After a few days in Nusa Dua, Bali (which we did not like too much), we headed over to the Northern Territory of Australia. We were quite undecided if we wanted to include Australia in our travels or not. Cost of living is easily triple of what we need in SE Asia and we were not looking for another long flight. A bit of research later we figured out that the flight from Denpasar (Bali) to Darwin Australia was less than 3h and we decided to head Down Under.

So far we are loving Australia! It is very relaxing to be back in a more western environment where the kids are not treated as attractions and where we can easily get around and everything is well organized 😊.

The first 5 days in Darwin we rented a large apartment in the centre and enjoyed preparing our own food again after 6 weeks of eating out. We spent our days wandering around the waterfront, shopping streets and markets and also visited the WWII tunnels, the Royal Flying Doctors Service museum and the botanical gardens.

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From Darwin we rented a small car and headed off to Kakadu and Litchfield National Park. We stayed one night each at different accomodations (usually a really small family room) and at our first hotel had lots of kangaroos jumping around the premises. In Kakadu we enjoyed a wetlands cruise where we came across many birds and bats and the dangerous saltwater crocodiles. We climbed some pretty cool rocks in Ubirr to see the famous indigenous rock art and enjoyed the numerous billabongs, viewing platforms and short hikes. October is the end of the dry season in the Norther Territory and we were just in the build up to the wet season, which starts in November. This means it was HOT. During the day we easily reached 40 degrees and even at night it did not go below 30 degrees. Luckily the visitors centres have airconditioning so we spent the hottest part of the days learning about the aboriginal culture and the local flora and fauna. Litchfield was a great end of the trip. We admired the huge termite mounds, which are created by millions of termites. These little animals play an important role in the ecosystem by processing things like greass or dead leaves. In most parts of the world this is done by herbivores like cattle or giraffes. Besides the termite mounds Litchfield National Park also offers great opportunities for swimming in the natural pools created by waterfalls. With the heat we gladly took advantage of that and hopped into a few of them. What a great way to cool off after a hike.

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16-30 September we spent on Lombok. We were looking for a place to take it easy for a few weeks. Lombok is still very undeveloped touristically so we were able to see much more of the traditional ways of living that in Bali.

We stayed in Senggigi, one of the two “hot spots” on Lombok. However, a hotspot in Lombok is not comparable to for example Bali. After the earthquake in summer 2018 not many tourists have found their way to the island, so we had plenty of space to ourselves at all beaches and our hotel.

Our hotel was made up of 17 individually designed houses surrounded by a lush garden with mangos, bananas, pineapples, papaya, aloe vera and coconuts. Just 200m from our apartment was the local beach. When we say local we mean really local: not a single tourist or souvernior shop but rather free roaming cows, small (very local) food stalls, and wooden huts where people lived.

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Twice we rented a car plus driver for a day to explore the North and South of Lombok. Both times we saw many things just by looking out of the window: rice, tobacco, vegetable fields all harvested by hand, water buffalo, small villages, traditional weddings and many things more…. Our first trip took us to a weaving factory and cultural village, followed by half a day at the beautiful beach Tanjung Aan close to Kuta. On our second trip we went to the North of Lombok. We first checked out the monkeys that roam the streets along the way and then went on a 30min walk through the Jungle to the Sendang Gile and Air Terjun Tiu Kelep waterfalls close to the active volcano Rinjani. After each trip we needed a few hours/days of rest just to absorb all the impressions we got.

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Most days we took it easy and went for short walks around our hotel, or visited the daily market where you can buy anything from tropical fruits and vegetables to meat or live animals to toys, etc. The European health authorities would definitely close this market considering raw chicken is offered without cooling at 32 degrees.

The kids were an absolute attraction to all locals and other tourists during our stay. Levin loved the attention and enjoyed giving high fives, telling people his name or posing for pictures. His absolute highlight was going on daily scooter trips with the hotel waiter to buy mangos (and visit the beach and cruise around).

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Leaving Borneo behind us we headed off to Bali, Indonesia. We decided to leave the very touristic South of the Island and stayed in Amed, in the North East. It took 2,5 hours to reach the area but the long ride was worth it! Denpasar and the surrounding cities in the south are crowded and touristic while the north is much more quiet. From our hotel, we had an amazing view of the active volcano Mount Agung (3142m) and the sea . When we arrived, I realized that the hotel was also a diving school. A day later Lena was already registered to dive the wreck of a Japanese ship from WWII. Now I know why Lena choose this hotel 😊.

