Reflecting on Two Years of Traveling the World & How You Can Do It Too!
Our Travel Story > Reflecting on Two Years of Traveling the World & How You Can Do It Too!
The Second Year of World Travel + Parenthood
Today (March 28th, 2020) marks the day that we have officially been traveling the world for TWO FULL YEARS by using strategies that we discuss in our Free Nomad Guide. Last year, we wrote about our first year traveling the world - and now we are back to let you know how the second year went - a full year of traveling with a newborn baby AND on a $2,000/month budget - and how that worked out for us!
We left off in the last article after just flying out of Cape Town, South Africa and arriving in Bangkok, Thailand with our 2-week old baby, Waltoshi.
Below is our emotional journey over our second year - but you can skip to our highlights and lessons learned near the bottom if you’d prefer (for a shorter read).
Learning to be Parents in Bangkok
Our stay in Thailand was for 2 months, instead of just 2-3 weeks. And while we did manage to explore a few places in Bangkok - like the Museum of Siam, Chinatown, the Khlong Lad Mayom Floating Market, Lumpini Park, and even to the Jim Thompson House via the Khlong Saen Seap Waterway - without too much trouble, it felt like our baby was frequently colicky. This means that he was crying often, and loudly.
One day, after exploring the Chatuchak Weekend Market, our son had finally had enough and wouldn’t stop screaming for an entire 45 minute public bus ride back to our Airbnb - regardless of what we tried to do to calm him. This made it difficult for us to continue exploring in the same way that we did during the first year. We decided that our adventurous life was just going to have to slow down.
We still made our way to U.S. Embassy in Bangkok to get his official passport (he was on an “Emergency” issued passport for the flight from Cape Town), to Bangkok Hospital and MedConsult for necessary Immunizations and check-ups, and to the Thai Immigration Bureau Division to extend our visas. Other than that we just went out to a few malls for food. It was definitely a rough change for us - but it was the best that we could do as travelers with a newborn baby, whom could only handle a few hours of adventure at a time.
Eating, Wandering, and Exploring Bangkok & Chiang Mai
Luckily for us, Waltoshi miraculously stopped being so colicky around 45 days old and we got to go on a few adventures after all! The first of these was along the Death Railroad and the River Kwai, which was a fascinating adventure across Thailand’s amazing landscapes and though an epic story of WWII that we didn’t previously know about (see: “Railway Man”). We then went out to the Silom area of Bangkok to experience Songkran - a water festival that must be experienced to fully understand. Then we took a trip to Ayutthaya, which was a beautiful tour of the ancient temples, but also deadly hot and humid. Next, we explored the Railway Market and the famous Damnoen Saduak floating market - which were more commercialized than we had expected.
But, we also noticed an amazing airfare deal up to Chiang Mai that we simply couldn’t pass up. An early morning flight and a late night return allowed us about 3 days to explore this amazing area. Our stay was near the "East Moat," where we walked to Wat Chiang Man in the morning and then took an afternoon trip to the Kanta Elephant Sanctuary. On the second day, we drove out to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, and then enjoyed one of the most amazing foods that we’ve had on our adventure: Khao Soi - this time at Ginger & Kafé, before exploring Wat Chedi Luang - next to Wat Phantao - at night. On the final day, we drove out to Doi Inthanon to see the Royal Pagodas and the Gardens, and then got a guide to walk the Kiew Mae Pan Nature Trail before stopping quickly at the Sriphum & Wachirathan Waterfalls (before they closed) to finish off our trip. It was an amazingly beautiful adventure and perhaps our favorite experience so far in Thailand.
After returning to Bangkok, we also tried to see the Grand Palace - but it was confusing to try and figure out the entrance procedure. So, as the temperature wasn’t letting up any - we decided to spend the day exploring many of the other highlights of Bangkok, like Wat Pho – “Temple of the Golden Buddah”, enjoying some authentic Thai food at The Sixth, and then finishing off our day at Wat Arun – “The Temple of Dawn.” Find out how we did all of this for under $28 per day!
