Roamers Report #13 March 5, 2025

Dear Fellow Travel Enthusiasts,

Welcome to the 13th installment of the Roamers' Report!

After spending a month in Vietnam, near the picturesque town of Hoi An, we have moved on to Bali, Indonesia to close out our time in Southeast Asia before heading to Nepal for a few weeks and then on to South America for the final 3 months of our World Schooling adventure. 

Overall, things are going very well.  Francesca's wrist and knee injuries sustained in Thailand and Vietnam respectively have been healing up well (although she's not 100% yet) and the kids seem to enjoy their routine of a little bit of academic learning and a lot of educational field trips and cool experiences.  In Vietnam they made traditional hanging fabric lanterns, pottery, painting and celebrated the Lunar New Year like locals (see photos below).  

In Indonesia, we've been taking things at a slower pace, enjoying our little Villa - with typical courtyard and small pool, taking long walks in the rice fields and, in my case, doing some yoga and meditation. You know, when in Rome.... :)  Mostly we have been buying groceries and eating in, but we do occasionally get out for some local fare.  We find we like the Indonesian food okay - better than Vietnamese food, but not quite as good as Thai food, for our tastes. 

Below are some photos, but also scroll down for links to new blog posts some new travel stories and our "Truth Serum" and "Homeschool" sections.

Enjoy!
Dan & The Roamers

(An overview of the countries and cities we've been since the last newsletter and an update on where we are currently)

Here are some photos from Hoi An, Da Nang and Hanoi Vietnam as well as some from our first few weeks in Indonesia.

We spent our month in Hoi An living in an AirBnB 3 story townhouse about 2km outside of downtown Hoi An.  It was bordered on one side by some rice fields and on another by the Thanh Ha Fish Market.  Down the street was the Thanh Ha Pottery Village.  The walk into the historic Old Town took about 15-20 minutes, but we often took Grabs - the Southeast Asian equivalent of Uber - or Dan sometimes rode a bike that the Airbnb owners left for us. 

There was a Worldschool hub here and the kids participated in a few events, but mostly we just hung out with the families we had met while at the BLISS worldschool hub in Koh Lanta, Thailand.  We didn't do a ton of touristy things, but did try to soak up some of the local culture and give the kids some fun experiences. 

Click here to read our Cultural Observations on Vietnam. 

Ryan and I spent a fun "boys weekend" in Hanoi visiting my nephew Kevin who teaches in a middle school there. Francesca and I had been to Hanoi 16 years ago, but I don't remember it as being such a fun and vibrant city. Maybe a lot has changed there in 15 years or maybe we just went to different places.

As it was, we had a delightful mix of touristy things like the "Train Street" (see previous post), the Water Puppet Theater, Citadel, Artillery Museum, night market, Rickshaw ride, etc as well as some local (or at least expat local) things that Kevin was able to show us like a Bia Hoi (fresh beer restaurant), a "Bun Cha" (grilled pork over vermicelli noodles) restaurant, an expat board game speakeasy called QuestHub and lighting off fireworks on the banks of a manmade lake in a random park.

As always, we packed a lot into a few days - here are some pics below - and it was great to see Kevin (it had been a few years) and see Hanoi from his perspective.

We spent our final day in Vietnam in Da Nang, a coastal city about 30 minutes north of Hoi An.  As usual we packed a lot into a single day including a incredible interactive 3D Art Museum.  We also took in some cultural sites like the impressive "Lady Buddha" and some fun entertainment like visiting the Vincom Mega Mall and an escape room, confirming that Team Jahns is horrendous at escape rooms. 

I have also included here some pics of Ryan's 13th bday that we spent a few weeks earlier in the Da Nang Hyatt Regency. Check out the photos of the 3D little French chef they projected onto the girls' real plates on a real table as part of a cupcake decorating workshop. I've never seen anything like it!

We are about half way through our stay in Ubud, Bali. I have always felt that Ubud is a magical place. It is one of the reasons I wanted to come back after Francesca and I were here on our first round the world tour 15 years ago.  I am not particularly spiritual or into yoga and meditation, but just being in this lush jungle atmosphere with its narrow streets and walkways, past stunning rice fields, and in the company of highly spiritual people who are into yoga and meditation somehow make me feel more healthy and grounded. 

Here are some pics of our little villa (Villa Bunda) tucked down the path of a side street in the neighborhood of Penestanan as well as some of our life in Ubud including rice field walks, chocolate factory visits, and Balinese dance performances.

We took a "field trip" to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud and had a blast communing with our distant relatives.  Click the video below if you want to see them in action. 

(Hopefully humorous stories about real events that happened to us on our trip)

Since I haven't sent an update in a while, I have written two Travel Stories since my last email.  Here are excerpts from both and links to the full story. 

HOW SHIVA'S RAGE IMPROVED MY QUAD STRENGTH (Indonesia)

They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And when in Ubud? Well, you do yoga. A lot of yoga. It’s practically a civic duty. So, despite not being a particularly devout yogi (unless you count my ability to hold a deep savasana for an unreasonably long time), I found myself signing up for a five-pack of yoga classes at the Alchemy Yoga and Meditation Center. The place was right across the street from where we were staying, an oasis of bamboo and floating incense, so I figured the universe was nudging me toward enlightenment—or at least toward slightly looser hamstrings.

