🇲🇾 Tioman🏖️Iceland (in the east of Malaysia) and why everything suddenly turns out differently than planned..

🇲🇾 ✈️ On April 26th we fly from Kuching (Borneo) to Kuala Lumpur. From the airport we take the metro 🚇 to the city center. Our hotel “Big M” is centrally located, the train station is conveniently right next door. We keep it cheap and get a room with a double bed without a window 😄 from the roof terrace you have a great view of the city. We have a few very good and cheap Indian restaurants nearby. Jackpot! 😋

It's our second visit to the city. On the first evening it rained cats and dogs. But there is still enough time to see a lot: the Petronas Twin Towers and the KLCC Park, Merdeka Square (Independence Square) with the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Chinatown, and much more. From our hotel we could easily reach everything on foot.

On April 29th We take the bus towards our next destination and spend two nights in Mersing - in the “Hotel D View Mersing”. The ferries start from here

🏖️TIOMAN ISLAND🐠🐟

From May 1st to May 8th, 2023 we will stay in a small bungalow right on the beach. We could go into the water at any time and then enjoy the view of the sea from our bungalow. Even in bed we could listen to the sound of the sea (at high tide) 😊 “Permai Chalet Tioman” was the name of our accommodation. The owner picked us up from the ferry and drove us back to the ferry on the day of departure. Supermarkets and restaurants were within walking distance. Early in the morning, between 5 and 6 a.m., we were always woken up by the sounds of the flying foxes in the palm trees in front of the bungalows 🙃 It was so warm every day that the air conditioning was actually always running. Except for one time when we had a power outage - we had to go without it for about 2 hours. Occurs in Asia. We felt very comfortable 🌴 it was a very relaxing week. We just enjoyed the here and now. I 🙋🏼‍♀️ was in the sea every day. So our days flew by.

🔺Review🔻 Already in Kuala Lumpur, new plans were made and others were thrown overboard. So we decided to fly back to Germany for my 🙋🏼‍♀️ friend's wedding, surprise a few family members and then head to Spain to hike the Way of St. James (it was time for a new challenge) 🗺️ 🎉 said and done. We book the flights back home and gradually realize that after almost 5 months of traveling, we're heading back to Germany.

As luck would have it, we received very unpleasant news on Tioman: an illness in the immediate family circle. We would have preferred to leave immediately… but the flights were already booked so we waited. We make the most of the last few days and take the ferry back to the mainland on May 8th. A few hours later a bus takes us to Johor Bahru , where we spend the night in a hostel.

The train station is close to the property. 🚉 Since we are right on the border with Singapore, we book a ticket for the next day and travel from Malaysia to Singapore on May 9th, 2023 🇸🇬 our flight goes back to Germany on the same day 🇩🇪

What happened then?

We land in Frankfurt am Main on the morning of May 10th. Emotional chaos 100%, a few tears plus a sleepless night, are behind us. Hard to believe we're back...📍

What's next? Smart as we are, we have already booked the flight to Spain 🙃 we want to hike the Way of St. James - that's the plan.

But first we try to arrive, let everything sink in and try to realize where we are right now. Some people hadn't even noticed that we were back, so there were a few surprise visits. We also went to the hospital to surprise the family member and it worked! 🙃

Plus there was the wedding on May 13th. We swapped functional clothing for a suit and evening dress and celebrated their special day with our friends 💒💐

We enjoy time with family and friends, but also often think back on the past few months. It was clear to us that we didn't want to put down roots, but rather longed for the flight to Madrid.

On May 16th, 2023 the time had come - Spain we are coming 🇪🇸