Learning About Malaysia
We next headed out to Johor, Malaysia - but, only because we wanted to visit Singapore, which was just across the border from there (about a 15 minute bus ride). When we arrived, we didn’t know what to expect from Malaysia as we hadn’t really looked much into it. However, we quickly realized that it was even more affordable in Malaysia than it was in either Egypt or Thailand! What’s more interesting is that most of the people in Malaysia speak English quite well and that it’s also better developed than Thailand!
So, during the first of our two months there, we learned more about Malaysia and what there is to do around Johor Bahru - the area we were staying in and which was within walking distance of Legoland. After realizing that all of our “Grab” trips (the Uber of SE Asia), excellent dining, and quality grocery trips only ended up costing us about $1,300 - for both of us together - in a full month (our Airbnb, phone, and internet included), it quickly became one of our favorite countries.
Finding the Most Developed, English Speaking Country in Asia
After exploring Malaysia a bit, we finally decided to figure out how to cross the border into Singapore during the second month because we had to go check out the famous Gardens by the Bay. Even though it was only a 1-day trip, it was a fantastic first impression of Singapore - “The Garden City”. We now highly recommend The Domes and the Supertree Garden to everyone we talk to!
On our second day-trip into Singapore, we explored Sentosa Island’s Resort World, where they have a Universal Studios and a few beaches - among a large number of other things - before heading to Chinatown and walking around Marina Bay to catch the Merlion and various free Night-Light Shows.
Our third day trip into Singapore was to explore a famous place in Singapore that is much more like an animal retreat than a zoo - the Singapore Zoo, River Safari, and Rainforest Lumina night-light show (yes, Singapore has a thing for night-light shows!). Our little 4-month old baby really enjoyed seeing all of the animals – they really made his eyes widen up! However, we were a bit limited on time for the River Safari area.
Some of our friends, who live in Singapore, decided to join us for Rainforest Lumina in the evening and we really had a great time hanging out with them there as we hadn’t had family or friends around for 4 months! They later came up to visit us for a day in Johor, Malaysia as well, shortly before we headed off to our next destination… Bali, Indonesia.
Anyway, we liked Singapore so much - it’s our favorite country in Southeast Asia - that we wrote up an amazing 3-7 day Singapore Itinerary for anyone who wants to explore it too. We highly recommend it!
Learning About Ubud, Bali
When we arrived in Bali, we were expecting to have 4 grand full-day adventures over the course of 4 weeks. We quickly realized that Bali was a lot larger than we had originally expected, and that it wasn’t nearly as affordable as we had thought - which led us to write up “14 Important Things to Know Before Going to Bali” and also altering our plans so that we spent most of the time just relaxing in and around Ubud instead.
That isn’t as bad as it seems, because - as it turns out - there are plenty of things to do around Ubud and we got to enjoy just about everything while we were there. Additionally, we wanted to explore the food as well - and we even wrote up a list of our favorite food places in Ubud. We also discovered Balinese tempeh is much better than anywhere else, learned about some of the holidays/festivals like Galungan in Bali, and we were also able to fit in time to enjoy a few Balinese Massages.
On our final day in Bali, we scheduled a Western Bali Temple Tour as well as a gourmet meal at a high end seafood restaurant - Sardine Restaurant - in Kuta before heading to the airport. If you’re thinking about traveling to Bali, you can check out our entire budget as well as other tips and tricks to see how we did it on under $28 per day.
Fiji - A Place Primarily For Island Hopping and Resort Areas
When we were headed to Fiji, we were expecting a less expensive version of Hawaii. That isn’t how it turned out for us as we decided to stay there on a budget for 2 months and spent most of our time on the main island. We don’t recommend that, although it only ended up costing us $25 per day. There are a number of things we will reserve to ourselves when it comes to Fiji - but please reach out to us before you go and we’ll fill you in on the important things to be aware of.
Our favorite times in Fiji were at the resort areas and cruising out to the islands. The resort area that we frequented often, Denarau Island, has a number of things to do - and shows to see - that just about anyone is able to go to even if you aren’t staying at the main hotels there. Additionally, it is set up like a paradise style chain of resorts with a great walking path. We did end up seeing a fantastic fire dancing show at one of the resorts and at the Marina as well.
