Zealand.

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

During the boat ride we also passed by Adelle Island where we got to see a cute colony of seals. After going all the way to Totaranui, it was time to go back to Kaiteriteri.

We opted to hop off at Apple Tree Bay so we could walk part of the Abel Tasman Coast Track. For about 1.5 hours we walked along the gorgeous coastline until we reached Anchorage Bay. Here the boat picked us op and it was time to go back to Kaiteriteri.

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

Franz Josef Glacier

After our short visit to Abel Tasman, it was time for the longest drive in New Zealand: 7 hours to Franz Josef.

Here we had only scheduled 1 day to do the valley hike to the Franz Josef Glacier. Luckily for us, we went about 10 days before the storm and before the only bridge to Franz Josef collapsed.

The hike starts from the Franz Josef car park and only takes 90 minutes round trip to complete. The track is very well marked and not difficult at any point. It’s also not very steep. We walked for about 45 minutes until we reached the end of the trail and got to see the glacier from about 600 metres away.

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

After admiring the view for 15 minutes, we turned back and hopped in the car. Onto our next destination: Wanaka.

On the way there we also stopped at Fox Glacier to do the Lake Matheson hike. This is also a very short hike (90min), but is ideally done during the morning when there’s no wind. If there’s no wind you can see a beautiful reflection of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman in the lake. However, since we went in the afternoon, we didn’t get to see the reflection at all. This was a bit disappointing and made the hike not very interesting or spectacular.

Wanaka: Isthmus Peak

Next destination: Wanaka. This place is mainly known for Roy’s Peak, probably the most photographed spot in New Zealand.

We, however, didn’t hike Roy’s Peak for that very same reason. I had read you have to leave at 5 AM (or ideally earlier) to beat the crowds and to not have to queue to get your picture taken at the summit. We both weren’t too keen, so we opted for a good alternative: Isthmus Peak. This hike isn’t as well known yet and doesn’t attract as many people: perfect!

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

We drove towards the start of the hike (about 25 min away from Wanaka) at around 9:30 and started the hike at 10. We didn’t see another soul for almost the first hour of the hike.

The hike itself is very steep and quite challenging. The weather was also very hot that day which made it even more intense. The whole ascent took us about 3.5 hours and after a lot of swearing, we finally reached the top. The last hour of the ascent was particularly hard because you constantly feel like you’ve arrived only to see yet another hill you have to conquer…

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

From the summit we got an amazing view over Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. This was another advantage Isthmus Peak has over Roy’s Peak: we got to see both lakes from the summit.

After lunch, we started the descent back to the car. The descent went a lot faster than the ascent, luckily, and after about 2.5 hours we were back at the car. On the way down we spotted a family of deer which was very nice because so far we hadn’t seen that much wildlife yet in New Zealand.

Queenstown

Our next destination in the South Island was Queenstown. Many people we know who’ve been to NZ said this was their favourite city. This is mainly because Queenstown is known as an adult playground. It’s the perfect spot for paragliding, jet boating, bungee jumping, canyon swinging, etc. Which means it was also the perfect spot for Simen!

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

Jet boating Lake Wakatipu

He really was in his element and booked several adventurous tours. To start, we did one together: jet boating on Lake Wakatipu. We chose to go for an hour long jet boating adventure with Go Orange. This was a lot of fun and the ideal way to see more of Queenstown and its surroundings.

The guide took us up the lake and partly down the river while doing 360 degree spins. It was a lot of fun!

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

Canyon swinging 

After jumping out of a plane, Simen wanted to recreate that feeling you get when you freefall. Therefore, he chose to go canyon swinging, since this included a freefall of 60 metres. I decided not to come along since spectators had to pay 20 NZD just to be allowed to watch.

Canyon swinging looks a bit like bungee jumping, but the rope isn’t attached to your feet but to your chest. The company offered 70 different ways to jump off the platform, such as sitting on a chair and being thrown off, being kicked off, running off, etc. Simen chose to recreate a scene from the movie 300 and was kicked off while the instructor shouted ‘This is Sparta’.

After his first jump, he couldn’t get enough and signed up for a second jump. He clearly was in his element and was smiling from ear to ear when we met up again later.

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

Gondola

While Simen chose adventures full of adrenaline, I opted to take it slower and took the gondola up to get some nice  views. The gondola costs 39 NZD and takes you up to a hill from where you get amazing views over Queenstown, Frankton, The Remarkables, etc. I spent about 25 minutes up on the viewing platform, just admiring the gorgeous views. Although it’s definitely a bit on the pricey side for a gondola ride, I still felt the views were more than worth it.

