Today we are fortunate enough to have a guest post from bloggers, Terry & Maura of Travel Kiwis
Their Story
We are
Terry & Maura www.travelkiwis.com
a 50 year old couple from New Zealand who have sold our home and left NZ to
travel for a period of time. We are not sure how long we will be traveling, but
we will enjoy this time in our lives.We did an OE when we first got married 31 years ago. We spent three years based in England and took the opportunity to travel UK and Europe several times in between working in various jobs. All our travel was put on hold when we were pregnant with the first of our three sons who was born in 1988.
Terry has since had a career in sales and business management, and Maura is an accountant who ran a small business we purchased in 2010.
We have always wanted to revisit our travelling days - one day. We started seriously thinking about making a break from the life we were leading in 2014 after we had spent a month in Asia visiting our eldest son in Japan where he was teaching English. We added on some time in Singapore and also Koh Samui. We enjoyed the environment so much we knew we had to spend more time in Asia.
Also in 2014, the company Terry worked for had restructured and his role was disestablished, he was offered a role but would need to move to Auckland. This didn't appeal so he chose to leave the company and look for contract sales roles which he found easy to get. We also started talking to people about our idea of selling up everything and traveling for a while. It was amazing how many people we spoke with had similar thoughts, but had not made the decision. For some of those people they never would as death, ill health, injury or some other reason would prevent them following their dreams.
Our plans
were solidified one terrible day in September 2014 when news came through of
the tragic death in an accident of Maura's eldest brother Peter. It
really hit home that life can change in an instant, and although we never
expected anything to happen to us, we had spoken to enough people to know that
it could.
We put our business on the market and that sold in August 2015, our house sold soon after in September 2015. By the end of 2015 our sons were then 27, 25 and 22, with only the youngest living with us at home. They are all independent and doing well in their fields so it is a good time for us to give them some space, although we miss them very much as they are great guys.
We put a lot of time into planning our adventure and decided on spending four months travelling through Asia on our way to Europe. We really wanted to spend some quality time when we stopped off somewhere, so rather than only staying 1-2 days we decided to stay 3-7 days in each place (now we think that is too short a time).
We put our business on the market and that sold in August 2015, our house sold soon after in September 2015. By the end of 2015 our sons were then 27, 25 and 22, with only the youngest living with us at home. They are all independent and doing well in their fields so it is a good time for us to give them some space, although we miss them very much as they are great guys.
We put a lot of time into planning our adventure and decided on spending four months travelling through Asia on our way to Europe. We really wanted to spend some quality time when we stopped off somewhere, so rather than only staying 1-2 days we decided to stay 3-7 days in each place (now we think that is too short a time).
The next segment of our adventure is to spend from mid-July until early October house sitting in France and England, we have four house sits booked over that period, each 3 weeks to 5 weeks in length.
In 2017 we want to find a small town in Spain where we can teach English to business people for a while then do more traveling around Europe and Africa. But, we may also buy a camper van and drive around Europe. If you would like to find out more about our adventures then please visit our travel blog www.travelkiwis.com and subscribe to our updates. We love hearing from anyone with an interest in travel and will respond to your questions or comments.
A Look Into Our Current Days
20/04/2016
Full Moon Lantern Festival, Hoi An
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
On the 14th day of the lunar month, every month the streets of Hoi An Old Town are only lit by lanterns as power to the street lights is turned off from 6.30-9pm. This has become a huge event for foreign and Vietnamese tourists alike.
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
We wandered
into town around 5pm to get an early dinner and to watch the crowds
gather. We started talking with a German couple Jurgen and Bea who have taken a
year off their jobs in Hamburg to travel through Asia and Australia. We swapped
travel stories as we people watched next to the river and bridge, we have a lot
in common. We all decided to have dinner together and found a rooftop
restaurant that had views over the river and enjoyed a nice meal and
conversation. (The best fresh spring rolls so far, probably on a par with 88
Tory St restaurant.) The four of us then wandered around the old town
marvelling at all the brightly lit and colourful lanterns. There were several
wedding parties looking beautiful in their costumes having photos taken by
their official photographer and lots of tourists as well, no doubt appearing on
lots of Instagram feeds later.
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
Maura
purchased a small lantern and was given a long bamboo pole with a basket at the
end to place her lantern into. We then headed for the bridge to launch the
lantern of good luck.
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
21/04/2016 My Son Holy Land
Today we
were collected late by our guide and driver as we headed to a very ancient
historical site 1.5 hours from Hoi An. The drive at times was hair raising as
the driver decided on several occasions to try and pass on blind corners - I
feared more for the poor lady or child on the push bike / motorbike beside us
or coming towards us.
As we
approached the local villages, harvested rice was drying in all sorts of places
- along the side of the road (dust and fumes) or around the local roundabout -
so funny.
The scenery then changed to local forest as we arrived at My Son temples discovered 500 years ago by the French in what was then dense forest.
The scenery then changed to local forest as we arrived at My Son temples discovered 500 years ago by the French in what was then dense forest.
We walked
part way from the entrance where you are met by electric cars to take you
further inland to the cafe buildings. Here we caught another Cham cultural
dance. Terry was very, very happy! (well they are very talented in their
craft)
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
From here we
wandered up the path to view the various temples. Some still in tact, others
damaged by a week long of bomb attacks by the Yanks during the war (bomb
craters around the site), and others restored to varying degrees.
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
The marvel
of the temples is their construction, many over 1,000 years old. There is no
mould on any of the brickwork (brick but no mortar!) The mystery of the
construction maybe based on the local gum tree resin used between the bricks,
and the burning of the building after construction to seal the bricks.
The other
interesting information of this site is the fertility symbols in each of the
temples, the Linga and the Yoni!
Hers & His
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
Lunch today
was at our local where we met up with some younger travellers - 3 from Holland
and one from Belgium. They were intrigued by our travel and adamant they should
have all the money now to travel rather than when they are older. It was the
first time we were asked if we had grandchildren, with one of the girls wanting
to marry Terry so she could continue travelling.
Tonight we
headed into the Old Town to catch up for a beer and bite to eat with Craig - an
ex Manawatu cricketer who is travelling with a school group through Vietnam. Of
course the first conversation was cricket and Craig spoke of Terry's fast
bowling hitting him in the head. Terry also hit another in Craig's team not
long after but this time cracked his helmet and cut his head open! Oops!
Another cocktail for Maura please. Despite this they remain friends off the
pitch.
Anyway, that out of he way, we traded travel stories and enjoyed the evening.
Before
heading back we decided to explore some of the small alleyways off the main
streets. Some dead ends, others with small shops and eateries. Time for a
coffee and we chose a roaster of the local coffee beans. We were invited
to head up the two flights of stairs to the rooftop to enjoy the lanterns as we
enjoyed our coffee.
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
China Beach - yes Terry was hoping to see Dana Delaney - but instead we were treated to sandy beaches and waves to do some body surfing. We spent most of the day here reading, sunning ourselves and swimming. Maura spied her fishing baskets sitting on the beach.
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
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| Photo: @travelkiwis |
To follow along with more of Terry & Maura's adventures, Amrita and I recommend subscribing to their blog posts at
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