Wow time flies. It’s now 9 months since we left Australia with the seemingly crazy idea that we would work online and travel the world. It’s still paying off very well for us!

I am much happier than I was last month when I wrote our 8 month update. This is primarily because we are BACK IN PENANG!

4 months is far too long for us to travel together. Far. Too. Long.

I am still tired but I feel like I am catching up which is not bad as the journey home was long and drawn out (in part thanks to a flight cancellation AHHH!) and we have only been back for 2 days.

How was Europe?

Views of gorgeous Dubrovnik

Europe was fantastic!

But we were tired and started getting sick of it from about the halfway point.

I had hoped that a one month stop in the middle of the trip in Paris would refresh us, but it didn’t.

The last four months really highlighted how much we need a base. It has me wondering if this year away would have even been a success had we not ended up in Penang, a place we love and have been able to create a great life very easily.

S and me on the Oslo Opera House

I didn’t realise until we got back just how sick of the food I was in Europe too. It’s hard being vegetarian in Europe! It was not hard to find options in our last month as Italian food was everywhere, but everything seemed coated in a ton of cheese and was mostly not very nice.

I love having healthy and delicious options again. I managed to put on 6 kilograms in Europe which I blame on eating too many carbs to try to fill up and being stuck with options that always seemed to include a whole block of cheese. I love cheese but really. Add other ingredients too please people!

It was certainly not all bad though. The last few weeks were spent in my new favourite country in Europe – Croatia! Seriously a gorgeous, fantastic, stupendous country. Get there as soon as you can!

We also visited Italy, Slovenia and Norway! Told you we were busy.

Home in Penang

Home sweet home

Penang is just fabulous. We are so lucky as we have been able to rent the same house yet again. We left some of our things here when we went to Europe and the house comes equipped with toys so the kids are mega happy to be back.

They went back to their old preschool today. We have another hire car and we have been visiting all our favourite restaurants. It’s good to be home!

I am now wondering how we will ever leave again. I don’t want to!

What’s next?

We are spending the final school term in Penang before heading off again for the last two months of 13 months away. Work is our top priority as we catch up on everything we haven’t done over the last four months and try to position our sites in the best position possible to make more money once we set off travelling again.

I am already planning our final two months. I booked the flights awhile ago but now I am working on the details. UAE, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and more of Malaysia are all planned. We were going to head to Oman too, but that would involve 6+ hour bus rides each way and since we are only in the UAE for 9 days that seems like a waste of time.

In October, I head to Bangkok for TBEX, a travel blogging conference, where I am presenting. I am very excited about this and it is quite an honour to be selected. I was going to be speaking at the North America conference in Florida instead, but thankfully I  have been able to switch this as the flights are crazy long to get there (over 30 hours!!). Far too far for just 4 days in the country.

Otherwise, I am trying very hard to not plan anything else while we are in Penang as we really need to recover from Europe, enjoy some family time with no pressure and get some work done. It is hard for me to stay put for so long though! In November my mum and brother are visiting so that will be extra exciting.

Mostly though, I just want a break from the crazy travel/parent/work schedule we were on. A chance to relax and just enjoy! I am sure I will get it here in Penang 🙂

What’s the longest you have travelled with kids? Was it too long?