It turns out that Mark is quite savvy at Google Docs. He created a fantastic calendar template to help us plan our trip. He put together a rough, and we started to really dig into planning the Southeast Asia portion of our journey.

But where to begin? We are starting in Chiang Mai because my parents are currently living there. We are on our own for lodging because they live in a one-bedroom condo, but there are plenty of hotel options in the area. We’ll stay there for a few days and then head down south to Bangkok.

So far, so good, right?

After Bangkok, we go down to Phuket. Or we can head over to Cambodia. Or we can fly directly from Bangkok to Hanoi, Vietnam. Or we can fly to Laos. Do we go south, then back up to northern SE Asia, then back south to Malaysia and Singapore? Do we want to spend two weeks on an island? Do we want to take two buses to a National Park?

Photo by Capturing the human heart. on Unsplash

When you are traveling for six months, the possibilities seem endless. Let’s go everywhere! But we do have to be smart about it: look at the weather in the area, research flights and other transportation, and figure out how long to spend in each place. Back to the drawing board!