New Zealand Road Trip: Week 3

Kiwi spotting

Before moving on to our next destination, we decided to go to the birdlife park to see kiwi. I felt like I couldn’t leave New Zealand without seeing at least 1 kiwi.

Since Kiwi are nocturnal animals, they are kept in very dark cages. We had to wait for about 10 minutes before our eyes adjusted to the darkness and before we managed to spot one. In total we saw 3 out of 4 kiwi, which is a pretty good success rate.

During feeding time we were allowed to watch the kiwi, which were currently in mating season. The park ranger told us we’d be very lucky to see them mate, since not many people get to witness that. But luckily for us, the kiwi put on a show which involved some shouting, flirting and jumping up and down. Apparently we had witnessed something quite rare.

After seeing the very cute kiwi, it was time to drive to our next destination, Milford Sound. More about that in the next blog!

Read my previous blog “New Zealand Road Trip: Week 2” here.

]]> New Zealand Road Trip: Week 2 https://www.wondersoftraveling.com/2019/03/25/new-zealand-road-trip-week-2/ Mon, 25 Mar 2019 21:48:51 +0000 http://www.wondersoftraveling.com/?p=2135 Our second week in New Zealand started in New Plymouth. Here we were meeting my parents who had just travelled the South island. It was very nice to see them again after more than 9 months!

New Zealand Road Trip

New Plymouth & Mount Taranaki

Our goal in New Plymouth was the impressive volcano overlooking the city: Mount Taranaki (1500m dislevel, 7-8h). Mount Taranaki is an active volcano and rises 2518 metres above sea level.

The day we decided to hike the mountain, it was very cloudy outside and we weren’t quite sure if we could even start our hike at all. But once we reached the visitors centre, we saw that the summit was completely clear of clouds and the sun was shining. Speaking of a micro climate!

New Zealand Road Trip

We started the hike and immediately noticed that the hiking trails in New Zealand are very different from the European ones. In Europe, the trail usually slowly zigzags up the mountain while in New Zealand, the trails seem to go straight up. Our calves were burning by the time we reached the hut (about ⅓ of the whole hike).

My mom decided to call it a day here while Simen, my dad and I decided to continue. However, once we left the hut, the wind started howling and the trail turned into hundred flights of stairs. After about 45 minutes, Simen and I also decided to go back. My dad continued going until it got so windy he had to climb on all fours. Only then, he figured it would be best to also go back down.

New Zealand Road Trip
Mount Doom

 

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

After Taranaki, we drove to National Park Village. Here, we wanted to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This hike was named the best one day hike in the world! Plus, it was also used as a film location for Lord of the Rings, since it’s home to the ominous Mount Doom!

Because the weather forecast had said that Sunday would be the best day to do the Crossing, we stayed close to the Lodge on Saturday. We spent the day exploring one of the cities close by and playing mini golf, in the glaring sun! Sunday, on the other hand, was clearly not the better day of the two.

New Zealand Road Trip

When we left early in the morning, the sky was very cloudy and by the time we arrived at the starting point, the volcanoes were completely covered in clouds. We still decided to start the hike, hoping the skies would clear up. For about 5 minutes, we managed to spot the Mount Doom, but after that it was all doom and gloom…

Especially when it started to rain and we were surrounded by fog. We couldn’t see more than a couple of metres ahead of us. Tongariro is mainly known for its beautiful natural phenomenons such as emerald lake and the red crater. None of which we got to see…

New Zealand Road Trip
Emerald Lake

 

Only on the way down did the skies clear up and we got to see Taupo and Lake Taupo, which was very beautiful! This was also our next stop.

New Zealand Road Trip

Lake Taupo

Taupo is the adventure capital of the North Island, which becomes clear when you see what’s on offer here: parasailing, paragliding, rafting, jet skiing, skydiving, etc.

Simen channelled his inner Daredevil and decided to go skydiving. Because I wasn’t entirely convinced, we went to the Taupo Tandem Skydiving office for some reassurance. The TTS team was super friendly and eased all of my worries. So, Simen signed up for a jump. And not just “a jump”, the highest jump they had on offer: 18.500 feet (5500m) and 75 seconds of freefall!