Our favorite experience was actually taking a boat trip out to Castaway Island, although it turned out not to be the one that Tom Hanks was on for the movie Castaway. That particular island wasn’t far away, but our budget couldn’t fit that in as we didn’t know in advance. Anyway, cruising around the islands on the ferry and enjoying some snorkeling were excellent highlights. On the main island, near Nadi, is the Sleeping Giant Botanical Garden, which was also really good.
Living in Sydney, Australia on a Tight Budget
While living in a suburb of Sydney, we found a number of things to do in Sydney that didn’t cost much, or anything, to enjoy. Some of the walks we thought were amazing were Little Sirius Cove to Clifton Garden, Sydney Fish Market through Darling Harbour to the Sydney Opera House, the northern part of the Royal National Park coastal walk near Wedding Cake Rock, and the Coogee to Bondi Beach Walk. It’s amazing what you can do in Australia, even on a tight budget of only $35 per day!
We also took a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly and another from Westfield Parramatta to Circular Quay - both were fantastic! However, as we are explorers, we liked our visit to the Blue Mountains National Park, where we saw the “Three Sisters” rock formation and Wentworth Falls, as well as our day at the Jenolan Caves the most. But, as we were in Australia, we didn’t want to leave without exploring more of the country than just the Sydney area - so we switched up our plans a little bit and decided to go on a little adventure!
Taking A Road Trip to Melbourne
We rented a car and drove down the southeastern coastline of Australia to Melbourne in 2 days, spending the night at the “Dry River Rest Area” that had the most vivid display of night stars we had ever seen - although it wasn’t the most amazing place to park overnight. Our favorite stops on the drive down to Melbourne were at the Kiama Blowhole - due to its gorgeous coastline and birds, the Murramarang Aboriginal Area - where we saw hundreds of wild Kangaroos, and Lakes Entrance - where we hung out on the beach and saw plenty of swans.
Once in Melbourne, we quickly decided that we enjoyed the atmosphere and vibe of this city more than we enjoyed Sydney’s big city atmosphere because it felt more like a “downtown” than a “busy city.” Some of our favorite places were: Hosier Lane - because of the amazing street art, the South Melbourne Market - for all of the delicious food, the Shrine of Rememberance & Royal Botanic Garden - which were both far more detailed and amazing than we expected, the State Library of Victoria - with the impressive and historical “Dome” library area that includes a museum that wraps around multiple floors, and viewing penguins at the pier in St. Kilda - despite it being cold and windy at night when they finally came ashore. We also spent a day out at the Healsville Sanctuary - which is a sanctuary for Australia’s unique wildlife.
The Great Southern Touring Route & Victoria, Australia
Lastly, we decided to drive along the Great Southern Touring Route, including the infamous Great Ocean Road, which took us a total of 3 full days to do - although we would recommend to anyone else to plan for 4 or 5 days instead!
From our first day, our top recommendation would be to stop at Erskine Falls - which was like a mini rainforest walk down to a waterfall and stream and just before Apollo Bay. We also enjoyed stopping at Bells Beach and Teddy's Lookout, however the first day really could have been mostly just for the drive apart from Erskine Falls.
Our second day was absolutely filled with amazing places: The 12 Apostles - one of the biggest highlights and where we took the photo above, the Port Campbell Lookout - where we met a feisty kookaburra bird, The Arch, London Bridge, and Bay of Islands - which are all so much more amazing than we expected, and a few absolutely beautiful spots in Grampians National Park: MacKenzie Falls - a huge waterfall - and the Boroka Lookout - with its sweeping views of the valley below. We stayed overnight at the Halls Gap Gardens Caravan Park in Grampians - so that we could get a hot shower. In the morning we explored the Brambuk National Park & Cultural Center - which gives you a sobering historical lesson about aboriginals and what they endured during the colonization of Australia. We could have easily spent an entire day in Grampians National Park and plan to go back to see the rest of it in the future.
