Count down is on!

Less than 4 weeks to go!

Ian has been busy getting our house ready (we're having a yard sale this Saturday) and I continue researching the countries we're visiting and sorting out last minute details. I still can't book our return date because the schedules for June 2012 are not even out yet so we have a fake return of Feb. 11th. The schedules should be out the week before we leave. This creates a bit of a domino effect because I don't know the final date for medical insurance. I'll just have to guess on that one...

Vaccinations are underway - we received 4 shots each and have two boosters to go. In our backpacks will be antibiotics and malaria pills. Because we are travelling for an extended length of time, it isn't financially feasible to take malaria pills everyday so we only take them IF we develop a high fever. We also have our backpacks, some clothes, and our footwear purchased. Ian is taking a 55 L bag and I'm taking a 42 L bag - they are pretty tiny for the length of time we're going but all the literature I've read recommends taking nothing bigger. We bought our bags at Europe Outbound across the street from MEC - they have a better selection than MEC. Ian purchased locks with a cable attached from Home Depot - they are very light and were a lot cheaper than the ones at MEC or EO. These will come in handy when traveling via bus or train as we can secure our bags to the leg of our seat, a rack, or bar.

We still need to get our international driver's license (which we'll get from CAA) and a few other small things. We got extra passport photos done which you need for visas for the various countries we're visiting. Thailand has to see an exit ticket out of the country so I will have to book that flight in advance. I have a feeling this will be the case for most (if not all) countries but we're taking our netbook so I can book as I go.

I'll add more later.

Getting Started

Ian and I have been waiting 5 (long) years for our Southeast Asia adventure to begin and now, suddenly, our Aug. 8th departure date feels like it's approaching too quickly. Don't get me wrong, we can't wait to get started on our journey - it's just that there are still many things to look after, especially when you own a house; but like any production, I am confident it'll all come together eventually.

Our ten month journey will focus on six countries: Malaysai, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. I do not have every second planned except that I have a rough idea when we will visit each country in an attempt to avoid monsoon season. I do have our first three weeks in Pennisular Malaysia mapped out because it's peak season and hotels are already booking up. After Malaysia, we fly to Sumatra to meet up with my friend Tim who lives in Indonesia. I booked all Southeast Asia flights through airasia.com and was astonished at how cheap they were.

We're planning on spending two months in Indonesia so we will have to get a visa extension when we arrive in Sumatra. To get a visa, you need an exit ticket so I've got us scheduled to fly out of Bali Oct. 19th for Bangkok. We're only spending a week in Sumatra, the rest of the time will be in Java. Indonesia is a huge country of over 17,000 islands so on Tim's suggestion, we'll focus on seeing the sites of Java. We may end up back in Indonesia at the end of our 10 months so who knows, we might see more than Java.