One week in

One week ago, my fiancé Byron and I left our jobs and set off for what we hope will be an 8-month trip around the world. We packed two giant backpacks and set off for Southeast Asia.

Our first stop was Doha, Qatar. It wasn’t on our original itinerary, but we were taking Qatar Airways to get to Singapore, and we decided a couple day layover would be prudent to break up the 12.5-hour(!) and 7.5-hour flights we’d be taking to kick off our journey.

Highlights from Doha included the dhow boats (above), excellent desserts, and the Museum of Islamic Art.

We then took another red-eye flight from Doha to Singapore. I learned that I do not function well on one hour of sleep when I’ve moved forward 13 time zones in two days. Thankfully, Byron lived in Singapore for a semester in college and so was able to lead sleep-deprived me around the city until it was time to sleep off the jet lag.

We’ve now been in Singapore for three nights, enjoying both vibrant city sites and nearby nature, and are preparing to depart for Bali in the morning. We spotted many marvelous animals and trees in MacRitchie Park, and kept running into bright lights and colorful art installations while traversing the city.

We’re also traveling with our friendly neighborhood sloth, Millie, who can be found on Instagram (@milliethesloth).

Packing tip for traveling knitters: pack deconstructed versions of clothing you will need later in the trip. For example, instead of packing a scarf, hat, fingerless gloves, and warm socks (all of which I’ll need in a few months when we leave Southeast Asia), bring yarn that can become all those things! Clearly this plan is foolproof.