Mixing it up: Why We Are Storing the Airstream and Heading to Asia

This winter we decided to do something different with our full time traveling life. We are heading overseas until spring. We wanted to mix it up a little this year and here are the reasons why.

Firstly, last winter we hung out mostly in Arizona and while we had lots of good times, hiking & socializing, we didn't love it there. Although being with our buddies is very tempting, we found that 3 or 4 months of desert dwelling, and especially hanging among the snowbird set was not for us. We found ourselves just waiting and waiting for the weather to improve further north so we could get out of there. We didn't want to feel trapped in that situation again this year.


Secondly, we want to make sure we don't get too comfortable. When you see beautiful scenery everywhere you go and you camp by oceans, mountains and lakes it is easy to fall into that being normal. I think it is possible to get scenery fatigue. We love what we do, but don't want get complacent about what we see.

Finally, we need some cultural diversity. As often as people think regions of the US differ from each other, it really is not that varied compared to traveling to another country. This was brought home to us earlier this year when we spent 7 weeks in Mexico. We were thrilled, stimulated and challenged by a foreign language, novel food and a different culture. It confirmed to us that we wanted more global travel in our future.

Don't worry, we are not giving up traveling in the Airstream. We fully intend to return in the spring and already have a route laid out to travel up the west coast and into Canada. We are just going to winter elsewhere for a different experience.

We have decided to spend 3 or 4 months in South East Asia. Why there? Well, we have visited various countries in the region before for vacation and quite a few more times for work, and have always loved it. We intend to base ourselves in Penang, Malaysia. We were married there 21 years ago so it has a special place in our heart and it just happens to offer some of the most incredible food in the world. Once we get there we plan to rent an apartment and then decide whether to explore around the region or simply live like locals.

We are both excited and nervous about our next adventure. We'll keep updating the blog with our thoughts and experiences and how the different travel styles compare. You can expect more food related posts but sadly less brewery pit stops than usual!