It’s been nearly 13 months since we set off on this crazy adventure with the hope of building an online business and creating the travel lifestyle we wanted.

We spent 6 months on and off in 2015 living in Penang. It’s where we called home. We spent 3.5 months exploring Europe from Stockholm and Tallinn to Cinque Terre and Croatia. We saw so much more of Asia from the high country in Sri Lanka to the temples of Myanmar to the chocolate hills of Bohol, Philippines.

Hanging on the beach in Batu Ferringhi

I exceeded all my business goals. I made more money than I dared dream. I talked at a travel blogging conference and I have built up a great portfolio of websites.

On top of all this, I’m 20 weeks pregnant with a baby boy expected in June.

It’s been amazing, but it’s over for now.

Our final month was full of adventure. We started the year in Lombok, moved on to the island of Java in Indonesia, thankfully just missing the attack in Jakarta. Next was Singapore before a brief stop in Johor Bahru and then Kuching in Borneo. Finally, we came full circle with a night in Kuala Lumpur to see friends, a travelling family we first meet on our first day in Penang.

Breakfast at Seger Hill

I’m writing this from our 8 hour flight back to Melbourne, Australia.

The place we will call home again.

We always planned to come home now at the latest. There was a small part of us that knew we might change our minds and stay away longer if we had the finances, but coming back just felt like the right thing to do. S is enrolled in our perfect school, we do love Melbourne and we can’t think of an alternative that seems to better suit us right now.

Sitting here on the plane though, I am a mix of emotions. I doubt our decision to return. I doubt it a lot. I’ve always thought it was crazy – we had a great life in Penang that we loved a lot and we have enjoyed travelling around especially now we earn enough money to travel in style.

Home is going to be hard.

For a start, we don’t even have a home. I’m expecting it to take at least a month and a half until that changes and moving in the third trimester is not a happy thought, especially as I have done it before.

Z starts kinder next week and S starts school! I am dreading the massive commitment this will involve and how much it will tie us to Melbourne.

J needs to find a job and return to work. Our life in Melbourne is going to cost a lot.

I’m apprehensive about being the primary caregiver again and having my job move to the background especially when I have poured my heart and soul into my business. I’m worried how I will do any of it once I have a newborn to care for. I’m hoping things go well enough for my business in the next few months that J can take the parental leave instead and stay at home when the baby comes.

So yeah, I’m scared.

I’m scared we are crazy and we are giving up too much to return. Part of me wanted us to pick a flight in KLIA, any flight as long as it was somewhere else, and continue what we were doing.

Working on the road in a over water chalet in Port Dickson, Malaysia

I know it’s not forever and if it doesn’t work out we can leave again. I know we’re fully capable of making hard decisions. We are sure we will do this again, just probably not for awhile as we are committed to our kids becoming bilingual and the school we have enrolled them into and that takes time.

So what comes next?

We get on with it.

Our priority at the moment is J getting a job and settling the kids into school and preschool. Then it will be finding a home.

I have a few medical appointments over the next week including meeting my obstetrician for the first time – hopefully I like her! And I have the big 20 week scan. It will be comforting to get a good look and have an appointment after not seeing anyone since 10 weeks.

This blog is certainly not going to die. I’ve been writing it for over 10 years and we are certainly not going to stop travelling. I still have lots of great articles I am finishing from our last month of travel.

The beautiful Hobart waterfront – our apartment was in the modern looking building you can see behind the old ones

Our next trip is Tasmania for Easter, primarily to see family. I am not sure what will happen after that as it will come down to when J can take time off work. At the very least we will go away at Christmas time next year and we currently have a very strong urge to have our biggest adventure yet next year – the Trans Siberian railway!

Another child is certainly not going to stop us travelling, just maybe slow us down for this year. It’s been hard work travelling while pregnant and I don’t really feel like doing any more of it.

So that’s it! That’s where we are at. I will let you know how it goes!

You can read our 12 month update here.