Leaving Singapore

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The time has come... movers are coming in a few days to pack our belongings and ship them to New Zealand.

It is our choice to leave. Six years ago, we arrived in Singapore with two teenagers. But we leave with just the two of us. The kids both graduated from Australian International School and are now back in New Zealand walking their own paths. We're earning good salaries here, but money has never been a good reason to keep us from our next adventure.


Six years here has gone by so quickly, and there is so much I'll miss once we've gone. Here's my top six things:

  1. The weather - the warmth, the thunderstorms, the consistent daylight hours (I won't miss the seasonal 'haze').
  2. Motorbiking - hubby and I had a scooter each, and it has been the best way to get around
    (except when it rains!)
  3. The food - how does one begin to sum this up?! The hawker centres with their variety, price and flavours; tropical fruits; watermelon juice and shaved ice desserts are just a few, there is so much to Singapore's food delights. Not to mention the great range of quality restaurants and cafes now dotted throughout the island. (I won't miss bad service or the fact that your meals come out at random times though).  
  4. Public transport - sure, there are times when a train stops, or is late but overall, it is amazing!
  5. Clean and safe - thank you for being world leaders in this Singapore. Your continued effort to instil tolerance and acceptance of all races and religion is a big part of this in my opinion!
  6. My working life - the reason why my blog posts died off. You can read more about this on my LinkedIn article.

So, now?

#nzjellysontour  #mustiesdousa


So, now we leave Singapore and fly to the United States of America for a two month motorbike trip! We chose the USA because we made a ton of great friends here, and most of them have since returned to the US. We want one last 'catch up' tour before we head back to New Zealand and get started on a couple of projects waiting for us.

On 1 April we pick up the bike my husband has already pre-purchased - an Indian Roadmaster. Because it has heated seats, and we'll be heading north to colder temperatures, I'm going to pillion for the first month while we make our way from East to West Coast.

Our planned route: starts in Virginia (1) and goes anti-clockwise from East to West Coast, and back again
Two close friends fly in at the end of April and the four of us will then travel on four bikes (I'll buy one somewhere) and ride south from Portland, Oregon, then make our way eastward to finish up in New York City.

The four of us travel as the Musty Demons. The Musty Demons formed over 10 years ago from six friends who used to live in Whangarei. We would go motorbiking in between our day jobs, families, curry nights and game nights. Only two of us are still in Whangarei. Hubby and I are the two in Singapore, and the last two have been in Australia for a few years. It's our Aussie-dwelling friends who will join us in the US for a month.

Here's some of the numbers we'll track from our trip. We'll update the following infographic every week and post it to Twitter @nzjellys - here's the numbers we're expecting so far!


Follow our adventures on Instagram (@nzjellys or @boogiemonkey1 #mustiesdousa #nzjellysontour)

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