In the afternoon of our third day we arrived in Ballarat to explore. This town has quite a bit to do, and we would recommend spending a night here as well. You could wander Ballarat's 1850's buildings, check out their Sovereign Hill Historical Park - which is an authentic feeling historical 1800’s gold mining theme park, or enjoy the Ballarat Wildlife Park - which is the most family friendly and hands-on Australian animal park that we’ve heard about. We know we’ll be stopping by again when we are out there!
Our First Impressions of the North Island of New Zealand
It is interesting to note that one of the first things that we did in New Zealand was go watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy Extended Version at the local theater - in a single day. It was very hard to do with a baby… but, we took 45 minute turns watching the films and taking our son to all the play areas inside and outside of the mall. It turned out to be a fun adventure after all!
As it was the Christmas season, we also went to “Carols in the Park” at Albany Lakes Park and enjoyed our 2nd wedding anniversary there. If you happen to be visiting Auckland, our favorite spots were the Auckland Night Market, the Auckland Domain Wintergardens, and the War Memorial Museum.
Our next adventure was a drive out to Rotorua - stopping for a short walk to the vivid Blue Spring in Te Waihou and sleeping overnight at a Kiwi Farm (the fruit) in Aongatete. Our day in Rotorua was packed full of things to do, so - even though it was overcast and rainy - we managed to enjoy our time at Kuirau Park - a free park with dozens of natural boiling springs and a giant boiling lake, Te Papaiouru Marae and St Faiths Anglican Church - two native Maori-Polynesian buildings, the beautiful Government Gardens, the Whakarewarewa Redwoods - a forest that makes you feel small below the giant trees, Wai-O-Tapu - an amazing and colorful boiling “thermal wonderland”, and Huka Falls - a waterfall turned sideways like a raging river. These are all stops that we recommend if you’re visiting Rotorua.
As we continued onward, we stopped in Taupo on our way to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing area. We stayed overnight at a farm style Airbnb in the middle of some amazing rolling hills, and then got up early to try to do the hike - known as the “Mordor Hike” as it crosses through the lands used to film Mordor in Lord of the Rings, including the actual volcano used for Mt. Doom. Unfortunately, the weather was too treacherous in the higher altitudes so park rangers would not allow us to go more than 2 hours into the 5 hour hike, but it was still very amazing and we got to see just about everything we wanted to see!
The South Island of New Zealand - Our Introduction to Middle Earth
After returning to Auckland, we flew out to the South Island and landed in Queenstown. Those pictures of the snowy peaked mountains and fjordlands come from this area - and we fell in love with the views immediately. A great place to see those views are at Skippers Canyon Lookout and on the drive up to Lake Alta in the Remarkable Mountain Range.
This also really kicked off our serious Lord of the Rings filming location stops - which we’ll be writing about soon! Additionally, we stopped at the Gibbston Valley Cheese Company and High Country Salmon for some great food on our drive to Lake Tekapo. We highly recommend stopping at Lake Tekapo overnight if you’re making the drive to Christchurch from Queenstown as the road is long and it’s difficult to see the road at night. Then you can finish up your drive to Christchurch the next day by stopping at Mt. Sunday - used as the main city of Rohan (Edoras) in Lord of the Rings, and the Rakaia Gorge - one of the most beautiful gorges in the area with plenty of trails.
In Christchurch, we enjoyed checking out the International Antarctic Centre - as Christchurch is one of the biggest training and staging areas for scientific missions to Antarctica. There are other highlights of Christchurch that we look forward to sharing with you soon! For a different taste and experience, we visited the Little France of New Zealand - Akaroa - and the Little Scotland of New Zealand - Dunedin - and really enjoyed them both!
Birthday Party & Lord of the Rings Adventure across New Zealand
For our son’s 1st birthday party, we invited our parents out to New Zealand to enjoy a crazy 2-island adventure over the course of only 12-days. They flew into Queenstown, where we picked them up and had some smoked fish from the Queenstown Fish Market. On our next day we headed out to Te Anau to experience an amazing Fjordland Cruise followed by a day checking out riverside Paradise in Glenorchy, walking around Arrowtown, and strolling along the Wilcox Green and Arrow River.
