I got bit excited when going back in my memories to recall our great adventure trip. It is 7 years ago and many things happened since. We would not be able to make this trip in the near future for some huge reasons as closed borders due to coronavirus and also trip would need very different planning if we were to take our currently 3 year old twin boys. So that means we have not done much travel since at all except visiting relatives. We miss it and we will be back on the road, but not just yet. That’s why I had to split the post to the Part 1 and Part 2 which you can read here.
Should you take a break from work? Sabbatical, semi-retirement, break between jobs, time off. For travel of course. Whatever you call it, my answer always will be yes. Work will be always there but your circumstances can change and if you could take a break now, doesn’t mean it will be possible to take it in the future. I am talking from my own experience. I was pretty lucky to align all the ducks to hit it off. Do you have enough cash for such a trip? How they take it at work? How is your health? What about your house? Any personal matters? Can you sync it with your partner who has to sort out all these things him/herself and fit in mutually suitable trip time? We have worked on it hard to be able to take this time off.
Planning
First thing is do you have enough money for such a trip? Luckily we had plenty of cash because we always lived frugally and we had high savings rate. Also we have planned big trip for a long time and by 2013 when we did our trip, we have been working in our jobs for a long time. In Australia it is common to receive 3 months of extra paid holidays after being with the employer for 10 years. Some of the employers offer this option after 7 years when they give you about 2 months off or 4 months on half pay. And the rest we have covered from our standard holiday leave and some unpaid leave.
Now we had a plan. Time to ask employer for 5 months off. As we had saved up all our leaves (long service and annual) and we have given long enough notice, request went well. To be honest before we have asked the employer, we had a chat with each other and we thought the travel was very important and we might resign if our request was not approved. Luckily it was.
Once we had permission from the bosses and travel dates (which we have left flexible to make the negotiations with bosses easier), we have started booking hotels, AirBnB’s and flights. It was exciting time and also we have left almost 6 months to sort out everything and to get good prices. Some of the places we have ended in because the flights through elsewhere were unavailable or too expensive so without planning we have ended in Bangkok, Moscow or Amsterdam.
It was quite a big trip and I will mention all the countries and highlights. Please skip this part if you find it boring. Obviously it was very exciting time for us and also we got very lucky that there was no significant unexpected event which could spoil our big trip.
Here we go!
We have started in Bali. We used to go to Bali most of the years as it was great place for us for many reasons. Beautiful culture, tropical hot weather, cheap, safe, close to Sydney and great surf. We have stayed for 3 weeks to destress. Traveling around, me surfing most of the days, wife having many great jogs, eating great food. Perfect start.
Then we have moved on to Saigon in Vietnam. Our first time in Vietnam. We have stayed only about 4 days in Saigon in 4 days on the beach in Vung Tau (which is only couple hours away from Saigon). We have loved the markets, food, friendly locals, great coffee and hot weather.
Sad and beautiful Cambodia..
Next stop was Cambodia. We took the bus to capital Phnom Penh. Cambodia is a beautiful country but the poverty we have seen there was extreme. Probably poorest (or on par with some less fortunate parts of India) what we have seen in all our lives so far. I mean people living in grass huts, whole families sleeping rough in the capital, glue sniffing ten years olds, kids begging. That made us quite sad. Clearly the poverty was the result part of Vietnam war, part Khmer Rouge murderous rule and part of current dictatorship. Food was great, capital city was not very developed with only a few street lights on at night, people were very nice, and city was quite clean. Visit to Killing Fields was very sobering to see a place where tens of thousands perished just to try to fulfil someone’s dream of utopian socialist society. Even sadder was that not many were ever held accountable for millions of murders. We have loved our time biking around Angkor Wat in Siem Riep. Food was great and hot spicy fish amok my wife considered probably best thing she has ever eaten.
To move on we had to get to Bangkok which was about 8 hours bus ride from Siem Riep. International flights from Cambodia were bit limited or expensive so we had to cross borders to Thailand. We have been in Bangkok couple of times before, so we have stayed only 3 days. Bangkok is one of my favourite cities. I love food, people speak English and are friendly, prices are low, temples are incredible. Great place for tourists. We wanted to head to my home to the Czech Republic and as it happened cheapest flights were through Moscow.
Except for expensive visa and bread heavy diet we liked our stay in Moscow. Red square was beautiful and we have seen many orthodox churches. I was quite surprised how religious country Russia is. We have had a 5 days stop over and then we have continued on to the Czech Republic to spend few weeks with my family and friends and to make it a base for our European travel. Also the accommodation in Czech Republic and South Korea was the only one we did not have to pay for.
We love Italy!
Next stop was Italy. I have been there many time before and I have already shown Rome and Naples to my wife. She loved it and wanted to go there again. Also I have told her that Venice and especially Florence were one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. She loved Venice with all the canals, no cars, incredible history and beautiful architecture. After 4 days there we took fast train to Florence. I have been there many times while I was Uni student as I was doing my summer job on vinery in Tuscany. Cathedral Santa Maria Dei Fiori and Piazza Signoria are incredibly beautiful and my wife as a good painter highly appreciated Gallery Uffizi where I wanted her to see original Botticelli paintings especially the Birth of Venus. Though Uffizi is great gallery it also has objects from ancient times.
Another 2 beautiful Italian cities we have seen that time was Pisa with Piazza dei Miracolli and its leaning tower and Sienna. It just has to be seen. After short stay in Italy we went on to Morocco. We have spent 4 days in capital Marrakesh. Old town (medina) Jemaa el Fnaa with its Mosque, square and market is UNESCO listed heritage (as many of the other places we have seen on our sabbatical). It is interesting that major reason for listing is thousand year old tradition of the card tellers, story tellers, singers, magicians and snake charmers who come out each evening to perform their trades in the square.
Next place we decided to see was Taghazout. As a keen (bad) surfer I wanted to see how is the surf in North Africa and Taghazout is the famous surf spot. Unfortunately it was very flat on our stay. I have managed to catch couple of miniwaves on large Malibu board but nothing to write home about. It is beautiful place, very exotic for westerners. It was great as it was one of the least busy places on our trip which was refreshing. It has bit of issue with rubbish, as lots of poorer (and some not so poor) countries often have.
Home to the Czech Republic we caught the flight through Amsterdam in Holland. We have spent there couple of days wandering around the canals in the old centre and it was beautiful (and very expensive compared to most of the other places we have seen then).