To explore more of the northeast of Bali we rented two motor scooters and visited the temple Taman Tirtagangga and the tree houses Rumah Pohon Temega. What an adventure and cultural day!  Getting used to driving on the “wrong” left side of the road was pretty easy and we were awarded with wonderful views over the rice terraces. The kids loved climbing in the tree houses, especially walking over the suspension bridges where we had to go 1 by 1. I think Harrison Ford practiced there for the Indiana Jones movies…

We also enjoyed two dinners at the beach. It was not only cheap (ca 25€ for the 4 of us) but we also really like the Indonesian Cuisine.

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Our next stop is Sengiggi on Lombok, Indonesia where we will stay for the coming 14 days.

In Kuching the kids and I had to explore 5 days by ourselves. Felix unfortunately caught a stomach bug and spend his days recovering in the hotel room.

I really enjoyed the relaxed vibe of the city. Everything felt a bit slower and less hectic than in Kota Kinabalu. Unfortunately, the city was covered in heavy haze from forest fires in Indonesia. The air quality ratings reached very unhealthy levels and we basically never saw the sun.

Our hotel was luckily right at the water front so we spent every evening strolling along the water front with its numerous food stalls. The kids absolutely adored the water fountain with its music and light show each night at 8.30.

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With Felix sick, we limited our activities to places that were easy to reach. We wandered through the city, visiting China Town, the Orchid Garden, some temples and did a one hour tour with one of the small traditional boats.

One day we headed to the Sarawak Cultural Village 45min North of Kuching. It shows the traditional houses and lifestyle of the people in Sarawak. We loved it and spend almost 4h exploring the different houses, followed by a cultural Dance Show.

We also visited the Semenggoh Nature Reserve where Organ Utans live freely. After a 30min drive we walked 1km through the jungle to reach the feeding station and after a few minutes we were lucky and a mother with Baby climbed throught the trees to grab some fruit. What a special experience to come so close with a free Organg Utan.

29 August to 11 September we are spending on Borneo, East Malaysia. Borneo is the third largest island globally and is divided into Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. First 8 days in Kota Kinabalu followed by 5 days in Kuching.

Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu, also referred to as ‘KK’ is the capital of the state Sabah. We rented a cozy apartment just 1km from the Waterfront with an amazing pool on the roof top. From the pool we had an astonishing view of the tropical islands close to KK and we saw the most colorful sunsets. In case you have a simple explanation for the kids why a sunset has lots of different colors, please let us know 😊.  Best conditions for the kids first school lesson: swimming! Over the 8 days they definitely improved. Melia swam the full 30m length of the pool while Levin started with the 5m width. To keep up the motivation they got a snorkel and mask, which encouraged them to swim even longer.

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While the pool would have been enough for the kids to stay all day, we did manage to sneak in a few activities. First lesson learned is to take it easy. We did something everyday but also left enough slack time for swimming, chilling and doing nothing… the kids were great teachers, who made it very clear when we were too ambitious.

Transport in KK was super easy and cheap and we used Grab Car to get around. Neither of us felt like renting a car and driving given the slighly crazy traffic. We already struggled to get from our appartement to the mall, which was literally just across the road. But when this road has 9 lanes and no traffic light, you might be able to imagine what it meant to cross (and taking a car to get from one side of the street to the other side of the street also does not appeal to the German/Dutch in us).

We visited the state mosque and while the building is most impressive from the outside, we also decided to rent appropriate clothing and visit the inside. Dressing in traditional clothing was definitely a memorable experience. We also spent time at the Gaya Market (Sunday Market) where we enjoyed our juice directly from the fruit. We strolled along the Waterfront, the wet market and some of the Shopping malls. Given the heat during the day, we also enjoyed KK at night.

On two days we decided to book guided tours. The first one took us rafting through the jungle. The river was very calm so it was definitely suitable for small kids. What a fabulous way to explore nature and get a feeling for what live there is like. Levin loved it while Melia is still not sure what to think of such an unstable boat. The second trip included a boat trip trying to see Probiscius Monkey (unsuccesfully), a beautiful sunset and watching fireflies at night.

On our last day we took a boat from Jesselton Ferry Terminal to one of the Tropical Islands just off the coast. We decided to go to Manukan and it was absolutely amazing. We had read quite a bit about overcrowded beaches and plastic floating in the ocean. Luckily we did not have any of that. The Island was quiet and clean and perfect to spend a few relaxed hours.

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25 August: The bags are packed and we are ready for our first adventure.