Driving up the Western Coast we began to realize how many different climate zones New Zealand really has - as we were reminded of tropical forests and even Cape Town, South Africa as we followed the curvy roads. Our favorite stops were for walks at the Blue Pools & Franz Josef Glacier before arriving in Hokitika. The town itself is so walkable and cute. We recommend checking out the Hokitika Gorge and the Treetop Walk before catching the sunset at the picturesque Hokitika Driftwood sign at Sunset Point. However, our favorite stop along the west coast was at Pancake Rocks - it was much more amazing than we expected.
While driving along the northern shore around Abel Tasman National Park and Nelson, we stopped at Split Apple Rock - a 15 minute stairway down the hill to the beach, but we’d recommend kayaking there if you have the time. Then we stopped at more Lord of the Rings filming locations while making our way to a lookout point for the Mahau Sound - which turned out to be our only real view of the northern fjords because our sunset Bluebridge ferry to the North Island ended up being about 3 hours late and it was very dark by the time the ferry set off - thus, we’ll recommend taking the Interislander instead.
The Weta Cave & Workshop Tour - a movie studio - ended up being much better than we expected and one of the bigger highlights in the Wellington area - a definite recommendation even if you’ve been to other movie studios in the past. Additionally we were lucky enough to be invited to a private Beekeeper & Manuka Honey Experience - which we really enjoyed - that was just a few minutes drive from the filming location for Rivendell - another amazing hideaway and river walk through a forest!
On the drive up north we decided to take the Gondola to the top of Mount Ruapehu - near Mead’s Wall - for some views from a volcano. If you are in this region of the North Island, don’t forget to stop at the Waitomo Glowworm Caves - our favorite was the Ruakuri Cave. Additionally, you can catch a glimpse of an actual Kiwi Bird at the Otorohanga Kiwi House nearby (we did). But, the biggest highlight of our trip was probably seeing the Shire and the Green Dragon Pub on our HOBBITON™ Movie Set Tour + Meal Combo - try to get the late dinner tour if possible! It was far more amazing, as it is really a whole village, than we expected.
Arriving Back in Malaysia - Penang
We left New Zealand on February 21st, 2020 - just before the Novel Coronavirus swept across most of the world. This caused thousands of travelers around the world to cancel their travel plans and/or return to their home countries. Our plan was to spend 3 months in Penang, Malaysia simply staying inside and catching up on a number of blogs we were behind on completing. So, when it was announced that we’d have a lockdown and that we could only go to the grocery store, it wasn’t a terrible thing for us.
However, we decided to stay in Butterworth - which reminds us a lot like the Bangkok area of Thailand - and, as we were lucky enough to check out George Town just before the lockdown started, we would rather have been stuck there instead. So, if you are headed to Penang, get your reservation in George Town if you can. It’s a nicer area for sure! While we haven’t seen much of Penang yet, we have visited Johor, Malaysia and we’d recommend checking out that area - it’s more like Singapore down there!
Read About Year 3: Three Years a Nomad and Two Babies Born Abroad - The Global Life
The Growth of Our Blog
We couldn’t have chosen a better place to set up a 3-month home base last year - in Cape Town - to work on our blog. By March 28th of 2019, we had accumulated 18,810 total page views and 8,911 total visits (1 full year of learning how to blog while traveling the world is harder than it sounds). While we were there, we tried a few Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest campaigns to see how they would work out. Since then, we’ve moderately kept up with them - although we certainly could have done a better job.
Our challenges in year 1 were learning how to even operate a blog, let alone learning how to travel the world endlessly at the same time. Our challenges in year 2 were mostly learning how to be parents while keeping up with the things we learned in year 1. We did take some time in Fiji to work on building up a bit of SEO, but we haven’t kept up on that since then (about 6 months ago). We really should.
Nonetheless, over the last year, we’ve accumulated 46,276 more page views (+148%) and 29,133 more visits (+226%). So, our totals are now up to 64,884 page views and 37,809 visits. We are currently receiving about 6,065 page views per month and hoping that we’ll get to 10,000 per month real soon.
