Travel plans

Our Core Values (AKA: The Stuff We Try to Remember When We’re Lost Again)

If you’ve found yourself here, either you’ve taken a wrong turn on the internet (totally understandable — we do it constantly), or you’re curious about what makes the Dexter Fortescue way… well, the Dexter Fortescue way.

So grab your backpack, your sense of humour, and possibly a snack (trust us), because here are the guiding principles that keep us moving, meandering, and occasionally muddling through the world.

1. Curiosity Before Certainty

We don’t pretend to have the answers — in fact, we actively enjoy not having them. Curiosity leads the way, and we happily follow it down alleys (I have a reputation to keep of touring the roughest back roads in some of the nicest places), through markets, and sometimes accidentally into someone’s backyard (again!). Oops.

2. Authentic Storytelling

If you’re looking for glossy travel‑influencer perfection… sorry, mate, wrong blog. We tell the truth: the missteps, the magic, and the bizarre moments where even we wonder how we got there. This is primarily an aide memoire for us. However, there is one big rule we will stick to: not everyone has a good day every day, and we will take that into consideration.

3. Adventure With Openness

A plan is just a suggestion. An itinerary? A polite whisper. Around here, we let the road shape the story — because the unexpected bits tend to be the best bits. Ahh, but you will see the contradiction to that when you scroll further down and see a plan of places we are going as we have had to book the places we want to stay at rather than at what is left. There are some though where we did leave it too late, and well, plan B is required. I am currently planning a couple of weeks in Sumatra, and I clearly left it too late. Really annoying since the plan was roughly in place six months ago.

4. Connection Over Checklists

We’re not here to collect destinations like Pokémon cards. We’d rather chat with the person who runs the corner café than queue for an “iconic must-see” just because a guidebook bossed us into it. We did follow a couple on YouTube who were clearly just out to enjoy themselves, but then decided to set a goal of visiting 100 countries. That change in mindset made their presentations much less appealing to us, and we seem to have drifted apart.

5. Light-hearted Resilience

When things go wrong (and they will), we take a deep breath, laugh, and keep going. Travel is 50% wonder and 50% “wait… what?”. Of course, there will be times when the façade slips, and I guess that is the point when I take up running again!

6. Respect for Places and People

Everywhere we go belongs first and foremost to the people who call it home. We tread gently, listen more than we speak, and always, always try not to offend anyone. These points are not in any particular order, but perhaps I should move this one further up the list.

The point most likely to make the façade slip is other tourists who do not take heed of this point. We tend to avoid the areas where they go as much for this reason. There are far too many people with this exceptionalist attitude, and it seems to have got worse since the COVID-19 crisis.

7. Travel for Joy, Not Performance

There are no likes here. No algorithms. Just us, our scribbled notes, and whatever stories we want to remember (hopefully) decades from now when our knees have fully given up.

8. Simplicity in Motion

Travel is complicated enough. We keep things simple, light, and loosely organised — like a sock drawer that’s technically messy but weirdly functional.

9. Observation as a Way of Living

We notice things. The smell of a street stall firing up for the morning, or the dried fish market in India (although you probably have anosmia if you didn’t notice that smell). The way bus windows frame the world like wobbly picture frames. The tiny details that make places feel alive.

10. Growth Through Exploration

Every journey changes us in little (and occasionally large) ways. That’s the whole point. The world stretches us, teaches us, and sometimes gently mocks us.

11. Positive Environmental Footprint

We try to leave places better than we found them, or at the very least, not worse. We reduce waste, reuse what we can, and make travel choices with the planet in mind. No halo polishing… just decent, thoughtful behaviour.

12. Protecting and Celebrating Biodiversity

If it crawls, flies, blooms, or scuttles, we respect it. (Except maybe the mosquito — but we’re working on forgiveness.) We avoid harm, support conservation, and appreciate the wild world that makes travel wondrous in the first place.

Extraordinary Experiences

A few years ago, I was at a party chatting to a couple about holidays. You know the sort of casual conversation, where are you going next, what’s your ideal break, that kind of thing. They told me, with absolute conviction, that as soon as they arrive at their hotel, they head straight to the pool, claim a sunbed, and then… do nothing. For two whole weeks. Sunbed. Beer. Sleep. Repeat. They were thrilled by this routine. Bliss, they said.

And honestly? Fair play to them.

But within minutes of setting up base anywhere, I know I’d be twitching. I’d be glancing over the wall, wondering what’s around the corner, seeing what’s happening down the road, trying to figure out which bus will get me to the local market or trail. Sitting still has never been my strong point, and that’s exactly why this sort of trip, the messy, flexible, slightly improvised kind, is the one that works for me.

That’s the heart of Dexter Fortescue Travel Plans:
not rigid schedules, not colour‑coded plans (although my spreadsheet might disagree), not 47 “must‑see” attractions…
but possibilities.

Travel, for us, isn’t about executing a blueprint. It’s about sketching a loose shape and letting curiosity fill in the rest. A route drawn in pencil, knowing perfectly well it will smudge, wander, and redraw itself as we go. Each itinerary is less a plan and more a nudge—a starting point that says:

“Here’s where we are, here is where you are staying, now what?”

Our itineraries aim to reflect that spirit:

Open‑ended rather than prescriptive.
Flexible rather than fixed.
Made for explorers, not sun‑lounger loyalists.
Built on curiosity, not bucket lists.
Always subject to mood, weather, buses, or unexpected encounters with someone selling coconut ice cream.

Think of them not as routes, but as invitations—little prompts that help shape the journey while leaving the best bits (the unpredictable ones) completely unrestricted.

If you’re looking for a minute‑by‑minute breakdown, we probably can’t help you.
But if you want some gentle direction, a few ideas, a place to begin, and the freedom to wander off within five minutes… then you’re in exactly the right place.

So, where are we going and when?

Like I’m sure I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the original plan was gloriously simple: pack a couple of small bags, head out into the world, and only come home when we finally ran out of money.

Of course, reality had other ideas. It turns out that disappearing indefinitely is not quite as straightforward as tossing a few T‑shirts into a bag and waving goodbye to the neighbours. Life, responsibilities, timing, and a handful of sensible considerations all quietly raised their hands and said, “Actually… maybe not all in one go?”
So instead of one enormous, uninterrupted adventure, we decided to split the journey into chapters spread over several years, which, frankly, probably suits our approach perfectly. It leaves space for flexibility, curiosity, and doing things at our own slightly chaotic pace and not to forget, it means we are not spending most of our time in a monsoon.

I’ll add more detail as time allows (and yes, I might even add a map). But for now, the outline for the first four months is:

Indonesia, Bali, Lombok, Gili Air, Java, Sumatra
Singapore
Malaysia, Malacca (Melaka), Sepilok, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Langkawi, Penang, Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, Kuala Tahan, Kuala Lumpur.

It’s a starting point, and I will develop it more soon. Whilst we have (most) places to stay sorted it is a loose sketch rather than a strict itinerary and as ever, if the buses line up, brilliant. If they don’t, that’s probably where the better story lives anyway.