When you are in the business of making your cash stretch as far as it can there are sacrifices and decisions that need to be made, which can often lead to adventures and stories that are left of field. So it was then that we embarked on a journey that would ultimately land us in Latvia with a few other random stops along the way.

Long-term gypsy frollicking means budget airlines, i.e. no entertainment and paying for less than average food, but also means we were delivered into Kuala Lumpur for the bargain price of $234 each! It will be our only stop on the Asian continent this year so we made it interesting with a quick run (and we mean quick) down a highway full of mad Malaysian wanna-be racing car drivers to the waterside village of Melaka – a UNESCO listed shipping port.

As luck would have it we arrived on a weekend of national celebrations and the town was absolutely packed with street stalls, music and karaoke on the main stage of the Jonker Walk. In our short visit we ate dumplings, drank coffee, wandered through temples and palaces and sweltered in the heat and humidity that characterises South East Asia.

Cafe hopping for air-con

Iced coffees. And air-con

Street wandering in Melaka

Eye-catching street art

Street stall dumplings!

Grand entrance to a temple

Back to the airport, then on to the second leg into Frankfurt for a crazy $531 each. We are so lucky to have been to Germany four times already, its starting to feel like another home. Our cheap flight to Riga in Latvia was 36 hours away after landing – just enough time to jump in a car and cruise along the Rhine River in search of picture perfect German villages,  schnitzel and beer. We found all of these and more and stayed in the gorgeous town of Boppard on the Rhine.

A museum in Mainz on the main platz

Just one of so many riverside villages, complete with castle

Our perfectly German abode for the night

Padlocks symbolising eternal love in Frankfurt

The main square of Frankfurt

Still in the car but far from cruising, it was Andrew’s turn to be a wanna-be racing car driver as he took on the Porsches and BMWs on the world famous (and sometimes deadly) Nurburgring track, about 2 hours west of Frankfurt. For one hour of madness we were lapped by so many crazy drivers and came away with a greater appreciation of what racing car drivers actually endure – its quite terrifying, and we were certainly not the fastest on the track!

Back to an airport we were due on our final leg into Riga and excited about arriving in Latvia which would be our 71st country together, when the airline curse of overbooking struck us for the first time ever! We were ungraciously bumped, having checked in online earlier in the day, and sent to the counter to organise another flight. Annoyance soon turned to glee though when we were offered a pretty flash hotel (better than anything our budget will pay for this year), a dinner voucher plus $250 euros compensation for the inconvenience. Thank you very much Air Baltic, Riga could wait!