New Zealand Road Trip

Jumping out of a plane

The next day we drove back to the airport, both very nervous. To be honest, I think I was even more nervous than Simen. Once we arrived he signed some waivers, had a safety briefing, and was ready to get on the plane. It was very weird seeing him leave on that plane, knowing he wasn’t coming back with that same plane. After 30 very long minutes, one of the TTS employees told us it was time for the 18.500 feet people to jump.

New Zealand Road Trip

I knew that Simen was going to jump first, so I kept my gaze fixated on the plane. Suddenly I saw a tiny white spot, not bigger than a tiny, tiny ant, falling down. I knew it was Simen and it was very weird to realise he was now freefalling, straight down!

New Zealand Road Trip

After 75 seconds of pure stress, the parachute finally opened and I could breathe again. Simen arrived back on planet earth with a big smile on his face. Despite not loving the freefall that much, he really liked the actual parachuting. And I really liked seeing him with both feet on the ground again!

New Zealand Road Trip

Rafting

As if jumping out of a plane wasn’t enough adrenaline for a lifetime, the very next day Simen and my dad signed up for rafting. They were going to be on the water for more than 2 hours. For Simen it was the 2nd time (after trying it out in Ecuador), while for my dad it was the first time ever. They both really loved it and said that it never felt like 2 hours and time just passed by like that.

New Zealand Road Trip

Huka Falls

On our last day together, we decided to go to the Huka Falls. You can easily drive to the falls, but we decided to walk there. The walk leaves from the natural hot springs and only takes about 1h to get there.

The Huka Falls are the most photographed natural phenomenon in New Zealand, which explained the hordes of tourists. The falls are really beautiful and have an amazing blue colour. After our quick hike to the falls and back and a lovely lunch, it was time to say goodbye to my parents. They had to fly back to Belgium, while we continued our trip towards the South Island. More about that in my next blog!   

Read my previous post “New Zealand Road trip: Week 1” here.

 

]]> New Zealand Road Trip: Week 1 https://www.wondersoftraveling.com/2019/03/07/new-zealand-road-trip-week-1/ Thu, 07 Mar 2019 08:46:37 +0000 http://www.wondersoftraveling.com/?p=2105 After more than 7 months in the Americas, it was finally time to move on to a new continent. We flew from Buenos Aires to Auckland on 24/02. We will be spending 5 weeks in New Zealand, exploring both the North and South Island. Read more about the first week of our New Zealand Road Trip!

New Zealand Road Trip

Auckland and Waiheke Island

Our first destination in New Zealand was Auckland. We scheduled 2 days here, which gave us time to explore the city centre and Waiheke Island. Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand (1.4 million inhabitants, or 1/3rd of the whole population). The city is very modern and full of stores, bars and mainly Asian restaurants. One of the nicest parts of the city is Viaduct Harbour, which is an area located next to the harbour. It’s a very nice and upscale area where you can spend some time people watching while enjoying some good food or tasty ice cream.

Because of our massive jet lag (we travelled 16 hours ahead in time), we didn’t feel up for exploring much on our first day. After walking around a bit in the harbour area and Viaduct Harbour, we were desperately craving some sleep. We decided to continue sightseeing on our second day. For this day we had planned to go to Waiheke Island.New Zealand Road Trip

Waiheke Island

The ferries to Waiheke Island leave Auckland Harbour every 20-30 minutes. We paid €40 each for a round trip ticket and the boat ride took 40 minutes. We also had a hop on, hop off tour included in our ticket. When we arrived on the island, we immediately hopped on the bus and were on our way. The hop on, hop off tour takes you through the whole island and has 15 stops. We explored a couple of the small towns on Waiheke Island and also hopped off at the biggest beach (1.8 km) of the island.

New Zealand Road Trip
Auckland seen from Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island is a gorgeous island. It comes as no surprise the rich and famous of New Zealand have a holiday home on this island. The island is full or rolling hills and boasts some amazing sandy beaches. We also went to the highest point of the island, Batch Distillery, from where you get amazing views over the island and you get to see Auckland in the background.

New Zealand Road Trip
Champagne Pool

Rotorua

After a 2-day stop in Auckland, we drove south towards Rotorua. This town is known for its volcanic activity. Here we had planned to visit the Wai-O-Tapu Volcanic Valley. Rotorua is a charming city with about 55.000 inhabitants, located on the shore of Lake Rotorua. Due to the volcanic activity, the city actually has a very “pleasant”, rotten egg smell! The closer you go to the lake, the more hot springs you’ll find. This also means that the rotten egg smell is even more present there.

