Our Itinerary and Inspiration for Our Tentative Trip to Asia

It’s been over a year since we came back to Europe from our 10 months in South America. In that time, we certainly haven’t stopped travelling, as we’ve made trips together to Madrid, Budapest, Berlin, Czech Republic and Stockholm, and I’ve also spent time working in Austria.

Now that we’re starting to get settled in Berlin, it should soon be time to leave again! This time to hopefully Asia, a continent Zab has never been to, and which I lasted visited in 2009 on my own.

There are lots of ifs to this plan, but assuming we can work them out and get everything organised in time, our intention is to leave Europe in March and spend approximately three months travelling through three countries: Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

Here’s a brief look at our intended itinerary and where we got some of our inspiration from.

Sri Lanka

A country neither of us has been to, Sri Lanka seemed like a good starting point for our first trip to Asia together, as it is relatively small meaning we can moved around easily and see the island comfortably and inexpensively. It also seems to have good options for vegan friendly food.

• We’re most looking forward to…Adam’s Peak, the train rides, the vegan snacks and the beaches
• We’ll stay…no more than 30 days, as that’s the maximum we’ll get on entry

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Chiang Mai

This city in northern Thailand has of course been blogged about to death, though apparently for good reason. It seems that everyone trying their hand at being a digital nomad ends up in Chiang Mai at some point or other for the combination of low cost of living, good weather, interesting culture, convenience and fast wifi.

• We’re most looking forward to…the vegetarian food scene and meeting up with other digital nomads
• We’ll stay…for a full month and rent an apartment, hopefully

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Peninsular Malaysia

Malaysia is well known for being an easy entry point to South East Asia with good infrastructure and locals who can speak reasonably good English. Ideally we’d like to be able to spend a whole month there, but that is unlikely to happen due to time restraints.

• We’re most looking forward to…the Cameroon Highlands, the food in Penang and the island of Langkawi
• We’ll stay…maybe a week in Kuala Lumpur, then another two weeks or so travelling north

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Southern Thailand

Of course, one of the main reasons to leave Berlin between March and May is to escape the part of the northern European winter and get some beach time, and southern Thailand (especially the west coast) sounds like an excellent place to do this.

• We’re most looking forward to…Koh Lanta
• We’ll stay…maybe two weeks

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If this trip to Asia doesn't end up happening for whatever reason, we will still go away from Berlin during this period but will stay within or near Europe. Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Italy and Turkey are all possibilities, but…who knows?!