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| Backpacking Through SE Asia With a Toddler Posted: 13 Oct 2011 12:54 PM PDT
Lately something strange has been happening to my child. He’s been speaking this weird language. Eating a lot. Sleeping less. He runs everywhere and when I walk into a room, there’s a good chance he’ll be there, standing, innocently, on top of a table or the toilet or the sink, his expression blank, like, “What?” My baby is becoming a toddler. I’m really loathe to admit this, but as someone who loves to travel, this sort of scares the crap out of me. The visa runOur Thai visas are expiring on the 21st, so that means we have to leave the country and come back. I don’t like to spend money to travel, just to travel, I want to go somewhere interesting, a place I haven’t seen before. That means running up to Myanmar or Laos is out. Combined with the fact that if you cross over-land in Thailand they give you just two weeks on your visa. If you fly into an airport, you get one month. But it’s a visa run, which means you’re not sticking around long. A long haul flight somewhere was out of the question. In fact, we wanted to spend as little money as possible on this trip, because essentially it was a weekend getaway. So Drew and I debated all afternoon. We made about a dozen different plans before settling on one that made the most sense. Except one small, tiny little detail. It involves a lot of trains, buses and public transportation. And we have a small child who likes to run, throw, kick, explore, touch, wiggle and scream. Oh god, are our backpacking days really over? Is this feeling of mild dread the beginning of the end? Have my carefree travel days officially ended? No! I mean, I hope not! Uh, well maybe! This is something of a test for us. The kind of trip we would normally do without thinking: the cheap, easy way to travel that involves a lot of ground level transportation. The kind of thing that is actually really easy with a baby. Babies just need momma. Where or what they happen to be doing is of little consequence to them. In short, they are awesome. Toddlers, on the other hand, are like very small control freaks who have absolutely no concept of “being realistic”. They are awesome and funny and adorable. Yes. As long as everything goes to plan. If not, it’s meltdown city. Not unlike myself after an entire bottle of vodka. Essentially, what I’m trying to say is that I have no idea how this will turn out. The planWe’re going to Angkor Wat in Cambodia from Chiang Mai in Thailand. Here’s the rough itinerary:
= $425 in travel that will get us three one month visas in Thailand (or about $140 each) with about 40 hours of straight travel and 2,000 miles covered — all in under a week. That’s more than it would cost to bus over to Laos and get a two month visa, but it includes seeing Angkor Wat — so totally worth it.
A: Chiang Mai, Thailand, B: Bangkok, Thailand, C: Siem Reap, Cambodia, D: Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Or I could just fly direct to Singapore for $550 (roundtrip on Air Asia for 2 plus a child on lap), get my one month visa and be home the next day. But seriously, what’s the fun in that? While we’re away Next week we’re helping to launch this incredible book by Torre DeRoche called Swept: Love with a Chance of Drowning, and we’re hosting Love & Travel week, highlighting the messy, wonderful, disastrous, life-changing and unbelievable experience that is travel with the one you love. When we get back, the verdict: can you backpack through southeast Asia with a toddler and not lose your mind? Oh and a filthy amount of photos. It’s going to be great.
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