Seoul (South Korea) - Traveling Seoulo

Melbourne (Australia) - Seoul (South Korea)

05 July 2025

It may sound almost absurd to say, but each adventure is different—shaped by its own unique structure, the frameworks through which you hang your expectations, desires, and lessons. Having travelled to over 70 countries, the vast majority in the past ten years, this is one truth I have come to know without question.

Seoul was never high on my list of must-visit destinations; it lingered somewhere in the “someday” part of my mental travel map, as if patiently waiting for the perfect set of circumstances. Well, Seoul, your time has come.

Here’s the context. My current workplace is quite restrictive when it comes to annual leave. The bulk of time off is overwhelmingly concentrated in the Australian summer, with a Christmas/New Year lockdown effectively forcing 12 days of leave into a period that has become increasingly inconvenient. For those of us with European families, the ideal window to travel is mid-year, during the European summer, when the weather is far more pleasant. Attempting to travel anywhere in the Australian summer is almost a trial by fire—overcrowded destinations, inflated prices, and a general sense of “too much of everything” make it a season best endured rather than enjoyed.

So what happened? How did Seoul become the Steve Bradbury of my minds travel destinations? Well, sometimes, all you need to do is stand on your feet. The story goes a little like this…

Inga wanted to return to Latvia for the European summer. Since we had also planned extended leave at the end of the year, I was faced with a dilemma: how could I navigate my cruelly rigid leave schedule to make both trips possible? The fact of the matter that I couldn’t. With that said, I didn’t want to prevent Inga and Aiden heading overseas, and I impressed on her that that’s what I wanted.

…but then… my adventurer’s heart launched a full-scale campaign against my inner logic. The only real barrier to travel was work—specifically, ensuring a stable internet connection and syncing with a time zone that allowed for daylight working hours. And so the hunt for a destination began:

• Kuala Lumpur
• Jakarta
• Tokyo
• Bangkok

But true inspiration came from Inga, who suggested South Korea as the best option.

Of course—South Korea. I’d seen Anthony Bourdain’s journeys through Seoul, remembered the pigeons roasted in the Olympic cauldron during the 1988 Games, and had enough pop culture knowledge to differentiate between a BLT and BTS. The timing was perfect too—just one hour behind AEST. Everything aligned.

Jetstar Flight JQ 53 from Brisbane - Australia to Seoul - South Korea

Jetstar Flight JQ 53 from Brisbane - Australia to Seoul - South Korea

Seoul0 Travel - Brisbane (Australia) to Seoul (South Korea)

After making the decision, however, days of doubt and misgiving followed—too many to count. My mind repeatedly pulled the rug of optimism from under me, as I questioned whether I could truly make it work while being so remote. Inevitably, in situations like these, something always fails—logins, systems, phones, stable connections. The tyranny of distance has a way of unravelling everything.  Even up to the day of departure, the doubts in my mind kept coming. I’d never encountered anything quite as unsettling as my drive to Melbourne Airport with my mind preying on my misgivings and targeting every possible thing that could go wrong.

But then, somehow…once I had walk inside the terminal and past through security and customs, there was silence. Never has the doubt been so quickly disconnected and never has trip away from home proceeded so smoothly, without a single glitch. No minor hiccups, no interruptions, this was Rob Thomas smooth.

This pocket wifi was OUTSTANDING - Incheon International Airport - Seoul - South Korea

My first public alert - received with a large dose of anxiety - what the hell was this? Tsunami arriving? Asteroid heading for the downtown? .... none of the above. It was merely a heat warning with additional information to let people be aware whilst in the water....phew

Seoul - South Korea

I always find it amusing that even though I'm the foreigner, I never feel like I am. It's almost like I convince myself that I'm in my place and everyone around me is different. Is that an unusual perspective to have?

Benikea - The Bliss Hotel - Incheon - South Korea

Certainly not even close to my greatest photo of all-time - in fact, this is less than poor, but, it reminds my of the satisfaction and small dose of joy that I felt knowing that a bed was but a few mins away

And Seoulo I arrived

I hadn’t truly travelled alone since a weeklong trip to Buenos Aires back in 2012. But this time was different. Nearly ten years into marriage, with my son already six, there they were—on the other side of the world—and here I was, alone. No familiar noise, no familiar distractions. This felt completely unlike anything I’d experienced before but hey, here I was, ready-set-go.

