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Goodnight Saigon

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Over the past three weeks I’ve totally fallen off the blogging wagon. It turns out that when I schedule busy sightseeing days and sporting activities with the express purpose of wearing out my children, I end up face-planted on my pillow with no energy left either. Well duh!

We celebrated our “6 Months On The Road” anniversary this week too. The “celebration” was a day-long suspension of normal rules on treats and sweets for the kids. We all munched our way around Saigon, starting at the excellent Sozo and indulging in Italian coffee (Torrefazione actually) at Tous Les Jours.

I struggled with this anniversary in a way that took me completely by surprise. Faced with the not inconsequential task of planning the next six months of travel, I wondered if we should bag the rest of the trip and just go home now. The root of this angst was the fact that as we travel we have good days and bad days, great days and nasty days and each of us can be individually good, bad, great or nasty on any given day. Being Chief Planner (of our trip) and traveling with a teen with ADHD were also contributing factors (c.f. nasty above).

I’m not going to bail on our dream trip just yet (it’s amazing how a good night’s sleep helps re-balance a body). I have yet another plan in progress to keep my distractable children focused on their schoolwork. It may work or it may not. If not, I’m sure I can come up with Road-schooling with ADHD Version 4. Murph is busy planning the Central Asia leg of our trip. I’m renewing my blogging with passion – again :)

Today we left Saigon for Phnom Penh. In our 19 days in Vietnam we spent 7 days sightseeing in Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). After a week in Nha Trang our boys are now certified Open Water Scuba Divers (thanks to the friendly folks and professional instructors at Rainbow Divers). Our three-day cycle tour of the Mekong Delta with Sinhbalo Tours was an excellent, if tiring, finish.

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This entry was posted in International Escapades, Vietnam and tagged , on by .

About wandermom

". . .life is short and the world is wide" - Simon Raven I'm not sure I've ever consciously planned a trip based on this sentiment, but it definitely influences my subconscious! I've been traveling as frequently and widely as possible since I finished school. And I love it. I love the research, the planning, the fervent packing and the curiosity of exploring somewhere I've never been before. My husband & I are both Irish - as in born-in-Ireland. But we live in Seattle. We have two boys: wild, boisterous, regular boys. So, since becoming a Mom, I've been a WanderMom. Given our slightly-unusual family situation, routine "visits-to-Grandma" are international trips requiring passports, 10hr-flights and (oh joy!) airport transfers. I have rants, raves and opinions about how, where & why to travel with kids (start them as young as you can, I say!). I hope to learn even more by researching topics which other wandermoms may be interested in reading about on this blog. Passports, pacifiers, diapers and gameboys at the ready - off we go! Contact Info: Email Michelle: michelle (at) murphnduff (dot) org

4 thoughts on “Goodnight Saigon

  1. Anders Holm

    Michelle (and family), think of it like this: In the 6 months you’ve been travelling, how many amazing and wonderful things have you so far experienced? You have another 6 months of finding and experiencing such treasures! :)

    Life goes up, life goes down. It’ll be what you make it. Enjoy the remaining 6 months, as I am positive you will.

    Keep it up! I’m really enjoying these (sporadic) posts immensely and dreaming of doing the same one day.

  2. Patricia

    Six months after you get home you will really only remember the good days. It will be a struggle to even piece together what caused the bad and nasty ones!!

  3. Violeta

    Traveling is one of the best, if not the best education tool, so perhaps just forget about schoolwork altogether, slow down and enjoy the next 6 months to the fullest. Don’t ever let the thoughts of cutting the trip short come back. On the contrary, make plans for the next big adventure. Good luck and happy travels.

  4. Pingback: The double-edged sword of long-term travel « Around the world

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