But we had a PLAN!!!

If you’ve been reading our blog, or you know us, you’ve probably noticed a theme – we are abysmal at making plans and even worse at sticking to them for longer than … oh say 24 hours. Actually it’s not unknown for us to have a plan for the next six months by breakfast and by lunch time have a new plan.

Six months ago we realised that while we couldn’t see us stopping forever in the one place any time soon, we really wanted to be stopped somewhere for a year or more. We never really stopped in Penang. We parked our gear here but we never sat still long enough to really enjoy being stopped. No sooner did we arrive then we’d be planning our next trip. When you are two hours drive from Thailand and Air Asia keeps putting on ludicrously seductive sales you can’t help but be tempted. I swear that website is our kryptonite! But after three years we’ve realised it’s time to actually settle somewhere and enjoy being stopped.

Stopped for twelve months at least. Maybe with just a few camping trips … and weekend daytrips … but no flights. Definitely no flights … well unless there’s a really good sale …

The question was where to stop.

What? You mean we actually have to make a plan?

The thing is we did make a plan. It took us months but we made one.

When you start looking at an atlas of the world there are a lot of options so deciding on a plan takes time.

Yes I know, we’re lucky to have that dilemma so I’m not going to complain. At least not too loudly. Because honestly complaining ‘oh woe is us, we have to choose where in the whole world we want to live’ isn’t really something to complain about is it. Five years ago when we were debating whether to move to a nicer suburb or interstate I never once imagined our breakfast would be whether we should move to Guatemala, Laos, Bali, Spain or Slovenia.

Just in case you are thinking that discussion sounds like the most romantic, exciting, amazing thing ever … it is! Seriously, for the first two weeks it’s this giddy whirlwind of fun possibilities.

“Let’s move to Prague. We’ve always wanted to live in Prague. I could take art classes. You could be a short train ride to go snow boarding half the winter”

“How about Chile? We can learn Spanish, we can hike in the summer and ski in the winter.”

“Let’s find an island somewhere and live in a tree house. Or we can be pirates. Pirates would be fun”

For the first two weeks it’s so much fun. Then you realise at some point you actually need to choose. One place in the entire world that fits everyone’s requirements for cost of living, visas, school, potential work prospects, climate and everyone’s personal tastes/needs/likes, at least for the next year or so before you move on to the next place.

That’s when it stops being fun!

Eventually, after so many circular debates that we lost track of our options, we came to the conclusion that since we already had a house in Penang and commitments to be back in Asia for the next four months to catch up with friends and family it made sense to go back to Penang. The kids were in agreement – we’d try Penang and they would go to school there. If after a year we weren’t happy there then we’d move on.

Last week we arrived back in Penang and started visiting schools.

All full!

At least, all the international schools in our price range within a 45 minute drive were full. The most expensive school at roughly 13,000USD per year per child, double the cost of the schools we were originally looking at, of course had space. Umm … no thanks!

What? Hello, Universe did you not get the memo? We actually made a plan. Not only that, we all agreed to the plan and we stuck to a single plan for several months. For us, that’s a huge achievement. The least you could do is support the plan.

So what now?

We could keep investigating options in Penang. We don’t have the right type of visa for a local school but there are two private schools that are possibilities.

The thing is, maybe things didn’t fall into place for a reason. We feel like we’ve done our time in Penang. We were only staying because we had a house here, we needed to be in Asia anyway and we had good friends here, but there’s no real reason we have to stay for more than a few months.

For a few days we sulked. Now we’ve realised it’s an opportunity to move on somewhere else and have a new adventure. Although it’s not without challenges. Leaving Penang means selling off a lot, if not all of our stuff that we moved over from Australia. I may have finally reached the point where I might consider parting with my books. Colin might have to drag me kicking and screaming away from them shouting “Ebooks are NOT THE SAME!!!” but I think I might be able to do it!

So we’re back to spinning the globe.

We’ve come up with at least 5 alternative ideas that we’ve been certain have been ‘THE ONE’ for at least a day before changing our minds. We’re getting closer to a decision but who knows, maybe we’ll end up on that island as pirates after all!

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But we had a PLAN!!!