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RTW Trip Day #20: Lost Credit Card Panic and Arriving at the Trang An Family Homestay (Ninh Binh)
18 October 2025 Steps: 3,592 Today was meant to be a nice leisurely morning before heading to the train station in Hanoi to catch our train down to Ninh Binh. Well that went out of the window when I realized that I had lost my Wealthsimple card at the mall the day before ! Absolute disaster! Instead, I was rushing around trying to call the mall to find it, cancelling credit cards and trying to figure out how we are going to get a new card sent over to us by the bank. Let’s j


RTW Trip Day #19: Morning Homeschooling and Kids Fun at tiNiWorld in the Aeon Mall in Ha Dong
17 October 2025 Steps: 7,128 Well, today didn’t exactly go according to the spreadsheet itinerary! I unfortunately won the prize for the first ‘funny tummy ’ of the trip, so instead of heading back into Hanoi, which would have meant another hour-long taxi ride each way, we decided to stay at the hotel for the morning and really focus on some homeschooling . We’ve been struggling to find time for it with all the sightseeing lately, so it actually worked out quite well. In the


RTW Trip Day #18: Good Morning Vietnam: Exploring Hanoi’s Old and French Quarters
16 October 2025 Steps: 11,168 Today was our first day exploring Hanoi, and we caught a taxi to Hoàn Kiếm Lake in the Old Quarter of Hanoi as the taxi's are so cheap here. It cost about $8 CAD for a 1 hour taxi ride using the Grab app . I still can't get over the traffic here, it's quite literally madness. Hanoi's Old Quarter First order of business was to find a place for breakfast, as we hadn't eaten anything before setting off in the taxi. We found this cute little place ca


RTW Trip Day #17: Arriving in Vietnam and the Sheraton Hanoi West Hotel
15 October 2025 Steps: 8,199 We don't have too much to report today. We caught our flight to Vietnam around lunchtime, but arrived late in the afternoon in Vietnam, so we didn’t really have any time to explore aside from going out for dinner. The taxi to our hotel was almost an hour, and the driving is completely crazy ! The rules of the road seem to be “ just drive, they will avoid me ”, but the way that the bikes weave in and out between the cars, I can’t believe there ar


RTW Trip Day #16: Hong Kong Disneyland
14 October 2025 Steps: 18,625 Today was a special day as we took the girls to the Hong Kong Disneyland for the first time . We aren’t big Disney people, and we really didn’t have any intention of going to the Florida Disneyland, but everything we read about the Hong Kong one was that it was cheaper, smaller, and a lot less busy , so we wouldn’t be spending time queuing for rides. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure whether I would like it or not, but it was absolutely awesome and w


RTW Trip Day #15: Visiting the Big Buddha on Lantau Island
13 October 2025 Steps: 23,966 We visited the Big Buddha on Lantau Island about twenty years ago when we were travelling after university. It was one of our favourite experiences from that trip, so we really wanted to take the girls this time so they could see it for themselves. Maybe we’d built it up too much in our heads, but it ended up being a a slight disappointment. If we were to go again, there are definitely a few things we’d do differently - I’ll explain below. Gett


RTW Trip Day #14: Hong Kong: Bottomless Dim Sum & Riding the Peak Tram
12 October 2025 Steps: 10,725 We had a bit of a lazy morning as the heavens opened and the rain started bouncing down . It was only meant to rain for an hour or so, but it kept going, so rather than stay in our room all morning we went down to the pool . It was actually kind of fun being in the pool and hot tub as the rain drops bounced down. Lunch at the Dim Sum Library In the afternoon we met up for with one of Susie’s school friends who now lives in Hong Kong for lunch at


RTW Trip Day #13: Hong Kong Park, Chater Hall & the Ladies Market
11 October 2025 Steps: 18,193 After 11 nights in Japan, we arrived in Hong Kong . The days have flown by, but we're ready to experience a new country now, and have been looking forward to showing the girls Hong Kong for a long time as Susie was born here. Our hotel was close to Hong Kong Park so we started our day there. Hong Kong Park Me and Susie have visited Hong Kong together twice now, and we've walked around Hong Kong Park each time we've been here, but I forgot how stu


RTW Trip Day #12: Osaka Castle and the Flight to Hong Kong
Explore Daigo-ji Temple on Day 10 of our RTW trip! Discover Kyoto's serene Daigo-ji, enjoy fluffy pancakes, and savor delicious curry!


RTW Trip Day #11: Nara Park, Train to Osaka & Incredible Sushi
Explore Daigo-ji Temple on Day 10 of our RTW trip! Discover Kyoto's serene Daigo-ji, enjoy fluffy pancakes, and savor delicious curry!


RTW Trip Day #10: Kyoto: Daigo-ji Temple, Pancakes and Curry!
Explore Daigo-ji Temple on Day 10 of our RTW trip! Discover Kyoto's serene Daigo-ji, enjoy fluffy pancakes, and savor delicious curry!


RTW Trip Day #9: Kyoto: Kiyomizu-dera, Temple Overload and Nijo Castle
7 October 2025 Steps: 24,187 Today was our biggest day yet (almost 25,000 steps), and while it was great to see so many amazing sights,...


RTW Trip Day #8: Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji (Golden) Palace & Fushimi Inari Taisha
6 October 2025 Steps: 21,590 We had to check out of Ben's Guesthouse by 11am, so we got out quite early to visit one of the most famous...


RTW Trip Day #7: Kyoto: Arashiyama’s Temples, Bamboo Forest and Monkey Park with Kids
5 October 2025 Steps: 19,803 From Ben’s Guesthouse, getting to Arashiyama would have required several bus changes, so it wasn’t much...


RTW Trip Day #6: Tokyo: Homecoming TAKA and the Bullet Train to Kyoto
4 October 2025 Steps: 9,113 For our last day in Tokyo we spent the morning at a cooking, calligraphy and origami experience called...


RTW Trip Day #5: Tokyo: Senso-ji and Ueno
3 October 2025 Steps: 21,667 Today was our last full day exploring Tokyo. We’ve done so much already (walked about 18k steps each day)...


RTW Trip Day #4: Tokyo: Shibuya, Meiji Jingu and Shinjuku
Explore Shinjuku Tokyo on Day 4 of our RTW trip. Discover Shibuya, Meiji Jingu & Shinjuku Tokyo with us. Join our travel adventure!


RTW Trip Day #3: Tokyo: Ginza, Zojo-ji Temple and the Tokyo Tower
Follow our third day on our 100 day family sabbatical RTW trip. We spent time exploring Ginza, Zojo-ji Temples and the Tokyo Tower


RTW Trip Day #2: Sengaku‑ji Temple, Goshuin Hunting & TeamLab Planets Immersive Experience
Follow our second day on our 100 day family sabbatical RTW trip. We spent time exploring Tokyo and visited TeamLab Planets with the kids


RTW Trip Day #1: Goodbye Calgary, Hello Tokyo - Our 100‑Day Family Sabbatical Begins
Follow our first day on our family sabbatical on a RTW trip for 100-days as we say goodbye to family, survive a long flight, and arrive in Tokyo.
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