After a 12.5h flight we reached Singapore at 5.30am. The flight was long but pretty good thanks to in-flight entertainment and kids’ menus. Given Singapore’s great public transport we hopped onto the MRT followed by bus to reach our hotel in Pasir Ris. First thing on the agenda after we finally got to check in was SLEEP 😊. We then headed over to the water park. What better way to fight a jetlag than heading down a couple of slides. The park was included in our hotel so we actually spent a few hours there every day.

Tuesday afternoon we headed over to Gardens by the Bay. Took us almost 1h to get there but it was definitely worth it. We decided to skip the paid gardens and only wander through the park. Definitely a good decision for us because we probably only managed to see about 70% before the little legs got tired. We admired the Marina Bay Sands Hotel from the outside (400 SGP Dollars is slightly above our budget) and we really enjoyed all the lights after dark.

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Our last day in Singapore we wandered through China Town and Little India (of course only after a few hours at the waterpark). Benefit of Little India: the whole family loves Indian Food so we enjoyed a nice vegetarian meal.

And then it was already time to say Good Bye to Singapore and head over to our next Destination Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Liebe Grüße von Levin, Melia, Lena & Felix (written by Levin).

What’s the plan?

The plan is to plan as little as possible. We don’t really know what to expect and what kind of travellers we will be. Do we want to see as many places as possible or do we want to spend longer periods at the same place? Do we like Hotels or Hostels or Airbnb? We don’t know the answers yet so we want to only plan about 4 weeks ahead.

Of course we have an idea of where we want to go and the first 4 weeks are booked. On 25 August we will fly from Amsterdam to Singapore, followed by Borneo on 29 August and Bali on 11 September. We want to spend 4-5 months in South East Asia and possibly Northern Australia, followed by 3-4 months in Central and North America.

And your house, insurance, car etc?

That is all sorted 😊. Yes, it was a lot of work!

Our house is listed on Airbnb.

Our Our car is with friends, who were coincidentally looking for a family car. Win Win for all of us.

Insurances have been the greatest challenge along the way. We had to find a home insurance that also covers renting your place via Airbnb. Luckily some insurances have started to include this in their terms, in our case Centraal Beheer. More effort was the health insurance that covers you even if you are not registered in the Netherlands. Here we figured out that you remain under the NL health insurance legislation if you do not register elsewhere and do not work while travelling. You just need to request this via SVB.nl and then add an extra long term Travel Insurance (again Centraal Beheer). The most painful insurance proved to be the personal liability insurance. These almost always require you to be registered in the country of insurance. There are a few providers specialized in cases where citizens temporarily leave the country, however, our situation of having a German passport while being residents of The Netherlands proved to be extra challenging. The EU has brought us a long way but there is some room for improvement when it comes to personal liability insurances. The Dutch insurances basically said: Nope, we cannot take you because you have a German passport and as such we do not think you will return to the Netherlands. The German insurance on the other hand said: Nope, we cannot take you because you have been living in NL for >5 years and as such we do not see you as German residents anymore. Oh what a joy! We finally managed to find the one special provider who also covered our special circumstances (www.deutsche-im-ausland/haftpflichtversicherung). All that we now needed was a German Bank Account and a German Address (makes sense for people living in NL, right). We now know that it is no problem to get a German Bank Account as long as you can provide a German address, which was no problem for us given our families live there.

Our jobs are on hold. Felix quit his job in July already and will look for a new job once we are back. I am taking 6 months of unpaid parental leave and will return to my current position. For now we are not concerned, we will start thinking about that chapter again towards the end of our travels.

Thanks for joining our travel blog!

The Journey actually started more than 12 months ago when we first started thinking about travelling. Now the idea has become reality and the first flights and hotels are booked, our house is listed on Airbnb, we got vaccinated, bought lots of stuff for our travel and so on. The countdown has started, 1 month to go. Felix already stopped working and now has the time to sort out all the last logisitics until we board the airplane Amsterdam – Singapore on August 25th 2019.

So WHY are we doing this? Many reasons, I guess…. we want to see the world and experience a different way of life, we want to do something different, we want to escape the repetitive daily routine, we want to spend more time together as a family, we care for experiences not for money, the kids have just the right age, we are just the right age 😊. I can easily think of as many reasons why we should not do this but our mind is set, we are ready for the adventure and all of us are looking forward to it.

The kids are ready

19 July -First stop for the kids are the grandparents for the coming 2 weeks. They are clearly proud of their new backpacks 🙂

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