Departure Day

Well the day has finally arrived – after a little bit of stress at work. I frustratingly had to rebuild a clients machine only 2 days out from leaving, so didn’t get home until 11pm last night as I was a day behind with everything - a bit sad to be working late the day before starting a holiday.

But we are in holiday mode now! It was a beautiful day, so I enjoyed getting out and giving the sheep a drench and toe-clip this morning.

The kids are acting up, doesn’t matter how much we reassure them – they are clearly uneasy about us going away, poor things. The good old TV babysitter has done a good job of distracting them while we do our final pack. We are gonna miss them like crazy!

We have been brutal with our packing – having read this very comprehensive (and persuasive) site that gives a good case for packing light. Delwyn purchased a 40 litre pack (about the size of a large day-bag/school bag) and has done really well getting everything in there – I am quite proud of how disciplined she has been with this - she is one lightweight traveler when we can leave the kids at home! I am taking my more traditional 80 litre pack, but its only half full (lots of room for all the junk we will buy for the kids on the last day!). So you will understand if we are wearing the same clothes in all our photos!

Regarding our itinerary, we have nothing fixed – preferring to go with the flow and see what’s happening when on the ground. But the following key things are the general idea:

• A cooking course in Ho Chi Ming City: We want to get to know the flavours and concepts behind the local cuisine early on in the trip so we have some clue as to what we are eating the rest of the time.
• A tour of the Mekong Delta: These are usually pre-arranged tours that include some time on the Mekong visiting local floating markets.
• Some time in the hills at Dalat: To get away from the heat up in the mountains.
• Some time on the tropical Phu Quoc Island: Will hire a motorbike and explore the island looking for remote beaches like this one:

We are now at Delwyn's mums place getting the kids settled in.


Counting down to the dreaded 17 hours of travel (including check-ins and transfer in Singapore) starting 9pm tonight...