How Do You Celebrate Your Birthday Overseas?

Following on with the theme of world travel and experiencing what life had to offer, this year, we agreed that we’d all have “experience” type of presents for our birthday.

Our motto is “experiences, not things”.

That meant that our birthdays would be about where we were and who we were with.

April is a busy birthday month for our family, and it kicked off in grand fashion!

We arrived in Nha Trang, Vietnam, on the day before my daughter’s very special 13th birthday.

So I did a little research and found out that Nha Trang was home to several spas offering mud baths.

We had an awesome day out playing in mud, which you can read about here.

Only days later, it was my turn.

>> WANT MORE HOLIDAYS, MORE EXPERIENCES AND MORE FUN?! Check out a quick 5-minute video to find out how you can travel with your family more often, and better yet – earn money while you do it! <<

Celebrating A Birthday Overseas

Just for fun, I sent my partner a simple wish list of what I wanted for my birthday.

It didn’t involve anything extravagant and revolved around making me us much tea as I wanted, giving me a massage and allowing me some peace and quiet to work without a toddler jumping all over me.

That sounded great to me.

So, I didn’t think my birthday would be much of an event at all. But it turned out to be pretty special.

Usually my birthdays are pretty low key, so I didn’t even have it in the forefront of my mind when I woke up on the 18th of April.

After breakfast, I was sitting in my room with our toddler, Amaya, when Doug and the two older kids burst in, singing happy birthday!

I’d been preoccupied having cuddles with my gorgeous girl that I hadn’t realised they’d been gone for a little while.

The three of them had a plate with decorated cupcakes (complete with candles in the top) in their hands.

It was so sweet. Literally:

Birthday Cake #1

That delicious birthday cupcake left me with a bit of a sugar overdose.

After having been a bit extravagant with food in the weeks before, I was trying to eat as healthy as I could that day… but I couldn’t not eat it.

Just as we put our plates away, there was a knock at the door.

One of the lovely staff from the Summer Hotel stood there with this in his hands:

Birthday Cake #2

Holy sugar coma, batman!

The kids were desperate for a small slice each, and we couldn’t just leave the cake in the room.

Because we were checking out that morning, we all had a small slice of this very sweet cake.

After that, I felt like munching on carrot sticks and sculling water.

I felt ick! But it was a lovely, kind gesture.

You can’t hide your birthday when you have to show your passports when you check in!

Off to check into our next hotel, the Edele hotel, which was not too far away. Once we’d settled in, we were going to go for a wander before lunch.

So we hung around in the room for a little bit, and made our way downstairs.

Just as we wandered past the reception desk, the stuff were in a flurry and hurried towards me. They had this in their hands:

Birthday Cake #3

I was beginning to wonder when this cake fest was all going to end!!!

It made me feel super special though.

I’d never had this many cakes on my birthday ever!

Eventually, when we could stomach it, we went out and had a yummy lunch at Lanterns, which became our favourite restaurant.

Luckily, it was very close to where our hotels were located.

Here is the amazing caramelised pork hotpot with rice I chose:

Birthday lunch – YUM!

… while I watched this guy somehow successfully load up his bike higher than he stood:

We went back to our room and chilled for most of the afternoon.

There had been so much food that day and so many laughs, it truly was a day to remember.

Being overseas does make your birthday a little different.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be one of the best birthday’s you’ve ever had.

After all, it’s the simple things, like who you’re with and where you are (and the laughs!) that matter.

>> WANT MORE HOLIDAYS, MORE MEMORIES AND MORE FUN?! Check out a quick 5-minute video to find out how you can travel with your family more often, and better yet – earn money while you do it! <<