Five weeks of travelling

[SweetChilliGirl]

My DH and I are lucky enough to have about 5 weeks during the next summer school holidays to spend travelling.

We did a lot of travelling pre-children so are fairly experienced backpackers but having to go in July/August has eliminated many of the places on our list such as the 'stans, Oman, Mongolia and Central America, for example.

We've narrowed it down but have hit a bit of a snag. DH wants to go (back) to Indonesia. We spent a month there twenty years ago but only explored Bali and Java. He wants to go to Flores, other islands in Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi.

I want to go somewhere we've never been. DH has been to South Africa but I've never visited any of sub-Saharan Africa and would like to do a self-drive around SA, Botswana and Namibia, or explore Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Any thoughts?

Phillipines! We went in Feb and it’s so very beautiful and clean

Hmm …

Just try to remember that what you call doing a ‘self drive’ will be amongst parents doing the school run or driving to work in offices. And your ‘exploring’ will be amidst high rises and universities … They’ve been ‘explored’ - you’ll just be visiting …

Obvious question - why can’t you do three weeks in one place and two in the other?

Or spend a month travelling on the African continent and then a week relaxing in an hotel in Indonesia?

@rapanui42 I would love to visit the Philippines but July/August is the middle of the rainy season. Another time!

@Wordless I'm sorry you took exception to my choice of verb. Substitute for whatever you deem to be more acceptable. Anyway, we'd prefer to stay in the same area - we can do a one or two week visit another time.

What's your budget? The East African safari parks are really expensive (you can sometimes get better deals with guides turning up on spec but it's the non resident park fees that are killer). I would not try and cover all those countries in 5 weeks- decide what you want to see and do some of the less well known parks. How old are the kids as well? If they are too young they can't safari, see gorillas etc.

Do you have offroading experience? Don't underestimate how poor they can be and you would need to be confident with basic mechanics in case of issues (I lived in that area, I love it, but it can be A Lot)

I'd probably choose Indonesia- so easy to travel around, loads of wildlife and really good value. You could do Borneo as well.

My dream is the Stans too but saving that for solo travel!

I think about 10k, budget-wise. Just for the two of us.

We wouldn't visit all those countries in one trip - either SA, Namibia and Botswana or Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda & Uganda.

We'd only consider driving in the former, not the latter and just for parts. You're quite right though, we don't have off-roading experience, although my DH has driven all over Europe and also through Jordan.

Oooh just you! Yes I would do East Africa then and maybe consider getting a driver. Inside the parks they all radio each other anyway to help find the wildlife.

It can be very proper offroad, especially in the lesser known parks or if there has been rain. Jordan is easy peasy by comparison...

Me and DH spent 3 weeks in Indonesia in July for our honeymoon and it was fantastic. We did go to Bali for a few days but spent most of the time on smaller islands. We also climbed mount rinjani which was an amazing experience although there have been a number of accidents recently.

another option is Malaysia, the east coast is beautiful in July and it’s not rainy season (it is rainy season on the east coast though). You could combine the two? Fly to KL, 2 weeks Malaysia, 3 weeks Indonesia?