A Sad Farewell

Yes, it’s true, we’ve come home early. We are very disappointed but, given the circumstances, it is the right decision. We have been hit for six with the news that Gem possibly needs surgery within the next few months. Obviously continuing the travels may have had a detrimental impact on her health, so coming home is the only option.

Good morning Vietnam

Sunrise somewhere over Thailand en route to Vietnam

We arrived in Hanoi and immediately fell in love with the people. They simply are the friendliest people on Earth!! Hanoi itself is organised chaos. You dice with death each time you walk the streets, for all the mopeds and motorbikes that fly around, giving you a courteous hoot of the horn, if they are just about to knock you over!!!

Gem doing some heavy lifting in the streets of Hanoi

We decided to head out of Hanoi and take a trip to Halong Bay, to return and visit Hanoi’s sites on our return. A 3 and a half hour drive away, Halong Bay is famous for its 3,000 odd small islands, which jut up across the horizon. We took a boat trip on a so-called “junk boat”, which was actually more luxurious than it sounds!!

Hundreds of junk boats in Halong Bay

The dining room on our boat - the food was amazing!!

We sailed around the islands, visited an impressive cave system and canoed through some amazing rock formations. The food on the boat was fantastic, unfortunately the same can’t be said for the karaoke that night. Just terrible!!

The massive cave complex at Halong Bay



Us outside the caves with the spectacular view

Stunning sunset

We visited Cat Ba Island and the national park there. We trekked through some hot and humid rainforest and got a view of the whole park, which was incredible. Getting there was tough work though, the path was a mud slide and the heat was unbearable.

The view of Cat Ba National Park after our tough climb

More hospitals in South East Asia

We first discovered Gem would need surgery weeks ago in Singapore, however the doctor there was unconcerned and suggested we continue travelling. So we did. However, she had begun to get more acute pains whilst in Halong Bay, so we visited a doctor on our return to Hanoi. What a useless waste of time and money.

Our insurance people decided that they needed a more detailed report before they could safely send Gem on a long haul flight home, so off we went again to Bangkok. And again we saw no sights, but the inside of another hospital!!

The doc gave her the thumbs up for the flight, but crucially said that only a Business Class flight would do!! This reduced our disappointment of coming home slightly!! It was a lovely experience, if it was for the wrong reasons. Going back to economy will be hard in the future!!

Ells catching up on some movies in his big chair!!

The view from the upper deck of a 747!!

Travelling – a great way to reassess the value of your life

Eight months ago we were 2 young professionals, working hard in the week and lazing around at the weekend. If this trip has taught us anything, it’s that life is too short for that.

We have had enough time out to recharge our batteries and reassess our lives. And to be honest, we are absolutely ecstatic to be coming home and to have this opportunity at a fresh start.

We cannot recommend travelling highly enough. It gives you time to really appreciate what you have and take a long look at yourself to see where there is room for improvement. Now it’s time for us to prove that we can take this chance.

So, we bid you a sad farewell. It has been absolutely fantastic writing this blog. We hope you enjoyed it and thank you so much for all the kind comments. It has really helped when the going got tough!!

Love Ells and Gem xxx