One Month Down - Lessons Learned and Highlights from Month One

The 5th of September marked the end of our first month on the road! We can't believe how fast the time is going. Sometimes it's hard for us to remember where we were last week or even what we did a couple days ago. For this reason, at the end of every month on the road we want to capture our highlights and lowlights of the previous month and any lessons we have learned that will help us or other travellers like us in the future. So here goes for month number one, hopefully there will be eleven more to come.

Travel Lessons Learned:
1. When arriving into Northern Vietnam airports it's a good idea to have your arrival airport transportation booked ahead of time, preferably with the hotel you're staying at. We found not doing so left us too vulnerable to scams and generally made the arrival process unpleasant.

2. Only book bus tickets from the place you're currently located. We booked a bus ticket while in Hoi An for a Saigon to Siem Reap bus and ended up with a bad experience. We only pre-booked like this because it was a holiday and heard the buses might be full. In the end it didn't matter that it was a holiday and could've booked the day before.

3. Do not swim in Halong Bay where the boats park for the night. It's okay to swim in places where there's not many boats parked. I (DW) was jumping off the top of our Halong Bay boat where we parked for the night and ended up very-very sick, not to mention coated in diesel.

4. Sometimes it's better to pay the extra money and fly than to take overland trips, especially between countries. Yes, this is not really budget travel but I don't think we're budget travellers. We want safety, reliability and comfort and need to keep these things in mind (not just cost) when choosing travel methods.

Highlight of the Past Month and Why:

Dave -The Temples of Angkor 

Angkor is an amazing place and a true wonder of the world. The people of Cambodia are amazing and have done a really good job setting up the area for visitors.

Pamela - I have two. Playing with the Baby Tigers in Chiang Mai, Thailand and The Temples of Angkor
The baby tigers are too cute. The Temples of Angkor are great because you can see so much history preserved so well.

Lowlight of the Past Month and Why:

Dave - Being sick in Halong Bay, Vietnam

I had such a high fever and was generally miserable in a beautiful place.

Pamela - 17 Hour Bus from Saigon, Vietnam to Siem Reap, Cambodia
We got so ripped off and lied to in Vietnam. The bus ride was terrible and the Vietnam exit border was one of the most corrupt and dodgy places I've ever seen in my life. You needed to hand your passport to the officer with money in it if you expected to get an exit stamp. Amazing.