No, not that home!
We’re not quitting travelling after only a few months, we’re having too much fun.
Port Douglas was home for six years, it’s not our real home we’re going back to the UK, specifically, Wales.
I’m from Newport, not far from Cardiff, the capital of Wales ( if you didn’t know, Wales is a country). I left Wales in 2000, not long after I met The Chef in Egypt. We lived in London for eight years and then moved to Australia to avoid the day care that we couldn’t dodge any other way.
Britain is expensive, we can’t afford hotels and guest houses, we’ll be couch surfing our way around the UK. Food is cheaper than Australia, but way above Asian rates, we’ll be very careful with our food dollar.
There are a few reasons we’re going home
To spend some time with my mum and dad, the boys’ grandparents. They miss each other a lot. Plenty of other friends and family to catch up with, too.
To have a cold Christmas. Our tropical Christmases have been lovely but Christmas isn’t Christmas for me without cold and dark. Lights twinkling in festive shops and houses in the afternoon gloom, roasted chestnuts burning your frozen fingers. You just can’t get that in Australia!
We asked the kids where they would most like to go next, they said London. London is fantastic for kids and there is plenty to do that won’t cripple us financially, like the boys’ two favourites, The Natural History Museum and Hamley’s toy shop. All museums are free in the UK, even the amazing Big Pit mining museum in Wales.
We found a great deal on flights, $400 each and we get a one month stop over in Sri Lanka on the way. Sri Lanka is one of our favourite countries, we got married there ( if you click the link you’ll see us riding an elephant on our wedding day), but it’s notoriously difficult to fit into normal Asian explorations because of flight prices. To visit Sri Lanka as a stop over on the way to London makes a lot of financial sense.
The UK is a great travel base. The Americas, Europe and North Africa are easy to reach, we can take our pick. Or we can head back to Asia when we’re ready, we’re not done yet. We still want to spend a lot of time in India and Nepal, maybe take on the Annapurna Circuit again with the kids. Chef wants to catch the Trans Siberian Express from Moscow, we can’t do that without going back to London for visas.
I want to promote the UK and Wales as a great place to visit, even in winter, and teach the boys a whole heap of history as we go.
We’ll be in the right place for all things Doctor Who. We love the Doctor!
We’re not going yet, we still have 5 months in Asia, lots more adventures to be had here, but the flights are booked, we’re going and we’re really excited!
