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Spontaneous or stressful?
After a brief moment of disappointment when we learned our destination was Singapore (my mind was somehow fixed on remote cays in the Philippines), excitement crept in. I knew hardly anything about Singapore, and even less about the countries that surround it. But from arriving in Singapore’s predominantly Muslim Bugis district during the call to prayer to witnessing Ching Ming “Tomb Sweeping Day” in the World Heritage Chinatown of Melaka, Malaysia, to seeing wild macaque monkeys en route to deserted Turtle Beach in Penang, everything felt thrilling. That’s not to say our approach wasn’t frustrating. When we should have been out exploring, we were poring through Lonely Planet pages, running Google image searches, and calling hotels to make same-day bookings. Without his well-prepared sidekick, Kevin took on more of the burden and couldn’t relax until he knew where we’d sleep each night. But once we made reservations and filled our bellies with street-stall laksa, we saw the humor in the process. “That was good practice for being homeless,” Kevin said.
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What about the romance?
Stress impedes romance. So do bunk beds, which we found out on night one. (Was Trish playing a joke on us?). For the rest of the trip, we splurged the most on accommodations, which ranged from renovated Peranakan (Chinese-Malay) mansions — one of them on “Love Lane” — to a beach house made of driftwood on Indonesia’s Nikoi Island. With a glass wall that opened to the Java Sea and a white mosquito net that breathed in the breeze, Nikoi was exactly what we needed. The biggest decision we had to make was whether to get out of bed to see the new sea turtle hatchlings. (We didn’t.)
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Lessons learned
It’s not for everyone, but those who teeter happily on the edge of their comfort zone will likely appreciate a Spin-the-Globe-style trip. Ours taught us to keep an open mind, embrace the unknown, and go with our gut. Most of all, we learned about ourselves and our varying travel styles. While stressful at times, having the flexibility to shift the plan according to our whims was a blessing, even when it took us down the other side of Penang Hill. Once we mustered the courage to pass those barking dogs, a panorama of hillside flower farms, banana trees, and red-tile roofs extending to the Malacca Strait came into view. Starving, sore, and mosquito-bitten, we shared a knowing smile. The other side is what we were looking for all along.
For the trip highlights, check out Serena and Kevin’s Mysterymoon list.
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