So myself, Joanne and my husband, Doug are off to explore SE Asia.  Both retired and loving it!

As many know, our son, Paden discovered the world of SE Asia a few years back when his girlfriend, Christine introduced him to Vietnam.  Since they were going to be away for Christmas of 2016 we decided to fly over to Vietnam to meet them so we could all celebrate Christmas together.  After 5 weeks in Vietnam we were hooked on SE Asia and decided shortly after our return back to Canada that we would love to go back and discover more of the beautiful countries over there.

Our planning for this upcoming trip started in October 2017 when we decided we would go for 3 1/2 months and see as much as we can.  We plan to tour Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, which includes Bali.  Since the flights over are so long, 22 hours in total, we have decided to break them up for our return trip and will fly from Bali to Australia, Australia to Hawaii and then back to Canada.  We are planning to spend a few days in each of Australia and Hawaii.  We hope to return to Australia one day and tour many parts of it, but this trip will just give us a tiny taste of the country and a chance to re-connect with my cousin and to visit a cruising friend.

After spending many, many hours working on an itinerary we have a rough guide of where will be going and what mode of transportation we will require to get us to each place.

Thank you Paden as we couldn’t have done this without your help.  105 days is a lot to plan out!!  Visas have been obtained for Thailand and for Australia.  We will take photos for other Visas we may require.   We also picked up International Driver’s Licenses.  Don’t want to get stopped and fined for not having them.

Backpacks:

Last year I purchased an Osprey Aura AG 65 Women’s  backpack but found it was a little heavy when full for my old age.  Here I am with last years backpack.

This year I decided to get the Osprey Ozone 75L that comes with wheels and has the backpack harness packed away until needed.

Really hoping I don’t need it!!  To my surprise the 75L is actually really only 57L as the detachable daypack accounts for 18L.  Needless to say packing has been a challenge for me.  I also talked Doug into getting a wheeled backpack too.  Why carry a backpack when you can wheel one around?  Packing has NOT been a challenge for him!

In less than 48 hours we will be on our way!