The backpack is down. The welcome mat is out. We're officially living in a city.

After months of chasing beautiful landscapes across Vietnam, Divina has delivered the biggest, most unexpected twist yet: a complete change in travel style. We’ve gone from "flashpackers" constantly on the move to long-term house sitters with a fixed address.

Our new mission? Six weeks in the frenetic, fascinating capital of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. For two boys who usually do everything they can to avoid cities, this is a major psychological shift.

Join us as we trade overnight trains for grocery runs and explore how we’re settling into this new concrete jungle. We share our initial culture shock, the unexpected comforts of domestic life, and our favourite hidden parts of the city. A new country and a new way to travel—how will this change our relationship with this "exceptional experience"?

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina (our name for God). Hit subscribe and don''t forget to keep up to date as we share our full experience on Instagram @ExceptionalDecisions

Luxury, Laughter & Long-Lost Friends

This week, we’re celebrating Andrew’s 30th in serious style — five-star resort, ocean views, and the kind of robes that make you feel like you’ve got your life together. But the real surprise comes early — way too early — when there’s a knock on the door at 7 a.m. claiming to be housekeeping. In what world does housekeeping come that early? Turns out, it’s not room service — it’s Hannah, Andrew’s childhood friend, showing up after nine years with the best kind of surprise.

From there, the week becomes a blur of sun, stories, and a cooking class that promises “a culinary journey” but somehow leaves us hungrier than when we arrived. Between the empty plates and endless laughs, we spend most of the time rediscovering old friendships, finding humour in everything, and realising that sometimes the best trips are the ones where nothing really goes to plan.

Join us for an episode full of luxury, laughter, and long-lost friends.

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to join us for the kind of rewards that only truly exceptional decisions deliver.

We traded the serenity of Ninh Bình's water ways for the subterranean magic of Phong Nha.

This week, Divina sends us deep into the Vietnamese jungle to Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. This episode is all about the joy of getting truly remote, which, it turns out, is also the joy of getting up close and personal with nature’s most enthusiastic bugs.

We tackle the magnificent caves, which were vast and alien, it genuinely felt like exploring another planet. We were surprised by the lack of tourists in the area, giving us that sweet, satisfying feeling of being off the beaten path.

However, the real adventure was back at our guesthouse, where the dining experience included an unsettling number of resident animals that made tit feel less like a restaurant and more like a surprise petting zoo.

Join us as we brave the subterranean wonders and the extra-terrestrial weirdness, proving that travelling based on gut feeling always provides the greatest rewards.

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to experience the wild, unpredictable rewards of life far from the familiar—and the fly swatter.

Trading mountains for the miraculous.

Recharged in Sa Pa, it was time for Divina to move us south. This week, we tackle the overnight train to Ninh Bình, and it was exactly the kind of travel irony we’ve come to expect. We paid for the comfort of a luxury sleeping car, only to receive the complementary, very unwelcome extras of incredibly loud rattling and seismic bumps all night long.

The journey was rough, but the destination was pure hypnosis. Arriving in Ninh Bình, we were immediately calmed by a landscape unlike any other in Vietnam. We explore the serene waterways filled with slow-moving rowing boats, the towering limestone cliffs that seem to rise straight out of the rice fields, and the beautiful, quiet power of the ancient temples we found. A perfect place for a prayer of thanks—or maybe just a plea for a quieter onwards journey.

Join us as we witness the rewards of endurance, and find out why this place is often called "Ha Long Bay on land."

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to join us for the kind of rewards that only truly exceptional decisions deliver.

After the chaos of the night bus, Divina prescribed rest. And we listened.

We’ve the intensity of our Mu Cang Chai experience for the cool, restorative calm of Sa Pa. This episode is less about chaotic adventure and more about the vital art of the recharge. Surrounded by mist-covered mountains and vast terraced valleys, we found a perfect pause button for our life experiment.

Join us as we explore what Sa Pa has to offer and sink into a slower pace. We talk about how good it feels to recover after an intense travel day, the surprising quality of the local matcha, the truly amazing pho that fuelled our recovery, and the simple pleasure of breathing in the cool mountain air.

This is the sound of two people officially settling into their exceptional, new normal.

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to join us in the mountains and enjoy the reward of slowing down.

Is the view worth the chaos? Divina certainly seems to think so.

After the calm of Cat Ba Island, we are immediately plunged back into the deep end of Vietnamese travel. This week, we tackle the infamous night bus—a completely packed, aggressively delayed, and often baffling ride that tests our patience and our exceptional-decision-making sanity.

But when we finally arrive at La Pán Tẩn, Mu Cang Chai, we get our reward: one of the most breathtaking scenes we’ve encountered thus far. Here, life moves at a different pace, defined by the colorful and simple existence of the local Hmong indigenous people. We share stories from the rice paddies that climb impossibly steep hillsides, the unexpected deluge of rain, and what it’s like to witness an authentic way of life untouched by the tourist crowds.

Join us as we trade a restless night for an unforgettable view, and find out what happens when you trust destiny to deliver beauty—even if it's soaking wet.

Five days after landing in Hanoi, Divina has spoken. Our destination? The towering, jungle-clad peaks of Cat Ba Island, Vietnam, and the iconic karst landscape of Ha Long Bay.

It feels good to be out of the city and finally getting into some real nature. This week, we deal with the logistics of getting to the island and start the process of settling into this exceptional new life. With no deadlines or to-do lists, we immediately book a boat to experience the sheer, majestic scale of Ha Long Bay.

Although the UNESCO world heritage site is a massive draw to the area there is also plenty of magic to experience in the centre of the island, exploring the dense jungle and steep peaks of the national park.

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Join us on our tropical island escape and find how this leap of faith is already delivering the kind of rewards money can't buy.

We sold the furniture, quit the jobs, and bought a one-way ticket to Hanoi. This isn't any old holiday—it's an experiment in exceptional decision-making.

This is the start of a new adventure. In this debut episode, we hit the ground running (or perhaps, dodging motorbikes) in Vietnam's chaotic, beautiful capital. Forget the "top ten things to see" list; this is the raw, unfiltered story of what happens when two people trade stability for the absolute unknown.

Join us as we hand over the map and the compass to Divina, trusting that exceptional decisions are always rewarded.