First off- congratulations that’s SO exciting!! I remember the moment we decided that instead of teaching in Asia, we would rather spend a crazy amount of money and just backpack for a few months! Looking back, I think teaching would have been amazing but I think we made the right decision for us. After we decided we wanted to backpack, we came up with a bit of a game plan in order to do it successfully. It was February 2013 and we both had seasonal jobs (Jord was working at a golf course and I was a Bartender) so we decided to leave right after Canadian Thanksgiving when the golf course really slowed down. That meant that we had approximately 8 months to save up the money we needed (we wanted to cash flow this trip so that we didn’t come back with any debt) and decide on an itinerary. We also decided to go from October 2013-February 2014. Why we decided to come back to Canada in the middle of winter is beyond me but that was our timeline! Here is basically a rough guideline on how we determined everything:

1.       Choosing where we wanted to go: To be honest we had a general idea as to where wanted to go (which countries we wanted to visit) but we didn’t know which cities we wanted to see. SO, in order to do that, we started looking at trips that tour groups like Intrepid Travel offered. We figured that if a city was good enough for a tour group to visit, it would be good enough for us! From there we decided that we would visit Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore! It might seem like we had plenty of time to visit all of those places in 4 months, but time moves pretty quickly when you’re having the adventure of a lifetime. We basically chose 3-6 cities in each of those countries and started looking at how we would get to each place. We travelled by plane, bus, train and boat based on what was the least expensive but also factored in how long it would get to each place based on modes of transportation. At one point we were going to spend 24 hours on a train, but instead found a cheap flight for $100 so we went with that option. We also took a boat from Japan to China which was super interesting, partly because we saw a bunch of dolphins and partly because I was blonde so lots of people wanted to take pictures with me and touch my hair. FYI people with blonde hair – you will be stared at when travelling around China. At one point I just stood on the Great Wall while people came up and took pictures with me like I was the great attraction – it was hilarious.

2.       Get the right gear: We went to MEC and each bought 2 backpacking backpacks which were great (we’ve since called these the sisterhood of the travelling backpacks because tons of our friends have used them to travel the world which is pretty neat). We also bought light sleeping bags, hiking shoes & travel towels. We also got a few pieces of travel clothing that could be washed easily and dried quickly. There are TONS of ideas on Pinterest to create capsule wardrobes which I highly recommend. Keep in mind you can still buy lots of stuff when you’re there but don’t forget- whatever you buy you (or your partner aha) will have to carry or send home. For shoes I brought a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of flats and a pair of sandals and that was plenty for me.

3.       Get all of your ducks in a row. We needed a visa for China (thankfully we had a friend living there who wrote us an entrance letter to make things easier) and a visa for Vietnam. We also went to the travel clinic and got all the shots we needed, as well as things like malaria pills and antibiotics so that in case we got sick we didn’t have to find a doctor there. Ladies- I highly recommend getting enough birth control for your entire trip – Safety First!! We also got travel insurance in case anything happened while we were gone (our visa’s insurance only lasted 30 days).

4.       Where should I stay? Back in my backpacking days (do I sound old?) we used http://www.HostelBookers.com and had a great experience. We based our decisions off of the ratings each hostel got as well as what facilities were offered at each place. Staying at Hostels is SUPER fun because you get to meet people from all over the world and swap travel stories as well as getting great tips from everyone. You also end up coming back with hilarious stories most of the time and get the added value of staying in central areas for much less money. Nowadays I also recommend using AirBnB when travelling. We’ve used it many times when travelling as a couple as well as travelling with our 2 young kids and have had amazing experiences 99% of the time. Side note: lots of backpackers just go with the flow and look for hostels when they get there which definitely is not our style. Before we left for Asia we had booked all of our hostels in Japan (we were there for the first 3 weeks of our trip) and the first 2 weeks of China. Then on a rainy day when we didn’t feel like going out, we outlined the rest of our trip and booked all the hostels we needed. This guaranteed that we weren’t left scrambling when we got to each city and always had a great place to stay and start each part of our journey. We were especially thankful for this when on Christmas we saw backpackers walking up and down the beach in Cambodia with their heavy backpacks on asking if any place had availability- no thank you. 

5.       What should I do when I get to each place? Honestly what we did is we looked at Trip Advisor every time we go to a new place and looked at the top things to do (we are tourists through and through and like to go with the mainstream things). From there I came up with an itinerary and the Hubby mapped it all out for us and got us there (I make the plans- he handles the directions which is why we’re such a great team). We also talked to the Hostel Front Desk to see which tours they offered and recommended and booked any that appealed to us or went to places that would be hard to get to with public transportation. Side note: one of the best parts of our trip was meeting up with people we knew or even sort of knew who were there at the same time we were. We ended up meeting up with one of my Dad’s friends, one person I went to college with, one friend Jord went to University with and my best friend’s sister’s best friend. These sort of random encounters made such GREAT memories and it also helped that when you were feeling homesick you got to get a little taste of home which made it a lot easier. 

6.       How much money should I save? That is a very personal question because you have to think of how you like to travel. We didn’t mind staying in hostels and didn’t eat in any fancy restaurants; however, we were a big fan of experiences, so we focused on that. For this trip we saved approximately $26,000 CAD (bartending was long hours, but you made GREAT money so it balanced out) and ended up coming home with only a couple hundred bucks. Return flights to Canada (we flew to Japan and back from Singapore) cost us about $3,000, hostels averaged out to be $20/night/per person (Japan was very expensive-$50/night/per person whereas Thailand was like $7/per night/per person) so $5,000 in hostels for the 2 of us for 4 months. Then transportation was probably around $3,000 for the 2 of us. Then I think we averaged $100/day for food and spending which was about $12,000. That left us with about $3,000 for misc. spending (we were getting married that year so bought some stuff for that), souvenirs for our house, shows we went to (HIGHLY recommend the Robot Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan) and random things. You also have to keep in mind where you’re travelling. Like I said, Japan was extremely expensive, and then in Cambodia we got a fantastic all you can eat fish dinner for $3 a person so if you’re on a tighter budget I suggest you stick around Southeast Asia where you’ll get more bang for your buck.

7.       Travel with an open mind! Things will be great, and things will be awful. You’ll have the time of your life but also miss your family like crazy and want to come home. I always say – if you want to know if you’re with the person you should marry- travel with them. And not just to a place where everything is perfect but to a place where things will go wrong. I remember yelling at Jord because the place we were eating at didn’t have the noodles I wanted and he yelled back because he was so hungry and just wanted to eat. We weren’t yelling at each other because of the food but because we were having a hell of a time trying to find our train and we were tired and hungry and overwhelmed. After we got our noodles, we both just sat there sort of crying until finally we just started to laugh and then everything was better after that. Whenever I travel now, and something starts to go wrong I always just tell myself- this is part of the experience. As Anthony Bourdain said “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body”.

So if you’re thinking about travelling just do it! It’ll be expensive! It’ll be messy but it’ll be worth it! So good luck and enjoy the ride!