Now that we have set up a 3-month home base in Penang, Malaysia - we are working on completing unfinished travel blogs, finishing up our budget traveling articles from the past, expanding our food posts, and working on SEO. We are also considering new sections on “retiring overseas” and “budgeting and investment income” to diversify our business for times when people don’t - or can’t - travel, such as during the Novel Coronavirus outbreak.
Our current marketing strategies consist of sharing posts in Facebook groups, targeted Facebook advertising, Pinterest campaigns, and standard SEO. We’ve also been a bit more focused on funneling, affiliates, and sponsorships lately.
Any help is always appreciated!
Learn more about our first year of traveling as parents, this years highlights, and some of our mishaps below!
The First Year of Parenthood while Traveling
From being a screaming newborn in Cape Town and Bangkok, to learning to roll over in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, bouncing like a frog and learning to crawl in Bali, using couches to shuffle in Fiji, playing with a toddler - and expressing his extreme disgust of car seats in Australia, asking us to hold his hands so that he could practice walking in New Zealand, and finally learning to stand up and take his own first steps in Penang, Malaysia - we’ve had quite the emotional experience.
Our little man enjoys traveling just as much as we do, and he’ll put on his own “outside hat” when he’s tired of being indoors. He has learned a few words, had a few outfit-ruining blowouts, required extra trips for immunizations, screamed in public, and needed to be carried everywhere. He’s even learned to give us a few sign language directions - like when he is hungry - and enjoys having a number of travel-sized toys and objects to play with. We’ve learned more about Cocomelon as well.
But, we’ve really enjoyed being parents and we love him so much! He’s such a wonderful addition to our traveling family, even though we now have to alternate work days between the two of us to get it done!
Highlights and Lessons learned from year two of travel
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Visiting 7 new countries as a family of 3.
Eating local cuisine – Rourou balls and Lolo fish (Fiji), Flat White (Australia), savory pies (New Zealand), Massaman Curry and Khao Soi (Thailand), Seafood Laksa (Singapore), Nasi Goreng and Gado-gado (Bali).
Being able to downsize our check-in luggage to one large suitcase to make transiting through airports easier (and more affordable on occasion).
Viewing gorgeous Lord of the Rings & Hobbit filming locations
Exploring more caves - Jenolan Caves (Australia), Waitomo / Ruakuri / Aranui Caves (New Zealand)
Meeting up with friends and family in Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
Taking a yacht cruise on Lake Te Anau to see the fjordland.
Celebrating our second year of marriage.
Getting to spend Waltoshi’s first birthday with his grandparents and taking him on his first zipline!
We have now visited 22 countries on this trip - and 39 in total (plus 2 territories) – from 5 different continents - mostly in North America and Europe, as well as a few in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
We’ve learned how to change a diaper anywhere, utilize airport lounge access to the full extent, and travel first-world countries on a (US) poverty budget.
Mishaps, Lessons Learned, and New Issues
As expected we’ve had some mishaps / learning experiences this year too. Even as experienced travelers, sometimes we forget to book flights that include luggage – only to be charged extra at the check-in desk. We were fortunate to see the Blue Mountains in Sydney before the fires raged through, but missed seeing Milford Sound in New Zealand because the road there was flooded and then washed out during the week we were there.
We slowed down a lot in our second year of travel - staying in a place for a month or two instead of a week or two. It helped make those first few months as parents a bit easier while we were lacking on sleep - keeping a newborn fed, burped, and changed. It also helped keep our budget in order by staying in one place or area longer - especially in more expensive countries.
This last month has thrown us a new curve ball with the novel coronavirus shutting down borders and limiting our ability to explore. We’ve been indoors and working here in Malaysia, and only one of us occasionally goes out - masked up - for groceries. We usually like to have at least a tentative plan for the next 3-6 months, but with restrictions, flight cancellations/re-routes, and stay-in-place orders changing daily - we may end up having to wing it going forward.
Thank You Very Much!
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