About me
The long story short (I tried to anyway)
Journey on the classic banana pancake trail…
It was only at the ripe old age of twenty-four that I had first heard about this trail. Famously already known within the travel circles, I had obviously been living under a rock until my partner casually mentioned that he was going to explore this for his first 3-month sabbatical (and leave me behind, of course). I felt left out and confused; there was no sight of banana pancakes for my breakfasts growing up in Malaysia…
Fast-forward four years, that included the tiny problem of a pandemic, it was finally my turn. I was unfortunately burnout due to a combination of working as a NHS dentist, managing the skyrocketing pressures from the public in the aftermath of Covid and the exhaustion of wearing the sweat-inducing full protective kit when treating patients day in and day out.
I missed home. Malaysia’s delicious home classics like chicken rendang and roti canai (hence the name) were calling out my name…
Contrary to many travel blogs out there, we didn’t sell our flat, all our stuff or our dog before we left (wishful thinking about having a dog in the first place).
This also really isn’t a guide about how to do things on a small or big budget, it’s a little bit of everything: homestays, hostels, hotels, etc. When we jetted off for our long sabbatical, I thought it sounded very cool to say to friends and family that we were just going to endlessly travel with no end goal in sight and no job to save us financially- we were semi nomads!
It was an overdue treat for myself after my six tough years of dental school, although my Indian father was especially not happy with this…
Oh so this is the nomad life?
However, the honeymoon period lasted for about two and a half months before I sat down to question why my anxious thoughts started to speed up. From visiting the temples of Ayutthaya to enjoying a traditional homestay in the middle of Laotian jungles, it was all the experiences I had been craving for. This didn’t make any sense. Then it dawned on me what I missed: stability. I had come full circle- thanks monkey brain!
Thing we did included:
But the enthusiasm fading and energy levels were dipping. I couldn’t do this forever.
It was time for me to come home after 18 months, those teeth weren’t going to pull themselves out…
So, that brings me to today.
Back at my daytime job, looking for a new house but still with a strong itch to travel. This blog is to share my stories that it is possible to still have an adventure ranging from a day trip to a two-week holiday, and then to return to your home comforts.
I’m not the best of storytellers and I have no clue about marketing but if my blog resonates to even one traveller, then that’s more than enough for me!