From the outset Seoul made sense. I had apps available to me that could translate text on the fly, I had a portable router that gave me unlimited wireless access 24-7, I had Korean ingenuity and efficiency at my disposal. Now came its time to shine.

Incheon - South Korea - I just loved how different it looked

Incheon - South Korea

My lovely work station on Yulgok-ro 10 Gil - Jongno District - Seoul - South Korea

First stop for me was Incheon. Booked on the basis that I thought that the hotel that I booked was near the airport, or at the very least a short cab ride away. When I discovered that my first destination was a 45 mins, $75 cab ride from the airport, I thought much better of it. So what better time to throw myself into acquiring innate knowledge of the Seoul metro and logically working my way to my port on night 1 via public transport.

Some 3 hrs after arriving in Seoul and 3 train connections later, there I was dragging my carry-on luggage through Bukseong-dong park under the weight of the midnight hour, thinking that perhaps that $75 opportunity cost was the sleep I was denying myself by walking through the humidity of the night, but, I made it to the Benikea The Bliss Hotel a min or two before my second day in Seoul. Tomorrow was going to be a new and exciting day.

The Great Otway National Park - (Victoria, Australia) - Slip Away

The Great Otway National Park (Victoria, Australia)

29 - 31 March 2025

My earliest memories of the Great Otway National Park go back to when I was 25. I had gone down to Melbourne to attend the wedding of a friend that I worked with. The next morning after the wedding I had drove out alone, having given myself a few days to simply escape along the Great Ocean Road – partly to soak in the breathtaking, rugged coastline, but mostly, just to have some time alone with my own thoughts. I wanted a bit of solitude, to have some time for introspection and reflection in a place that I thought would give me the freedom to get lost in my thoughts.

On reflection, that time of my life, all of my 20’s and into my 30’s, I found extremely challenging. I was consumed with all sorts of feelings of inadequacy, and didn’t have the tools in my kitbag to be able to resolve the  ‘deficiency’, nor did I believe that I had the right connections (relationships) that I could utilise as an outlet to assist me in pulling out of that mindset. I felt alone and isolated. Sure, I had some decent friends, but I had difficulties socially, had not achieved any sort of minor success in my life and really, just felt like my life was stuck in an endless cycle of discontent, dejection and persistent gloom.  This drive  was a highlight. It was classic escapism, and even though it was fleeting, I remember that it just felt liberating.

 Cruising through several coast towns on my drive of discovery, I recalled heading inland after making it past Apollo Bay -  where at some point I became immersed in a greenscape of steepling, cathedral like eucalypts (Mountain Ash trees), which towered majestically high above the road. Following the B100 – Great Ocean Road route, with my sights set on getting to the twelve apostles, I felt enveloped by their size and the extensive canopy – there was a breathtaking sense of scale and grandeur that I really enjoyed. What I distinctly still recall is making my way to place named Laver’s Hill, which by its name you can probably guess is set upon high, on a ridge line where you're able to look back down onto the coastline and the Great Southern Ocean there beyond. I remember that during that trip I had been playing Ian Moss’s Worlds Away on tape, and specifically had been listening to one song relentlessly (Slip Away). Cruising into Laver’s Hill I remember slowing down and taking a left hand turn to continue along the Great Ocean Road. I don’t know what it was about that place (Laver’s Hill). It’s not at all exceptional, or notable. It’s nice, but for some reason it made such an impression on me that I knew that at some point in my life I specifically wanted to come back to this spot, there was just an allure for me that I couldn’t quite explain.

Otway Estate - Brewing, Distillery & Cidery - Barongarook West - Victoria - Australia

Otway Estate - Brewing, Distillery & Cidery - Barongarook West - Victoria - Australia

Otway Estate - Brewing, Distillery & Cidery - Barongarook West - Victoria - Australia

Roll forward half of my life and there we were, making plans to spend time in the Otway’s to celebrate both Inga and Aiden’s birthday. It’s not a stretch to say that the initial drive I took to the Otways felt like a lifetime ago to me now, because it really was (25 yrs prior), but that time and my drive through the area had made such an impression, that I knew way back then that there would be times in my future when I would return. In those years since I have had the opportunity to pass through, mostly whilst taking drives along the Great Ocean Road, but on this occasion, we had deliberately made plans to spend an extended weekend in the Otways after I had discovered a charming cabin in Kawarren. What attracted us was the sight of a beautiful wooden cabin surrounded by lovely trees set amidst the tranquillity and gentle beauty of this serene Otway landscape (thank you AirBnB - it was an easy decision to make.