Thursday Night Market

As luck would have it, we arrived in Rotorua on a Thursday. Every Thursday, all Rotorua inhabitants gather at the Thursday Night Market. This market is rather small but offers tons of small stalls selling amazingly tasty food. You can find all kind of cuisines here, Thai, Indian, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, Mexican, Argentinian, etc. And the best thing is, most food stalls only charge about 10-12 dollars per meal! It’s an ideal way to keep the costs low in expensive New Zealand.

New Zealand Road Trip
Champagne Pool

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

The next day, we drove to Wai-O-Tapu Volcanic Valley. This valley is located about 25 minutes south of Rotorua. We paid €19 to enter the park. We made sure to arrive at around 9.30 because the Lady Knox geyser erupts every day at exactly 10.15. As you can probably imagine, this isn’t a natural phenomenon. Every morning at around 10.14, the park rangers add some soap to the geyser which causes it to erupt. It was cool to see, but the fact that it was artificially erupting made it a bit less impressive.

New Zealand Road Trip

Afterwards, we decided to explore the park. There are 3 loops in the park which take about 90 minutes in total. The first loop is the most entertaining one since it passes by some very beautiful natural phenomenons. I especially liked the “Artist’s Palette”, “Champagne Pool” and the green water pond.  

New Zealand Road Trip

Hobbiton

The next stop of our New Zealand Road Trip was a visit to Middle Earth. As a big Lord of the Rings fan, I couldn’t go to New Zealand without seeing one of the film locations. We opted to go for the Hobbiton Movie set tour, for €50 p.p.

New Zealand Road Trip

The tour lasted 2 hours and took us to the beautiful town of Hobbiton. This movie set was actually broken down and removed after they finished filming LOTR, but was rebuilt for the Hobbit movies. After they finished filming those, they decided to keep the movie set up and make it available for the public. We got to walk around Hobbiton and see tons of very cute hobbit houses, including Frodo & Bilbo’s House and Sam’s house!

I really loved the tour, it was so great to walk around the Shire in real life and just see where several scenes were filmed. The hobbit houses are also adorable and I have to admit I googled “how to build a hobbit house” after the tour!

Once the tour was finished we were invited to go to the Green Dragon, where we got a complimentary drink. It’s obviously a pretty expensive tour, but it was really worth it! Even for someone like Simen, who doesn’t particularly care for Lord of the Rings, it was a very nice experience.

Bridal Veil Falls

After our quick visit to the Shire, we drove towards Hamilton. Here we visited the Hamilton Gardens, which were very nice and are free to enter. Afterwards, we made our way to the Bridal Veil Falls close to the coastal town of Raglan.

The Bridal Veil Falls are very easy to access. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the top of the waterfall and another 10 to get to the bottom. The waterfall is 55 metres high and is very beautiful! It was a very short stop, but definitely worth it.

New Zealand Road Trip

Waitomo Caves

We rounded the first week of our New Zealand Road Trip off in Waitomo. Here Simen and I opted for 2 different activities: I chose to do the Waitomo Cave boat ride to see glowworms and Simen went black water rafting.

Waitomo Caves Tour

The Waitomo Cave tour costs €32 and takes 45 minutes. I was under the impression it was a boat ride (it’s being sold as such), but it was mainly a guided walk through the cave. My group was pretty big, close to about 40 people, which meant it took a while to walk through the cave. We spent a lot of time waiting and not seeing that much. During the first part of the tour, the guide mainly talked about the cave itself.

Only during the last 15 minutes, he explained a bit more about the glowworms. Afterwards, we had to wait for another 10 minutes before we were allowed to get on the boat. I was very happy to finally start the boat ride but was very disappointed to see the boat ride only took 2 minutes. We drove through only 1 cave, with millions of glow worms, and afterwards the tour was finished. The price of the tour felt very steep compared to what you get in return… I was also not allowed to take any pictures in the cave but was offered the possibility to buy the picture they had taken of me in front of a green screen before the start of the tour.

Black Water Rafting

Simen, on the other hand, wasn’t disappointed with his black water rafting tour at all. He paid quite a bit more than me (€90), but he was very happy with his experience. Black water rafting is not really rafting per se, it’s more tubing down a river in a cave. The whole experience took 3 hours while they explored the caves at 65 metres depth. On the way they also spotted a couple of glow worms, but not that many. If you want to see glow worms, black water rafting isn’t the best option. If you enjoy adrenaline, it’s definitely something for you!

