The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Sometimes I think we must be a little bit crazy...

Just a little bit though!

Yesterday, I spent a good part of the day finalizing our trip plans to eventually end up in Adelaide, Australia where we will now arrive on May 27th... only 10 days later than originally planned.

But it's still a bit of a convoluted route as to how we get there.

Of course it wouldn't be like us to do things the easy (and more expensive) way!

Calgary to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Singapore to Bali to Adelaide, Australia.

So, we have six different airports that we will be using over an eight day period.

And, we are no longer going to spend any time in Malaysia. However, if time was on our side... We would definitely check out Kuala Lumpur with cheap flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur due to their iconic landmarks. 

It turned out that the cheapest way to get to Adelaide was through Bali, Indonesia. But the route is on discount airlines so it's not a connecting flight in Bali. We actually have to spend some time there. So we are doing three (expensive!) nights in Singapore, then flying to Bali for one night and one full day. Then, an overnight flight to Adelaide.

Here's the schedule...

The whole thing starts Monday morning when we have to get up at silly o'clock to make our flight out of Calgary at 6:05am.  We arrive in Los Angeles and have the whole day to explore because our next flight isn't until 6:30am Tuesday morning.

So, we booked an AirBnb just outside Los Angeles airport for $94 CAD ($70 USD) for the Monday night. Pricey for us, but very reasonable for Los Angeles!

Then Tuesday morning we are up early again for our 6:30am flight to San Francisco. We have a couple of hours in San Francisco airport before our flight to Singapore.

The SFO to SIN flight is United Airlines longest scheduled flight, at 17 hours 10 minutes. We'll be flying on the 787 Dreamliner so we're looking forward to that.

We arrive in Singapore at 6:45pm the next day on Wednesday the 22nd. Then, we have booked an AirBnb in downtown Singapore where we will explore for three days.

Our private studio apartment in Singapore.

Singapore is not cheap!

Especially when it comes to accommodation. We are paying $100 CAD ($75 USD) per night for our private studio apartment, and that was a good deal compared to the other options. But, Singapore is not a place we would likely ever return to so we wanted to enjoy it.

Then on Saturday the 25th (a week from today) we fly from Singapore to Denpasar, Bali where we have a day and a half to explore a little bit. Bali is an area that we do plan to return to some day, so this will give us a taste.

Bali is cheap!

I booked us a room at a guest house close to the airport. Lots of options available because this is the slow tourist season in Bali.

This is the room I booked for $22 CAD ($16.50 USD) per night...

Our room in Bali.

We will have the full day to explore Bali on Sunday the 26th, and then at midnight that night we fly to Adelaide where we arrive at 6:30am on Monday morning. Hopefully we can get some sleep on the plane.

A nice Australian couple who read this blog and live in Adelaide have offered to pick us up there and bring us to our RV. They've also offered to let us park up at their place for a couple of days while we get settled and organized! I think we're going to love Australia!

So... the next week and a half is going to be a whirlwind!

We decided against Malaysia. The flight times and prices out of Kuala Lumpur were not great, and the more I looked at it the more it looked like Malaysia was a place we would like to spend a couple of months... not a week or two. Plus, we really just wanted to get this Australia RV trip started. As it is, our original three months is now down to two and a half.

By the way, Ruth is feeling much improved... not 100% yet, but she says she is 90% so things are definitely getting better.

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And in Canada...




21 comments:

  1. So excited for this new adventure you're taking us on. Thanks to the Aussie couple who are making your arrival a little easier. Glad to hear Ruth is feeling better.

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    1. We are pretty excited too, even more because it got delayed a bit.

      Yes, we are very fortunate to have a nice Aussie couple greet us as we come into Australia, it will make the trip all that more memorable. :-)

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  2. So exciting! I follow your travel adventures with much interest and intrigue.....you two sure know how to rock retirement! We are only permitted to be out of our home province of Ontario for seven months annually (to keep our OHIP coverage) travelling.....and would love to do more. How do you manage health care? We have a great travel insurance plan that covers the entire year....but are still dependent on our provincial coverage. Are you too managing to fit all of your adventures in seven months annually? Wondering if you extend beyond that.....how do you manage your healthcare expenses? Looking forward to reading about your pending adventure!

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    Replies
    1. We simply do not allow provincial health care regulations to dictate how we live our lives. We prefer to be responsible for our own health care.

      Having said that, we are getting older. We're looking at a private plan with a high deductible in case something serious were to happen. Minor things (up to $10,000 or so) we don't mind being self insured.

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    2. And I should further clarify... if we were not healthy and we did not get lots of exercise and if we did not eat properly... we would probably spend the required time in Canada. But it is so rare that we ever go see a doctor. Even this most recent problem with Ruth's kidney infection would be a very inexpensive event, even in a country like the United States.

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  3. So glad Ruth is feeling a bit better. Bali/Indonesia is on my list too. You can spend big money there if you want to but no need to.

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    1. So am I! I am still not 100% but definitely pretty close to it. :-)

      Apparently where we are staying in Bali is a big expat area for Australians so it is sort of like the Cancun of Mexico. I am sure that if and when we return to Bali again we will go find smaller places away from the "tourists".

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  4. So happy that things are coming together for you!!!

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  5. Yay! so glad Ruth is feeling betterand you were able to reschedule your flights! Us Aussies are always quick to offer a helping hand.. a place to stay..a cuppa..a biccie..or a beer! A great way to start your aussie adventure safe travels tomorrow.xx.

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    1. We are happy too, except that our rescheduled flights are costing us a lot more than our nice cheap flights that we had originally paid and what made us decide to go to Australia in the first place. We are committed now though and are really looking forward to our trip and we won't let the extra cost bother us.

      Yes, we can see that you Australians are nice friendly people. We have already had so much help and great advice from one of the RVing in Australia facebook groups that we are members of. Now we can't wait to meet some of these people. :-)

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  6. Do not judge Bali on Denpasar, it is a super loud busy city. We would go there just for the shopping. I think Peter wrote about Bali in the blog, mind you it was 20 years ago!!

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    1. Thank you, we won't! We totally understand that it is like the Cancun of Mexico! If and when we go back to explore Bali properly we will go to the little out of the way places where we we see more of the local life and culture.

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  7. Hope you have some pleasant dreams on that Dreamliner 787! That's a long flight. :c)

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    1. We hope so too! Unfortunately we find it hard to sleep on an airplane, let's hope this one will be different.

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  8. Ooh Bali! I loved it there (2 years ago). The airport is close to lots of sightseeing so you should be able to pack a lot in. Best thing we did was hire a private driver to take us around. Enjoy your last weekend in Canada for a few months :)

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    1. We are looking forward to our day there as well. We are going to keep our expectations low though, as we know that it isn't the REAL Bali, sort of like how Cancun isn't the REAL Mexico. ;-)

      I think we will find enough to do without having to hire a private driver, it isn't something that we would normally do anyways.

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  9. I agree with you on healthcare. In Mexico, we have excellent private healthcare that is very inexpensive. I am in the social healthcare system, but have only used it to get my teeth cleaned. Our cardiologist charges $85 u.s. each year for a complete workup. We do the same, exercise, try to eat right, and be happy. Don't sit around, it will kill you!

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    1. We love the healthcare system in Mexico. We really have never had to use it but we have heard from others that have and how pleased they were with it.

      Hopefully we can keep ourselves healthy by doing all the right things, but even that isn't guaranteed but it beats just sitting around. :-)

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  10. Wishing that everything goes according to this plan.
    Be Safe and Enjoy your new adventures.

    It's about time.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! We hope it all goes according to plan as well. :-)

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