It's become somewhat a tradition for us to get away for Aiden & Inga’s birthday considering they're within days of one another.  So it was with absolute pleasure that we found ourselves at Otway Brewery Estate Brewery Distillery & Cidery (https://otwayestate.com.au/) on an absolutely magnificent Saturday afternoon. With the sun streaming down, it was an absolute pleasure two be sitting outside with my two favourite people, have a couple of domestic red wines and just enjoy one another’s company.

The cabin (aka Otway Treehouse) that we’d booked was only a short 5-7 min drive from the brewery. A secluded haven of peace and beauty, set on nearly three acres of Otway majesty, this was exactly the type of retreat we were looking for. Surrounded by the gentle hum of the forest and the crisp clean air of the Otways, we found our way into a extremely cosy, three bedroom cabin, that was going to be our home for the next two nights.

Otways Treehouse - Kawarren - Victoria - Australia

Otways Treehouse - Kawarren - Victoria - Australia

Otways Treehouse - Kawarren - Victoria - Australia

Otways Treehouse - Kawarren - Victoria - Australia

Otways Treehouse - Kawarren - Victoria - Australia

Of course, during my time there I did find myself drifting off and remembering when I had initially driven through the Otways and how different my life was now to back then. Its times like now that I wish that I could somehow send a message back to myself…just to let myself know that things do get better, that hanging in and believing that things can change is where the real battle is – and maybe there’s a philosophical interpretation to that outcome where somewhere in a non-linear sense that consciousness might somehow transcend ordinary time. It’s in the same way that I recall distinct times in my life where I had distinct thoughts and feelings in locations that I knew at some point would hold significance for me, for example, Melbourne, Riga, Buenos Aires and distinct locations in those cities, that in the moment, in that very  first instance of discovery, that I already had a sense of it being significant to me. Now that might be my own sense of cognitive reframing, where the current moment resets the framework or the construct of who I thought I was, or what I truly thought at the time……BUT…..what defeats that notion (I think), is this blog. I have written on many occasions the feeling of a place and time, in the moment, that somehow eluded to its significance in advance. Here in the Otways, it seems like I had always known that this would be a special place for me.

The next day was Inga’s birthday and in the morning we headed to Otway Fly Treetop Adventures (https://otwayfly.com.au/), to experience an elevated walk amongst the treetops. The treetop walkway is set high above the forest floor, about 25-30mtrs off the ground, which gives you the opportunity of giving you some fabulous view amongst the lush canopy and truly enjoy being in the midst of the forest. On this morning the rain was a little on the average side with a persistent drizzle become an unnecessary nuisance but we persisted and made our way to a 47-metre spiral tower which held a commanding view over the surrounding area. It was fairly impressive, although when the wind picked up there was slight panic amongst the ranks with the amount of movement that the tower got. Even from an old hand like me, it felt a little disconcerting.

Otway Fly Treetop Adventures - Weeaproinah - Victoria -  Australia

 

Otway Fly Treetop Adventures - Weeaproinah - Victoria -  Australia

Otway Fly Treetop Adventures - Weeaproinah - Victoria -  Australia

Otway Fly Treetop Adventures - Weeaproinah - Victoria -  Australia

Post treetop experience we headed off to find a place to have a celebratory lunch for Inga, making our way to Laver’s Hill.  The semi-intention was to have a late lunch at ‘The Perch at Laver’s Hill’, https://theperchlavershill.com.au/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=GMB, which is a really lovely place – and would have been a great birthday option, other than the fact that between lunch and dinner the place is closed for several hours, which is exactly the time we arrived. So our default option was to head to Apollo Bay in order to find something down by the beach but for some reason I selected a random route that ended up being closed about midway through the drive, turning us on our heels and forcing us to backtrack in totality. Unfortunately we ended up settling for the unremarkable outpost of Colac, at a desperately cavernous La Porchetta restaurant. This place was huge! It looked like it could accommodate upwards of a 150 eager diners, which to me felt slightly ambitious for what it was, and for the fact that evening there were a total of 10 people in the restaurant, five of which were staff. Of course, I apologised to Inga and promised to make it up to her next year.

