Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans – John Lennon. This quote feels very apt for us at this point in time…we had been gearing up for our road trip from Sheffield to Dhaka, starting in less than 3 weeks time..unfortunately(or not so, as it might work out better with altered plan!) we are not able to start the long journey homewards until later in the year, tentatively October 24th!
In the meantime we have managed to squeeze in a 20 day road trip through Europe this summer, visiting Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and back via Italy and France. I think this mini trip will be very important and useful in setting the wheels in motion for the big trip ahead(which has changed from 40 days to 4 months now, but more on that one later) We plan to do it within the same budget as the big one (won’t say how much now, in case we are totally off target!) but once we have done it and are successful in staying more or less in that budget, we can assess how long we can stay on the road during the epic journey to Bangladesh.
We also plan to do it very different from previous travels (I am not convinced of this, but guess will find out!) – that is to not have exact destinations or campsites/hostels/B&Bs booked and just see where the road takes us…We have done the research, and have recommendations from friends and trip advisor on places to visit in these countries, but have no fixed dates of how long we are in one place and where we will stay. I think it’s a high risk to take in the peak of summer holidays (July 24th to August 14th) but Ashique thinks too much planning will get us nowhere and feels confident on the road leading us to where we want to be(and finding somewhere to stay at that endpoint.) I am torn between the ‘practical and cautious’ side of me(if such a side exists!) Do I believe all the holiday letting websites, that I must book with them now to get the BEST DEALS and that ‘everything sold out!’ or do I go with that ‘ideal’ positive instinct that things will work out, unplanned as it was meant to be? I guess time will tell..
Two places that are on our agenda: – Lake Plitvice National Park and Lake Bled, Slovenia
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Plus a good friends wedding in Innsbruk, Austria, and our all time favourite – visit to the Swiss Alps – with some of our dearest friends, the rest is unknown!
Watch this space in August to see how it all went and if we were right to go with instincts for this rookie road trip 🙂 And if you have been to these places and have suggestions for us, do let us know!
Stumble It! 
Hi, Alyson of World Travel Family here ( on my son’s wordpress account!). I love you guys, you so totally rock! We used to cruise around Australia in a Toyata Hilux, I think the Landcruiser is a great choice. I would warn you about not booking ahead in Europe though, it can be tricky! In Asia it works just fine but there aren’t so many family rooms in Europe and prices are high, particularly in school holidays. But you can always take turns to drive through the night, we did it all the time in Oz, worked fine. Good luck, take care, hope to follow your trip. I so want to come too!! So much so that it hurts, actually.
Thanks so much for the support and the helpful tips Alyson!! All the encouragement and positivity continues to re energize us (and releases any doubts/fears) that what we are doing is the right thing for us 🙂 we are having second thoughts about the landcruiser though, having bought it and completed two long road trips to Scotland/Isle of Skye, we realized how much fuel it guzzles! and since we are trying to budget and save money, we are reconsidering and thinking of going ahead with our trusted Toyota Prius(which we have done several short Europe road trips with). It has double the efficiency as the landcruiser, and if we can figure out space(roof box etc), then might go with that? we will try that for the mini trip, see how well and comfortable we are with space, and decide..once again, thank you 🙂 I am so motivated now for all that lies ahead! and I love D’s website, going to show to my 9 year old and see if he is interested, probably will learn faster than me!
[…] it worked out this way -now we are embarking on our epic journey in October with a bonus 3 week Europe trip in 10 days […]
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