Read my next blog “New Zealand Road Trip: Week 2” here.

]]> Wonders of Traveling is going on a trip around the world! https://www.wondersoftraveling.com/2018/04/12/wonders-of-traveling-rtw-trip/ https://www.wondersoftraveling.com/2018/04/12/wonders-of-traveling-rtw-trip/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2018 06:00:36 +0000 http://www.wondersoftraveling.com/?p=955 After months of keeping it a secret, I can finally announce that I will be leaving soon to go on a trip around the world! Together with my boyfriend Simen I’m going to leave Malta in July to go traveling for a year. Curious about the countries we will be visiting during our RTW trip? Then definitely continue reading because I will tell you all about our plans.

Traveling the world has always been a dream of mine. I figured now was the best time to do it, before I officially settle down somewhere. I spent the last 3 years saving up for this once in a lifetime trip, and I’m so excited that in only 3 months I will finally be able to make my dream come true. It took me a little while to get Simen on board, but ever since he said yes, we’ve both been super excited and are really looking forward to July 12th.

Our travel style

Since Simen had only about half the amount of time to save up for this trip (compared to me), we decided to backpack. Our aim is not to sleep in fancy hotels. We’re going to try to not spend too much money, which means we might be spending some nights in hostels or even tents. We’ve also opted to go to cheaper countries because of this reason. However, we are going to go to some more expensive countries as well (they were high up my list), which is why we might have to resort to camping. I personally love sleeping in a tent, but Simen isn’t such a big fan, so we’ll see how this is going to go!

RTW trip

From Central America

The first stop of our RTW trip will be Mexico. For a long time, Mexico wasn’t even on our list. We were thinking more about Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. However, after hearing a lot of people talk about how beautiful Mexico was, we started considering adding it to our trip. After doing some more research and looking at pictures on Instagram and Pinterest, we were both completely convinced. Now it’s even the country Simen is looking forward to the most!

After Mexico, we will be heading to Cuba! To be honest, going to Cuba hadn’t been on my list for a very long time. However, it would be cool to see the country as it is today, before it starts changing. I feel like we will be traveling back in time when visiting Cuba, and I’m now super excited about exploring this beautiful and mysterious country.

RTW trip

To South America

I have been dreaming of going to South America for years, so after Cuba we will be flying to Ecuador. Here we’re planning on going to Banos, Vilcabamba, Cotopaxi, Cajas National Park, and many other highlights. After Ecuador, we will be traveling down towards Peru, of course to see Machu Picchu. However, there are so many more things I’m looking forward to in Peru: Nazca Lines, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, Cordillera Blanca, etc. We will be crossing the border with Bolivia and stay here to check out La Paz, Salar de Uyuni, Potosi, and tons of other highlights. After Bolivia we will go to Argentina and Chile (Patagonia!), including Easter Island.

RTW trip

Next stop: Oceania

After 6 months in South America we will be flying to New Zealand. Here, my parents will join us for a little bit. Our initial plans were to only stay in NZ for 3 weeks, but we quickly adapted those plans. We will most likely get a working holiday visa so we can stay in NZ a bit longer without breaking the bank too much. This is also the reason why we won’t make a stop in Australia. If we do NZ and Australia, this will cost us too much money (and to be honest, I’m too scared of the huge spiders they have down there!).

RTW trip

Last stop: South East Asia

The last continent we want to explore on our RTW trip is South East Asia. After NZ we will be flying to Indonesia (Bali), where we will be staying for about 2 weeks. Here we will also meet up with Simen’s family who will be celebrating Easter with us. After Bali we will make our way to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We might visit some more countries (I’m also very curious about Myanmar), but that will depend on time and money. The aim is to fly back to Europe some time June/July 2019.

Preparations for our RTW trip

Since we’re only 3 months away from our departure date, this means the preparations are in full swing. We’ve booked our first 4 flights, scheduled appointments to get all the necessary vaccinations, ordered new bank cards, etc. There is still a lot that needs to be organized, but I feel like we’re right on schedule. If you’re curious about the practicalities of going on a RTW trip, make sure to check this site regularly because I will share all those things with you!

If you have any tips for traveling as a couple or RTW traveling, please feel free to leave a comment below. Also, if you have already been to one of the countries we’re going to and have recommendations I would love to hear them, so please don’t be shy!

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