The Perch - Laver's Hill - Victoria -  Australia

The Perch - Laver's Hill - Victoria -  Australia

Our final day was a slow journey back to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, which was the first time I’d actually travelled in the ‘opposite direction’, i.e., driving into Melbourne rather than away from it. 

Drives back home are always bittersweet in that you lament the time that has past but in some small way look forward to crashing out in your bed that evening. Driving along the Great Ocean Road at any time is a fabulous experience but doing it in your own soft top GT 5.0 Mustang is slightly elevated, in my own humble opinion. Once again, I did catch myself in moments, whilst Inga & Aiden dosed during the drive, thinking back to 25 years earlier, having driven in the opposite direction. Driving in exactly the same location, in the same space, just with time separating me from now and then. How different that time was to me, and yet, how necessary it was.(I believe), to have allowed me to get to where I was in this moment.

We rounded out our day in the lovely beachside town of Torquay, having ourselves a late lunch and spending a few mins on the wind blustered Torquay Front beach attempting to throw around a frisbee.

And there you have it, a lovely weekend in the Otways. For me, somewhere between then and now, the landscape remained, whilst I transitioned to someone, and somewhere else. In its quiet, I felt both the weight of the years and the freedom that its granted me. I wish I could have access the me of then, just to say, ‘mate, its ok, you’ll be alright’, and maybe somewhere deep inside me I knew that because I honestly always believed that someday that would be the case, I just didn’t know how or where. But now I do 😊

Penang (Malaysia) - Meet your sidekick

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Penang (Malaysia) - Melbourne (Australia)

06 July - 13 July 2024

Penang, Malaysia

There’s a common trap we’ve fallen into many times when traveling—one that can unintentionally become a burden and diminish how a destination is experienced. It lies in the constant pursuit of experiences and the anxiety of not having  done enough with the time you have set to fully embrace what a place has to offer. In what becomes the inevitable rush to create meaningful memories, we fill every free space in our mental calendars with must-do activities, hoping they’ll become valued memories, overriding the inevitable exhaustion and vestiges of anxious moments that underpin what it actually takes to make their attainment a possibility. Certainly travel can be exhausting, that’s to be expected, and its not always moonshine and mungbeans. And to add, there is some sort of virtue in pursuing the journey for the sake of the challenge which resolves in a beautiful, powerful end objective. But there’s also a lot to be said for slowing down and embracing movement minimalism.

After writing that line on minimalism I was intrigued as to what the great Google guide would say about the term, espousing the following piece as a reference; movement minimalism in travel is ‘lightening the load, both physically and emotionally, to place the main focus back on the destinations visited and the people with whom you share the experience’. You see, even the almighty Google knows that there’s something to be said for slowing down, being present and consciously embracing your existence at that location in the moment. So, on this occasion, for these days, Penang was to be just that type of holiday for us. Not for the fact that Inga & I had all of a sudden found importance in practicing travel mindfulness but certainly we were looking for a place where we really didn’t want to force ourselves to do much of anything. Our prerequisites were to find a location that was almost certain to be encumbered by sunshine and warmth, boasted beach access, had great happy hours and included a variety of options for simple lounging.

The Hard Rock Café Hotel – Penang had exactly what we were looking for, now all we had to do was to get there.

A relatively short flight out of KL (just on an hour) and we were landing on the Malaysian West Coast island of Penang. As flights go, it was unremarkable (which is exactly what you want), and as for airports, Penang international was equally as exhilarating. The best supporting adjective I could associate to it was that we found it to be functional, without too much complication.

Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

The Hard Rock Hotel is located on the north-west coast of Penang Island, whilst Penang International is on the south-eastern coast. It’s always of mild amusement to me that when you arrive at your destination, wherever that may be, you’re never truly there. You still need to navigate domestic connections via road, rail or sea and then add the additional transit time until you’re really there. Getting to the Hard Rock Hotel was no exception, with the road transit being equivalent to the flying time between KL and Penang. What’s more, the ride was once again unremarkable, with little ado about anything until we finally hit the north shore and witnessed its beautiful coast line for the first time, but when that happened, it finally did make it feel like we’d reached the starting line of our holiday.

…And then it appeared. The beaming Hard Rock Hotel sign, the bronzed Hard Rock Hotel guitar, the magnificent statue tribute to Michael Jackson….(what now….???).  

Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

Aside from maintaining a tribute to the ‘King of Pop’, I would really like to know when MJ’s music snuck into genre of rock? When did that happen? During the 1980’s when MJ ruled MTV, his music was always classified as pop, and we all seemed to be fairly clear that. We all knew what metal was, what rock was and what pop was. Fast forward 30 years and now you have the of Justin Bieber straying into the capture trove of domain rock, how? How is that at all possible and how in the world have we so diluted the meaning of rock that its just becoming a carry bucket for all things that aren’t Rap or RnB? Honestly, I think we’ve just turned into a bunch of soft xxxx(s) and anything that can be rhymed or doesn’t contain a bunch of stunning random ad-libs like ‘yeah’, ‘uh-huh’ or ‘oooh’ gets thrown into genre rock. As us Aussies would say, ‘Yeah….nah’.

The charming illusion of relaxation

Walking through the foyer, the world of potential rest, relaxation and recuperation opened up to me. I saw bars filled with ambition and ingenuity, I heard the sound of water falling into a pool of magnificence which I could see wrapped itself around the entire beach side of the property. I felt the balmy warmth of the breeze making its way off the waters of the Straits of Malacca, palm trees swaying, children laughing, adults holding cocktails. This felt like the right place. This felt like the start of a vacation.

This felt like someone was being way too naïve.

Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

Let me tell you. In the parenting guidebook that they never hand out at the hospital on day one, there’s not a single person that clues you in on your parenting duties and obligations for all remaining years of your existence. Nobody tells you that disrupted sleep will continue eternally, nobody tells you that whatever it is was that you knew yourself to be the day before your child arrives is wiped off that carefully crafted canvas of who you were creating because you now become  known as ‘Dad’ or ‘Mum’ and with that bestowed upon you, everything changes, and therefore nobody tells you that when you’re on vacation with a 5yr old their needs and demands supersedes any misplaced, naïve idea that you may have conjured up in your dumb brain that this holiday was going to be a relaxing break from the world. Still, I was about 2hrs away from fully realising that notion, so before we get to point in time where reality kicked down the entrance door to my conscious self and made itself comfortable, lets talk Hard Rock impressions.

Hard Rock Hotel Penang

We had booked ourselves into a Lagoon deluxe room. This room had a back deck that gave direct access to the ‘largest free form pool in Northern Malaysia’. So, I’m not sure if that’s quite a major claim to fame but it certainly looked both impressive and inviting. What it did mean however is that you could swim from your room to the pool bar (and back, ‘if needed’) without needing to ever consider standard hotel etiquette of ‘drying yourself off’ before entering common spaces.

5 yr old work-out - Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

5 yr old work-out - Hard Rock Hotel - Penang - Malaysia

Then there were the happy hours. Each bar had its own carefully crafted specials, available at specific hours, which deliberately engineered adult migration around the property to support its other facilities. Not that we were too worried about anything else other than for what price we could acquire several Margaritas for at midday and thereafter.

And then there were the kids water slides. Man, they looked like fun. They looked like something that Aiden was going to love! I could already see dozens of kids enjoying themselves, running around freely, making their way up and down the stairs in their relentless pursuit of carefree delight. They looked so happy…those kids looked blissfully happy.

But then ….but then, I saw it.

Looking towards the bottom of the slides I saw the milieu of youth, maturity and all those   microbial party crashers. I saw the pools’ edge lined by alcoholic drinks and those associated adult fantasies of the promise of fun and relaxation, wiped from the role call of reality, disappearing into the Batu Ferringhi sky like the smoke of a magician’s latest illusion. I saw a veritable queue of grown humans, ‘these adults’, were standing around and acting as nothing more than mature aged EA’s. There they were, catering to the fanciful whimsy and incessant demands of these energy infused torrents of misaligned purpose.

