About

These pages document my travels and journeys, some alone and some with my brood of five kids. This blog started out as a journal of my trips with the kids, as a response to those who (a) think travel with kids is a big expensive hassle and (b) find it unthinkable that I bring not one or two, but FIVE kids with me when I go. Traveling with kids, and with a large group of kids at that, need not be a hassle or expensive. All it needs is patience, planning and lots of flexibility. A good sense of humour helps too.

Whether it’s just a road-trip across the border or a 15-day journey crossing Japan or China, I have enjoyed traveling with my kids and I think these shared experiences of discovery have not only gone into the pool of happy memories we build as a family but also to their own personal growth and development in one way or another. These opportunities get rarer as they grow older and life gets busier.

The blog has evolved to document my own trips to Japan (which occupies a very soft spot in my heart) professionally as a writer and then personally, on private trips alone and with my husband. Over the years I have also moved on to do a bit of travel writing. I write for the Lonely Planet magazine Asia edition, Escape magazine Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia editions, BBC Knowledge Asia edition, Today’s Parents. The entries in this blog sometimes also include the destinations I travel to as part of my work.

I hope you enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. Better yet, I hope it inspires you to pack your bags and book a flight.