A Week-In-The-Life of Simone and Jason: Living The Dream in Asia

Sharing is Caring!

Simone and Jason have been “Living the Dream”: traveling since July 2013 after leaving behind the comforts of Napa, California; red wine, cheese and delicious food to see what the rest of the world had in store. Both love meeting new people, trying new foods (Simone’s a vegetarian and Jason eats anything!) and exploring small towns. Their route has taken them through Canada, Alaska, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and into South East Asia so far. Simone is learning about the education system in different countries by visiting schools wherever she can while Jason is enjoying his passion for photography and the outdoors. Here’s a week-in-the-life of Simone and Jason traipsing through Bali, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Simone and Jason of Living the Dream

This post was originally published in 2014. It has since been updated for accuracy of links. 

Day 1 – Monday

Our last full day in Bali (after three amazing weeks of temples, food and wonderful people) was spent packaging up our souvenirs, heading to the post office, doing laundry in the sink, and packing our bags.
Tomorrow we will head to country number six! We try not to do much the day before a travel day, so we took it easy.

Day 2 – Tuesday

8am – Breakfast and goodbyes at our hotel. Simone was surprised with a beautiful Kobaya (Temple shirt) from the hotel owner, Puspa. Puspa knew we had been looking for one and hadn’t been able to find the “right” one.

8:30-12:30 – Koma from our hotel drove us from Ubud to the airport, we quickly went through check-in and immigration and were able to relax and eat the delicious Indonesian lunch Puspa had prepared for us.

12:30-4:30 – We had a fairly smooth flight to Singapore (although slightly delayed) and easy customs and immigration checks.

4:30 – Picked up some free maps and caught a taxi to our hotel located in Chinatown.

5:30 – After checking in and getting settled we decided to venture out to find Maxwell Hawker Center for dinner. This 100 stall food center was amazing and after finding the longest line we decided to get dinner there.

7:30-8:30 – Walked through the Chinatown night market and did a little people watching before heading back to the hotel.

Day 3 – Wednesday

8am – Ventured on foot to Marina Bay from Chinatown. A nice walk, but it was getting hot already. Breakfast was hard to find for a vegetarian.

10:30 – Met up with a travel blogging family we had met online and had a great time sharing stories and getting to know each other at the Gardens of the Bay and over lunch. It was so nice to be around fellow travelers.

Singapore trees

2:30 – Walked around the Marina Bay area before heading back to Chinatown for a rest.

6pm – Walked back to Marina Bay for dinner and to catch the Light show.

11pm-2am – Back to the hotel, researched Malaysia, booked bus tickets and hotel (using Marriott Points) for Kuala Lumpur.

Day 4 – Thursday

9am-1:30pm – After all the walking the day before we needed a morning to take it easy. We did some catching up on posts and photographs.

1:30-3:30 – Two trains and a bus to Singapore Zoo. A loooong journey on public transportation.

3:30-5:30 – Wandered through the zoo, spending some time at the free flow orangutan habitat. Took the tram around to rest our feet and hear a little more about some of the animals.

5:30-7 – Ate an overpriced dinner of pretty bad western food and watched a fire eating show in front of the Night Safari Park.

7-9:00 – Ventured into the awesome night safari and walked the trails. We were able to see some pretty cool nocturnal animals. We didn’t end up doing the tram ride, the line was too long and we were pretty tired!

9-10:30 – Bus and two trains back to Chinatown.

10:30-11 – Searched Chinatown for a Christmas Ornament, a souvenir we are collecting from each country we visit. After finding the perfect one we headed back to the hotel.

11-Midnight – Packed our bags for our morning departure.

Day 5 – Friday

8:30am – Taxi to the bus station.

10:00-4pm – First Class bus to Kuala Lumpur, worked on blog posts and listened to podcasts. The bus was very comfortable with only 18 reclining massage chairs. The journey went very quickly and the border crossings were simple and painless.

4:00 – Hailed a cab in the sweltering heat to our free three-night stay in luxury thanks to our Marriott Rewards points. We were so excited about the space and the huge bathroom!

7:00 – Made our way across the street to the Malaysia visitor center to get some street fair dinner and watched a cultural dance show.

Malaysia

Day 6 – Saturday

Today was a rest day. Laundry in the bathtub and then we enjoyed some time by the pool. We wandered through the Petronas tower mall for lunch and spent the evening working on our blog and doing some research for Malaysia. Booked bus tickets online. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 7 – Sunday

6:30am – Up and breakfast before making the long journey on public transport out to the Batu Caves. The subway system is very good though and easy to navigate.

8:30-10:30 – Explored the Batu Caves (we weren’t too impressed). Luckily we arrived before the buses of tourists and the heat. We only went to the main cave, but heard that the dark cave was pretty interesting.

12:30 – Lunch and a walk through the mall.

2:30-5 – Nap and pool time! We wanted to enjoy the luxury of a nice big pool one more time before going back to more budget accommodations.

5-9 – Dinner and packed for the next days trip to the Cameron Highlands.



After traveling through South East Asia and China, Simone and Jason are now in Europe for a few months. Their plans and timeline are pretty flexible and they have added countries to the list from people we have met along the way. They aren’t sure what the future holds, but are definitely living the dream! Check out their blog JS Living the Dream and follow them on Facebook.

Sharing is Caring!

Get the Inside Scoop
Receive a FREE 2-week e-course on Financially Sustainable Travel 
Featured Image

3 thoughts on “A Week-In-The-Life of Simone and Jason: Living The Dream in Asia”

  1. I bet that family you met up with, S&J, were pretty nice, huh? LOL! It sounds like these were a busy few days of travel. So glad we were able to make that meet up work. We still talk about you two all the time and can’t wait to cross paths again. Cheers!

    Reply

Leave a Comment