There may be hardships to the expatriate life (uprooting yourself and your family from everything they have ever known, moving to a country where you don’t read, speak or write the language, adapting to at times overwhelming cultural differences), but one of the most awesome benefits (and don’t get me wrong, there are many and they overcome the hardships otherwise we never would have said yes to this assignment in the first place) is the opportunities for TRAVEL in a part of the world you might never have explored otherwise. Or would have explored at a much higher cost and with a lot more jet lag!

It amazes me that in the less than two years we’ve been living abroad, we have taken trips to no less than SIX countries in Southeast Asia (China, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Singapore and Thailand, and a trip to Indonesia is imminent). My three- (soon to be four-) year-old has more stamps in his passport than I had when I was 25! I’ll try to fill you in on the highlights of our trips, below, and on a go-forward basis I’ll do what I can to share some of the highlights of our travels, including local cuisine, making nutritious choices while on vacation (but still indulging) and keeping fit and active without feeling the need to do full hour-long workouts in the hotel gym every day – heck, I might even give you some tips on great workouts that don’t require a gym or any special equipment at all! I’ll even expound on the value of getting some much needed rest.

Ready? Set? Let’s go explore!