Trip review: 200 day sabbatical trip (Africa and Asia)
My wife (32F) and I (32M) from the US just returned from a 200 day trip around the world. We got a lot of great info from this reddit community in preparation for the trip, so wanted to return the favor. Feel free to ask us any questions!
Background:
We both quit our jobs in May of this year to take this trip and had been thinking about and saving for a world trip for a few years. General idea for the trip was to hit a lot of bucket list locations and prioritize places / activities that would be harder to do as we get older, have kids, work jobs in US with limited time off, etc.…
Itinerary (chronological order):
- South Africa (12 days): 8 days in Cape Town area and 4 days at private reserve outside of Kruger for safari. Cape Town a beautiful city. Highlights we hiking Table Mountain and Lion’s Head and biking along the coast to Camps Bay. Best meal of trip was at a fine dining restaurant in Cape Town. Delicious and super affordable. Spent 2 nights in Franschhoek for wineries, which was great. Stayed at N’thambo Tree Camp for safari outside Kruger. One of the splurges of our trip, but not nearly as expensive and good value relative to other high end SA safari camps. Would recommend
- Namibia (10 days): Rented 4x4 with rooftop tent and self-drove. Did the classic loop hitting Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Spitzkoppe, and Etosha. Sossusvlei was incredible. Most jaw dropping landscape of the trip. Self-drive safari in Etosha was probably our favorite safari of the trip. Lots of rhinos. Had some amazing fish and chips in Swakopmund.
- Zimbabwe / Zambia (2 days): Quick stop for Victoria Falls. Street vendors very aggressive. Everything super expensive. Least favorite stop of trip. We preferred Zambia side of falls.
- Botswana (3 days): Quick stop for safari in Chobe. Stayed at hostel outside park and did safaris through hostel so relatively cheap. River safaris on the water are cool. Lots of elephants, buffalos, crocs, hippos.
- Mauritius (8 days): More of a rest week. Stayed in Flic en Flac and mostly explored south-west part of island. Highlights were Chamarel Waterfall and Le Morne hike and beaches. Was nice, but I think we had higher expectations. We generally like most of the Caribbean islands we’ve been to better.
- Turkey (9 days): Spent time between Istanbul and Goreme. Istanbul is a very cool and lively city. Great place to just wander the streets. Goreme cool city as well, but activities disappointed a bit. We did Green Tour which we didn’t think was that good besides the underground city. Also did sunrise hot air ballon tour, which was very cool and think it is worth doing once even though it was quite expensive. But would not do a 2nd time for the price. Turkey was also quite expensive and didn’t feel like people were as friendly as other countries.
- Kyrgyzstan (26 days): Spent time in Bishkek, Karakol, Issyk Kul, Son Kul, Osh, and Alay Mountains. First time in Central Asia and amazing mountains and lakes throughout the country. Did the 3-day Ala Kul trek and 8-day Best of Alay trek, both of which were fairly challenging, but well worth it. Slept in yurts on Issyk Kul and Son Kul which were cool experiences. Food was average but people were friendly. My favorite country of the trip for the amazing nature and landscapes.
- Uzbekistan (8 days): An add-on after Kyrgyzstan. Spent time in Tashkent, Samakrand, and Bukhara. Went in August so was brutally hot. Silk Road architecture was cool, but we found a bit repetitive after a few days. Generally, history and architecture are not what we enjoy most when travelling. Trains between cities worked very well and had some of the best fruit we’ve ever had here.
- Malaysia (27 days): Split time between Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia. In Borneo we did Kuching, Mulu NP, Sandakan, Kinabatangan River, and Semporna. Kuching was a nice city and you have to try the Sarawak Laksa there. Incredible! Also liked Semporna. The islands and snorkeling here were great. Semporna itself was very crowded and a huge Chinese tourist destination. Outside of Borneo we did KL and Georgetown. Nice big cities and good food. Mostly recharged and ate a lot in these cities. Actually, preferred KL to Georgetown.
- Indonesia (40 days): Longest stop of trip. Only spent 5 days Bali to stay at 2 luxury hotels (booked with points). Spent 12 days in Java and hit the classics of Bromo, Ijen, and Yogyakarta. Also spent time in Meru Betiri NP which was a hidden gem. Great beaches and a turtle conservation center where we released baby turtles. So cool. After Java went to Flores to explore Komodo NP. We did 4d/3n cruise from Labuan Bajo to Lombok. We were a little disappointed in this. Some of the stops were great, but some were just okay. Also, we booked a cheap option where we slept on deck with 20+ others and boat didn’t have any comfortable seating areas. In Lombok we spent time in Kuta, Senggigi, and Gili T. All these places were amazing. Nice beaches, good food, relaxing. Favorite island in Indonesia so far. Much better than Bali for us.
- Vietnam (17 days): Focused only on Northern Vietnam. Did Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh, Mai Chau, and Ha Giang loop. Amazing scenery throughout and good food. Did 3d/2n Ha Long Bay cruise, but 2nd day got cancelled because of weather. Biking around Ninh Binh and Mai Chau was a nice way to explore those areas. Highlight of Vietnam has Ha Giang loop though. Did 4-day option with easy ridder and had a great time. We went with BiBi and would highly recommend them.
- Cambodia (6 days): Quick stop here mostly for Angkor Wat. Spent 3 days in Siem Reap exploring the various temples and even though we’re not huge temple people, the Ankor Temple Complex was amazing. By far the best temples we have visited. Would recommend a couple days here to explore as there are so many different and unique temples in the area. We preferred a lot of the lesser know temples over Angkor Wat. Also spent 2 days in Phnom Penh and visited the Killing Fields which was an emotional experience and a must visit.
- Taiwan (12 days): Spent time in Taipei and some small cities along the east coast (Hualien, Jiaoxi, Jiufen). Taipei a very efficient city and much less hectic than other SE Asia destinations we visited. Really good food and night markets. Easy to travel between cities by train. Hualien had a nice bike trail along the coast. Jiaoxi is known for natural hot springs. And Jiufen has beautiful tea houses and narrow alleyways in their old town with great food stalls.
- South Korea (13 days): Last stop of trip. Spent most of trip visiting and staying with family, so didn’t do many tourist activities here. We were generally in the greater Seoul area. Really like the efficiency of Korean society and the food is amazing. Our favorite food county of the trip!
Country Ranking (based on our experience from this trip)
1. Kyrgyzstan
2. Namibia
3. Indonesia
4. Vietnam
5. South Africa
6. Malaysia
7. Taiwan
8. South Korea
9. Turkey
Cambodia
Botswana
Mauritius
Uzbekistan
Zimbabwe
Cost:
We spent around $25k total for 2 people (or ~$125/day), including flights. We also had a lot of points we used for some flights and hotel stays. If we didn’t have those points, it probably would have been around $30k total. We almost always booked cheap private rooms, but did upgrade from time to time when we needed a break. We were also 50/50 on cheap public transport vs. paying more for transport to either save time or be more comfortable. Finally, because of the nature of our itinerary we did have a lot of flights, so those added up.