It briefly crossed our minds to create a Pay Pal account through which we would reward kindly donations with a 'free' postcard or (should the donation be worthy) a 'free' t-shirt from our current location.

But once that rash moment of pure capitalist greed passed, we decided to opt for a more humble approach...

If you have any friends, family, pen pals or long-lost-twice-removed-second-cousins, who may be able to offer us a bed/couch/floor for the night, or a guided tour, or simply some valuable advice and tips on any of the locations we plan to visit, please let us know.

All advice and help would be gratefully recieved, and you never know, you may still be rewarded with a postcard.*

* Unfortunately arrival is not guaranteed, even if we do bribe to local post office.

We are Nikki and Eric, two twenty-somethings who, when faced with increasing pressure to consolidate our careers and 'put down roots' (aka get a mortgage), decided to do the responsible thing - and promptly jacked in our jobs to embark on a year of travelling.

About Our Trip

Our round the world trip has been in the wishing stage for years and the planning stage for 6 long months..... OK, so it was actually in the 'planning the planning' stage for 6 months and in the planning/organising stage for under 2 months.  And how, you may ask yourself, does one prepare for such an epic journey?

> We spent hours drawing up a list of countries and formulating our route (i.e. named all the countries we could think of and worked out a squiggley line on the map).

> We painstakingly researched each country, visiting exhibitions, spending hours in the library and trawling the net (i.e. bought the Rough Guide books and surfed the Lonely Planet website at work).

> We amassed huge volumes of notes and calculations on our budget and visa requirements (i.e. we created a spreadsheet which has some great graphs and lots of pretty colours but very little substance).

> We identified, analysed, and planned for every eventuality, ensuring no minor detail was overlooked (i.e. we went to the doctors and got a shot of every vaccination possible backed up with a costly insurance policy).

> We used every spare moment to discuss all aspects of the planning to ensure we made the best, most mature choices (we argued over what to buy and where to stay, gave up and went to the pub, then scambled to organise everything at the last minute).

And so we are ready to embark on our trip, safe in the knowledge that all our plans will change after the first month and half the stuff we've brought with us we will never need.

Through this site we hope to document our travels and experiences, and make a few friends back home extremely jealous!  This site also serves to help calm the nerves of Nikki's mum by letting her know (roughly) where her daughter is!

Los Angeles, California, USA

Where Have We Been?

July 2006		Lake Okanagan, Canada
July 2006		Vancouver, Canada
July 2006		Los Angeles, California
June 2006		Hong Kong, SAR China,
June 2006		Cebu City, Philippines,
May 2006		Moalboal, Philippines,
May 2006		Cebu City, Philippines,
May 2006		Malapascua, Philippines,
May 2006		Manila, Philippines,
May 2006		Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
May 2006		Tangkoko, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
May 2006		Bunaken, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
May 2006		Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
May 2006		Surabaya, Java, Indonesia
May 2006		Malang, Java, Indonesia
May 2006		Mt Bromo, Java, Indonesia
May 2006		Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
May 2006		Jakarta, Java, Indonesia
April 2006		Singapore, Singapore
April 2006		Tioman Island, Malaysia
April 2006		Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
April 2006		Taman Negara, Malaysia
April 2006		Perhentian Islands, Malaysia
April 2006		Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
March 2006		Vientiane, Laos
March 2006		Vang Vieng, Laos
March 2006		Nong Khiaw, Laos
March 2006		Luang Prabang, Laos
March 2006		Huay Xai, Laos
March 2006		Chiang Rai, Thailand
March 2006		Chiang Mai, Thailand
March 2006		Guildford, England (Nikki)
March 2006		Phuket, Thailand (Eric)
March 2006		Chiang Mai, Thailand
February 2006		Yangon, Myanmar
February 2006		Bagan, Myanmar
February 2006		Mandalay, Myanmar
February 2006		Inle Lake, Myanmar
February 2006		Kalaw, Myanmar
February 2006		Bago, Myanmar
February 2006		Yangon, Myanmar
January 2006		Bangkok, Thailand
January 2006		Chennai, India
January 2006		Varkala, India
January 2006		Kollam, India
January 2006		Alleppey, India
January 2006		Munnar, India
January 2006		Kochi, India
December 2005		Palolem Beach, Goa, India
December 2005		Jaipur, India
December 2005		Jalsaimer, India
December 2005		Jodhpur, India
December 2005		Udaipur, India
December 2005		Jaipur, India
December 2005		Agra, India
November 2005		Delhi, India
November 2005		Varanasi, India
November 2005		Sunauli, Nepal
November 2005		Chitwan National Park, Nepal
November 2005		Kathmandu, Nepal
November 2005		Annapurna Region, Nepal
November 2005		Pokhara, Nepal
October 2005		Kathmandu, Nepal
October 2005		Everest Base Camp, Tibet (China)
October 2005		Lhasa, Tibet (China)
October 2005		Chengdu, China
October 2005		Xiahe, China
October 2005		Lanzhou, China
October 2005		Xian, China
October 2005		Hangzhou, China
October 2005		Shanghai, China
September 2005		Suzhou, China
September 2005		Beijing, China
September 2005		Datong, China
September 2005		Central/Northern Lakes, Mongolia
August 2005		Gobi Desert, Mongolia
August 2005		Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia
August 2005		Irkutsk, Russia
August 2005		Krasnoyarsk, Russia
July 2005		Novosibirsk, Russia
July 2005		Yekaterinburg, Russia
July 2005		Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
July 2005		Suzdal, Russia
July 2005		Vladimir, Russia
July 2005		Moscow, Russia
July 2005		St Petersburg, Russia
June 2005		Paris, France
June 2005		Brussels, Belgium
June 2005		Carnac, France
June 2005		London, England

If you would like to recieve email notifications for newly submitted posts, comments or photos, you will need to do the following (This will take you 1 minute to set up!).

1) Click on the 'Subscribe' link on the top right hand corner of the site.

2) Follow the simple instuctions to create a blog user account.

3) Once your account has been created and confirmed you will be able to login to www.leflipflop.com and select the notifications you wish to recieve.

We're heading back home....

...the wish list...

Russia

Mongolia

China

Tibet

Nepal

India

Thailand

Myanmar

Laos

Malaysia

Singapore

The red line traces our route around the world....up to now.