The transit days can be fun too! Our mission was to get from our hotel in Langkawi (an island in Malaysia) to a ferry pier in Thailand 600km away. We had the entire day to get to the area around Surat Thani. That would allow us to catch another ferry to the island of Koh Tao the very next day.
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Five nights at a resort in Langkawi, an island off the Malaysian mainland, was a new level of “slowing things down”. Most days involved 4 hours at the pool, 4 hours of television, 3 hours of eating and then an hour at the bar. In between, we would sprinkle in some homeschooling. It rained every day but fortunately, it was limited to 15-minute downpours in the late afternoon. By the end of our 5 days, the family was fit, tanned and in excellent spirits. Our mini-break exceeded all expectations.
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Another week, another new place. This time it would be Penang for the 7 days preceding Chinese New Year. Paigey knocked it out of the park by finding a restored hotel smack dab in the historic centre. The kids enjoyed the full week in the comfortable surroundings, and the weather continued to be in our favour, with temperatures above 30 degrees and no rain. Laundry, school, history and food were all on the docket.
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I grew up believing the CN Tower was the be-all and end-all in Toronto. We had an entire unit dedicated to the tower in primary school, culminating in a field trip. We learned it was the tallest building, with a radio antenna and restaurant at the top. In my 20s, I was humbled when it took me 40+ minutes to climb the 1,776 steps during a charity event. After visiting Kuala Lumpur, I’m not sure my children will grow up with the same reverence for our Toronto-based tower. KL has towers aplenty, and they actually seem to do something (like function as malls or offices). Wherever we went, there would always be some tower lurking in the background, reminding us we were in KL and a long way from home.
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Each of us picked a destination that the family could not object to. Isabella’s pick was Legoland. When we looked at the map, we noticed there was one across the border from Singapore in Johor, Malaysia. There was a hotel, theme park and water park all under the Lego brand. What better way to start the New Year than two days hunkered down with all things Lego. We also realized that going to Denmark (to the original Legoland) would blow our budget in a couple of days. So off to Johor we went!
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With the exception of Melbourne, we’ve been on a good streak of cities we LOVED. Fortunately, Singapore kept that trend alive. We were booked into a nice hotel for six days and would welcome the New Year in style. We would use our time here to get acclimated to travelling in Asia. And finally, Paige and I were going to undo all the health gains from the previous weeks by eating non-stop for six days. As Nan and Cathy (a family friend) were joining us, this would also be our last stretch with family. After Singapore, we are on our own until the end of March.
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Finally, the weather we had been chasing! It was allegedly the rainy season but we saw little rain and were blessed with hot, sunny days for our first two weeks in Bali. We based ourselves in the south of Ubud at an accommodation called Villa Ole. We planned to spend two weeks there and then relocate to the north of the city. Paige’s family was expected to arrive for Christmas and we would need a larger place. We relished our time in Ubud and got off on the right foot. The children got beautiful tans, we explored the surrounding areas and, most importantly, we slowed things down.
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The journey between the two major tourist centres of Devonport and Geelong merits an entire post! Instead of flying back to mainland Australia, the family opted for a passenger ferry called the Spirit of Tasmania (we love the name). The children had been looking forward to this leg for over six months. This would be their first overnight ferry and they could not wrap their heads around sleeping on a boat. Paige made us reserve an outside cabin, meaning bunk beds AND a window. We were tired of answering the kids’ questions, so we showed them some YouTube clips about the journey.
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Our next destination in Tasmania was St. Helens which would be our base for exploring the surrounding Bay of Fires. We checked out of our Airbnb, took an uber to the local library and did some schoolwork until our rental car was available next door. We got some stares from the librarian as we dumped all our gear in the kids’ section. At noon we picked up the vehicle and drove across the bridge exiting Hobart but got mixed up with a roundabout on the other side and ended up back in Hobart! Apparently, we didn’t want to leave. We sorted out our directions, crossed the bridge again and were actually on our way.
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At Cradle Mountain, the weather cleared the morning of our departure! Paigey and I wanted to return and hike the trails we avoided because of the rain. Isabella and Julie begged to go see some more wombats. Katie just wanted to take more blurry pictures. Instead, we opted to start early on our long drive to the Tasmanian capital. Hobart would be our home base for the next 8 days, allowing us: to get schooling back on track, do some laundry and bake a dinosaur cake! The adults were ecstatic at having an actual HOUSE for a week while the kids were thrilled with their own room. The house also had a mammoth BBQ and a full kitchen which was needed for baking.
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Family Travel Countdown 