It was at that moment that I truly comprehended what was to be my Malaysian vacay destiny.

Wading through the piss pool of collective over excitement – I was going to be the designated ‘watch out parent’, tethered to my son by the invisible tie of potential catastrophe. I was there to ensure safety, prevent drowning, be a support for toilet breaks, mitigate emotional breakdowns, act an ‘add-on’ to entertainment, become a transport mechanism from slide to pool to any other form of entertainment,  become a Mr-fix-it for all things thirst and hunger related – that was my job. Dead-icated assistant. See what I did there?

Now you see Aiden ....Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

And now you see Aiden - with his sidekick....Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

And what of that other parent? What happened to her?

In the mists of time that became our escape to Penang, I recall faintly the following words of explanation regarding how designated duties were decided, ‘well, you love the water, I’m not a pool person, so please be with Aiden’.

And so it was complete.

From that moment on I did see Inga on occasion. Much in the same way that family relatives in Tijuana look through the walls that mark the line of delineation between Mexico and the US, wondering what the ‘land of the free’ really feels like. For sure, you can see it, you can even almost feel it. And in that space and time, the land where you stand with your own two feet looks no different than the land on the other side of that wall, and yet, you know full well the administrative, legal, political, economic & social obstacle that the physical wall represents. That line to me, especially the part that went ‘well you love the water’, turned into that wall that Trump ‘tried to build’

And that my friends is the way it played out for the next several days in the good ‘ole bowels of the Hard Rock lagoon. Calls of ‘Dad, can we go to the slides’, ‘Dad, can we play basketball’, ‘Dad, where’s my best friend Louis’, ‘Dad, pee-pee’….’Dad…Dad’……and there I was, in the 5 yr old trenches, battling my way through laughter and occasional bouts of irrational emotive outbursts (and that was just me...I also had to deal with Aiden!! 😂😂😂). But I did have the one outlet, the fail safe – that little ray of sunshine that I could count on.  And it happened at those moments as soon as I was able to lock into Inga’s gaze. All that I needed to do, all that was required from me, was a slight nod of the head, and that line of unspoken communication between husband and wife formulated into the internal muted scream of ‘where’s my margarita?’, which then echoed loud and clear in within our collective auditory cortexes…..because now that was her assigned role , she became both bartender and waiter, and she knew that to maintain this gravy train of endless sunbaking bliss, there had to be enough alcoholic lubricant for me in order to maintain a mild level of intoxication that would support the ongoing laughter of a 5 yr old. And so the wheels of this family holiday kept turning. A precarious and delicate balance of relationships, responsibility and love, all cobbled together within a framework of what was unspoken but clearly understood.

Batu Ferringhi

When I wasn’t strolling aimlessly, no more than 5-10 steps away from Aiden, then we all had ‘the beach’ as an outlet. The beach was nice, unencumbered by rules and regulations. We could walk as a family with the relative safety of knowing that both of us, Inga & I, were on the beat. Two parent cops, enjoying Malaysian sands and looking for a place to acquire additional alcohol to support the vacation of intoxication.

I know that I’m making it sound like we were constantly drinking, and perhaps in part that was true, but we were always ‘clear’ and measured. The friendly Frandy Bar a couple of hundred metres from the back door of the Hard Rock Hotel was an escape from our designated escape. It was a place to relax, enjoy a meal, become mesmerised by the gorgeous sunset and become bewildered by their nightly fire show which involved more dropping of their torches of fire than English cricketers drop in an average test match.

Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

Mum cop - Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

The luxury we had was that we could lock Aiden into a couple of YouTube videos whilst we sat at the bar. It’s a simplistic way to divert attention, sure, but sometimes to be effective you need to be basic in your approach.

Gorgeous sunset from Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

Watching the sunset from Frandy Bar - Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

Frandy Bar - Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

 Frandy Bar - 'Fire Show' - Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

 Frandy Bar - 'Fire Show' - Batu Ferringhi beach - Penang - Malaysia

I did enjoy these evenings. This was my point of relaxation. Dad demands were subdued and extended only as far as typing in search requests into YouTube. Otherwise, it was all about watching the sun slowly drift down below the horizon and letting my mind drift to the prospects of future holidays, on days where Aiden will be older….and I too will be older. It’s a catch, isn’t it? Wishing time away now, and then as you get older, wishing your time back. There’s a lot to be said for mindfulness and being present, being locked into the moment. I still have a lot to learn and developing to do in that area.

