Where It All Began

Vietnam was always going to be our first stop.

Kia and I travelled there back in 2012 over the Christmas period, and it’s still one of the best trips we’ve ever done. The food, the culture, the people… it just stuck with us. We always said we’d come back one day, and when we started planning this trip, it felt like the obvious place to begin.

It ticked a lot of boxes for us.

We wanted somewhere that would give the kids a bit of a culture shock, but still feel safe and easy to land into. Somewhere affordable, with plenty to do, and somewhere we could settle in for a while rather than rush through. Phu Quoc stood out straight away, especially with the worldschooling hub there, which gave us a bit of structure early on.

There were also a few places we knew we wanted to experience again, or for the first time as a family. The Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh City, the Cu Chi tunnels, Hoi An… and then just seeing where Vietnam took us from there.

It also made sense from a travel point of view. Vietnam felt like a good stepping stone into the rest of the world. Our first big international flight with the kids, about eight hours from Brisbane, long enough to feel like a proper trip, but not overwhelming.

Looking back now, starting in Vietnam just felt right.

It gave us the space to ease into this new way of living, while still throwing us straight into something completely different.