The Big Trip

It’s happening. 

It’s actually finally happening. 

These past few weeks I’ve been walking around with a ball of knots in my stomach. It’s like the growing excitement and apprehension you feel as you’re in line for a rollercoaster ride – there’s so much excitement but also anxiety, fear, and the constant desire for courage to do this and stay the course.

We’ve been talking about this trip since before we got married, but there have been so many compromises and negotiations, false starts and obstacles that I had honestly stopped hoping or expecting that it would happen. Yet somehow, thanks to the blessings of our families and bosses, we have reached this point – hours away from travelling around the world together for the next 6 and a half months, or 197 days to be precise.

Where we’re headed 

Leg 1: Russia and Estonia (June 10 – Jun 24)

Leg 2: Middle East (June 24 – Aug 6)

• Turkey (Jun 24 – July 3)
• Israel, Jordan, Egypt in the remaining time

Leg 3: USA (East Coast) (Aug 7 – Sep 16)

• New Orleans (Aug 7 – 13)
• New York (Aug 14 – Sep 3)
• Greater New York, Niagara Falls and Toronto (Sep 4 – Sep 16)

Leg 4: South America (Sep 17 – Nov 22)

• We haven’t even started planning for this bit. We will land in Bogota, Colombia on Sep 17 and intend to make our way around Colombia, and then Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, before ending off with *hopefully* a discounted cruise to Antarctica.

Leg 5: USA (West Coast) (Nov 22 – Dec 9)

• Potentially roadtripping around LA, San Diego, Utah!

Leg 6: Japan (Dec 10 – Dec 23)

• We will land in Tokyo and depart from Nagoya. Everything in between is still undecided!

If you are in any of these locations when we’re there, please let us know because we would love to meet up!

Why 6 months?

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to travel. But travelling for this length of time requires a whole new level of tenacity and skills, and I guess I’ve always been curious as to whether I can do that. It’s something that definitely gets more challenging with time because over the years, we’ve settled into a routine that is very comfortable. We have a healthy social life, the financial ability to take several trips in a year, and we enjoy many creature comforts and conveniences that living in this little city-state affords us.

So what would it be like to literally push ourselves miles out of our comfort zone for an extended period of time? To live a pseudo-nomadic lifestyle, to come into unfamiliar cultures and attempt to integrate, to uncover stories and insights of countries steeped in misunderstanding, to live in homes of all oddities and neighbourhoods colourful in all manners? Would this journey make or break our relationship? Would it teach us to be a little more worldly or reinforce our love for Singapore? I’m really not sure, but I am very curious. And I do hope that we will have the chance to experience all of these, to experience slow travel as I’ve always dreamt about – one that doesn’t depend on a packed itinerary, allows for spontaneity and reduced reliance on Google maps and reviews (much easier said than done for me), and most hopefully, deep human connections.

We’re also looking forward to rediscovering our love for writing again, for capturing all that we’ve seen and experienced to share it with you guys. So please join us on our adventures here, and on Facebook and Instagram!

And perhaps, if we could be luckier than we already are, we would also be fortunate enough to discover new permutations of our infinite selves.