Georgetown

We spent less time in Georgetown than expected. Which, if we consider are pre-departure edict of ‘not filling up our schedule’, worked exactly the way we projected. Georgetown is certainly the culinary capital of Malaysia and is one of the culinary giants of south-east Asia. A point however which we did not get to experience – which on this occasion was to be just fine. What we did get to experience was their street-art, an element which they are also well known for.  That certainly was enjoyable. Something that you can only really experience by walking the town thoroughly, which we were unable to do but which we did as much as we could. It’s a city that one day I’d be happy to return to again.

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Georgetown - Penang - Malaysia

Hard rocked and returning home

We did rock ourselves hard. We had meals at the Hard Rock café, we dosed ourselves on Hard Rock merchandise (clothing) and tried to imbue Aiden with everything rock music related.

Hard Rock Cafe - Penang - Malaysia

I’ve said this in other posts, but I’ll reiterate here. My like for the Hard Rock is of course the music, you know what you’re going to get, and you know that you’ll like it. Also, I have a love of geography and travel, which means that any place that I can check-off with a ‘check-in’ and an ‘I’ve been there too’ shirt, is something that I enjoy.

I find that these days people are relatively easy to criticise, or characterise, or demean for whatever purpose they need to ‘elevate’ their own standing or worth within the social media realm. Honestly, these days I couldn’t give a stuff as to opinion on the HRC that it’s just a cheesy has-been franchise that is was past its use by date. I don’t give a toss. I like what I like and if it makes me happy, then that works. Did I ever tell you that I like listening to the Backstreet Boys? Yup, that makes me happy too.

Bora Bora Bar - Batu Ferringhi - Penang - Malaysia

Bora Bora Bar - Batu Ferringhi - Penang - Malaysia

Honestly, to wrap things up, I can’t say that it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. Certainly, I enjoyed the Hard Rock hotel and the location but in many ways the trip felt like I’d walked into a Michelin starred restaurant and walked out with a ham and cheese toasty in my hand. It’s not typically what I would have ordered but it’s what I got given, and I suppose that’s ok. Did Aiden & Inga enjoy the trip? I think for both they certainly did, and by a fair margin more than me, and that’s important. By the way, that’s another thing they don’t tell you when you become a dad, when your wife and son are having fun or they tell you that they enjoyed everything, then that means so much more than what you may personally walked away with. And that’s not BS that I’m touting, that’s just the way that you change as an individual. That sentiment means something, and it makes you feel good. That’s a win.

Flying home

Our flight home was via KL, where we were fortunate enough to book one night at the Sama Express Hotel near terminal 1. For anyone transiting through KL and not wanting to head into the city, do yourself a favour and stay here. Hands down, one of the best airport hotels that I’ve stayed at. I could in all seriousness just fly into KL, book myself in for a few days at the Sama and fly out, not even escaping the sounds of planes taking off from the nearby runways. That was a treat.

Hard Rock Cafe (Kuala Lumpur International Airport ) - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

Even if you're not a rockstar, just act like one! Malaysia Airlines - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Manila (Philipines)

Our outbound flight was with Philippine Airlines that took us to Melbourne via Manila. Not much feedback on Manila airport other than a long stay in one of their ‘pay to enter’ lounges where the scotch and cokes that we poured ourselves set us up for a blissful ride back home.

Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport - PAGSS Lounge - Manila - Philippines

…and that was that

Where to next? For sure Aiden and Inga are heading to Europe in July. Predominantly Riga but with a short stop in Copenhagen. As I can’t afford to take the number of days leave mid-year I might try and make it to a city where I can work remotely for a few days. I’m eyeing of cities that I haven’t really considered previously like Seoul or Jakarta, but if I’m feeling the urge for something familiar then a could very well settle into Kuala Lumpur of Canggu (Bali). We’ll see. It could very well be that I simply spend more time on Errol St at the gym, lol.