One morning, I rolled into class half-awake, expecting the usual sun salutations and gentle reminders to “find my breath.” Instead, our instructor, Kim, greeted us with a story. She spoke of Shiva, the wild, ascetic god of destruction, and Sati, his devoted wife. Their love was fierce, cosmic, and, as it turned out, doomed.... Click here to read the full story.

PLANS, TRAINS and CONTAGIONS (Vietnam)

I woke up drenched in sweat. At first, I thought my water just broke, but then I remembered I wasn't pregnant and realized it must have been my fever that broke.  Usually, being sick on a vacation is a real bummer because you miss out on whatever site you were going to see that day, or days, or even a week. But when you are slow traveling like we are, the impact isn't as devastating. You do, however, get sick more often given all the close contact with people in airports, train stations, bus depots, and ferry docks.  Not to mention your own family. We began our first dominoe fall in Mostar, Bosnia, the second stop on our trip.  Click here to read the entire story.

In case you missed the previous Travel Stories, here they are.....

When Adventure Becomes Peril: A Traveler's Reckoning (Koh Lanta, Thailand) December 2024

Finding Shangri-La (Chiang Mai, Thailand), November 2024

The Bad Shepherds (S, Moroccos), November 2024

Hamam-a-jama! (Sidi Allal el Bahraoui), Morocco) October 2024 

Trapped: Parking Garage Escape Room! (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain) September 2024 

Birthday Bust in Slovenia (Kanal, Slovenia) September 2024

To the Bat Cave Ryan (Vyrises, Greece) August 2024

Gentlemen Start Your Bouzoukis (Anatoli, Greece) August 2024

Between Some Rocks and a Hot Place (Myrtos, Greece) July 2024

The Myth of Traveling Kindness (Crete, Greece) July 2024

The Sugar Spoon Caper (Chania, Greece) June 2024

Many of you may not care about the home schooling portion of this, but since it's ostensibly the reason we are doing this, I will provide a brief update during these Newsletters.)

We have hit a nice stride with our homeschooling.  The kids can mostly manage their assignments on their own with a little help here and there.  While we have typically done "school" in the mornings and then had time to explore in the afternoons, in Bali, we found that it rains like clockwork at 2pm each day so we decided to flip flop school and exploration so we go out and do and see cool stuff in the mornings to be back by 2pm before the rain starts to do school. 

(Blog Posts Published since the last newsletter - in case you missed them on social media)

Long Live The Glorious Communist Party!

Hanoing No More

Welcome Back Hong Kong!

Tremendous Taipei!

El Nido is Neato!
My My My My Manila!
Northern Exposure: A Weekend in Segada, Banue and Atok

(A dose of truth about some of the things that did not go according to plan or worries that we've had about the trip)

The truth this time is one that we have touched on earlier: weight management and overall health.  After 9 months of being on the road, packing on some pounds, eating like gluttons, drinking booze and adopting very poor sleeping habits, we have taken the opportunity while in Ubud, Bali (Indonesia) to try and course correct all of those bad habits. 

Overall, as a family, we are walking more, both long, purposeful walks in the beautiful rice fields (6 hours is our longest) and also walking for erands, groceries, into town, etc.  We love seeing the kids transform from being big complainers about having to walk to...well, not complaining.  They still don't love it, but baby steps. :)  

We have also cut out alcohol completely (just for the month!) and started to dabble with some juice fasts. A day here, a couple days there. Francesca, Dan (and Ryan sometimes) have been particpating while we keep the girls eating full meals.  Dan has also gone back to his twice weekly intermittant fasting (36 hours each) and is starting to feel his clothes a bit less tightly around the midsection.  Dan has also been going to yoga 2x per week at the archiectually awe inspiring Alchemy Yoga & Meditation Center and he has also dipped his toe into meditation a time or two. 

Dan and Francesca are also changing their sleep habits by getting to bed earlier and not keeping their phones on their night stands where the temptation to grab them and surf when they wake up in the middle of the night has been too much to resist.   

As a result of all of these practices, we are starting to feel less like big travel blobs and more like respectible human beings. 

(I'm a little reluctant about this section because this trip is supposed to be more about quality and experience than sheer quantity, but I find stats like this interesting nonetheless) 

I am getting a bit more comfortable with keeping the trip stats.  As time goes by and the stats grow, it is getting fun to track the various cities we've been to and the modes of transport we've taken, etc. 

Here is a quick list of countries we've been to so far on this trip. They are places we have stayed overnight for at least one night. The bold ones are places we've lived in for an extended period of time (over 3 weeks). 

• United States

• United Kingdom

• Greece

• Croatia

• Bosnia and Hercegovina

• Slovenia

• Austria

• Italy

• Spain

• Portugal

• Morocco

• Romania

• Thailand

• Philippines

• Taiwan

• Hong Kong

• Vietnam

• Indonesia

Here is the link to the full trip stats page.

Thanks for joining us on our journey. I have tried to keep to my self imposed routine of sending a Roamers' Report every 2 weeks, but it hasn't always worked out that way. But I do post more regularly on social media (mostly FB, but some Instagram too) so if you want more real time updates please follow our Five Tickets to Roam FB page .

Regards,

The Roamers - Dan, Francesca, Ryan, Austen & Finley