So the time has nearly come...we'll be leaving London Heathrow on the evening of November 30 to start our big adventure around the world. A lot of people have been asking us about our route, where exactly we're going and, most importantly, where the hell are we going to spend Christmas day!
These are our vague plans at the moment, they're obviously subject to Indian trains, not picking up a terrible stomach bug and presuming we don't get eaten by a tiger...
Dec 1: First stop Delhi
Instead of easing ourselves in gently, we've decided to spend our first two nights in possibly the busiest (and some say smelliest) city in the world. We'll then be heading to Agra for a couple of days to see the Taj Mahal... it would be rude not to while we're in the neighbourhood. |
| Taj Mahal looking splendid. |
Dec 6 to Dec 14: Rambling around Rajasthan
I think we're both pretty excited about this part of the trip. There will be lots of trains (both day and night) and we'll be heading to Jaipur, Ajmer and Pushkar, before spending four or five days in Udaipur which is famed to be one of the most romantic cities in India. It's going to be a hectic couple of weeks but it should get us into the swing of the Indian way of life. We'll then be heading on a mammoth two-day journey to our next destination...
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| Romantic Udaipur. |
Dec 17 to Dec 20: Tiger spotting in Kanha National Park
We could have picked one of the many national parks in India to see tigers but we decided on Kanha because it has the highest population of wild tigers in India. It's also said to be the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, so Luke will get to do his Mowgli impression. It's right in the centre of the country and quite hard to get to (train, bus, night train, bus, another bus etc.) but we're hoping that living in the jungle for four days will be worth it.
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| Luke in Kanha National Park. |
Dec 22 to 26: Christmas in Hampi!
"The forgotten Empire" of Hampi is where we've chosen to spend Christmas 2013. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site which formed one of the core areas of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. We'll be staying in a little hut on the river and will probably spend Christmas day going on a bike ride around the forgotten temple before enjoying a Christmas curry.
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| Hampi is where we've chosen to spend Christmas. |
Dec 27 to Jan 1: Luke's 30th birthday on Palolem beach
I know he only looks about 16, but believe it or not Luke hits the big 3-0 on December 28! We're going to spend his birthday and New Year's Eve on Palolem beach in south Goa. We visited Palolem last time we were in India and agree it's a tiny bit of paradise on earth.
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| Me admiring the view last time we were on Palolem beach. |
After this the plans get a bit vaguer but here's a quick outline....
January 2014: Kerala, Pondicherry and Chennai
Here, we'll be meeting up with my friend Danni to do a spot of surfing, definitely go on a tour of the Keralan backwaters and hopefully visit the odd tea plantation or two. On February 7 we'll board a flight in Chennai to our next country...
February 7 to 14: Sri Lanka
This is a bit of a bonus country as we decided to extend our stopover after realising we'd change planes the capital, Colombo. If anyone has any tips on what to do here they'd be much appreciated.
February 15 to March 1: Back home to Thailand
After going to Bangkok, purely to stock up on toiletries in Boots and stuff our face with veggie food in Mai Kaidees, we're then going to the west of Thailand to Kanchanaburi to see the death railway from World War Two which featured in the Pierre Boulle novel, The Bridge Over the River Kwai. We'll then be heading south to the beautiful Railay Beach where we'll have at least of week of fun (and possibly some luxury) in order to celebrate the marriage of our good friends Katie and Grant.
March 2 to March 16: Eating Penang curry in Penang
After Thailand we'll be heading through Malaysia on our way to Indonesia - it will mean lots of opportunities to eat our favourite Penang curry.
March 17 to April 21: Indonesia
Our last six weeks will be spent exploring Indonesia where we'll hopefully meet some wild orangutans, surf in Bali and meet up with the rest of the Matthews family in the Gili Islands.
April 22 (approximately): Adelaide, Australia
This will be the beginning of our Aussie adventure which we'll start at Katie, Grant and baby Bethany's house in Adelaide. We've got a one-year working holiday visa so who knows what 2014 will bring!
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| On arrival in Oz we'll be greeted by this smiley baby! |
