Travels through Southeast Asia and beyond
11 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in Pre-Departure, Where's Wally Tags: Boston, Fenway, Mascot, Red Sox, Wally
Tim and I thought it was only right to take a little piece of Boston with us on our trip. For those of you who don’t know Wally, he’s the Mascot of the Boston Red Sox. “Wally the Green Monster” is named after the Notorious Green Monster in the left field of Fenway Park.
On Tap At Remy's
Today Wally is feeling right at home at Jerry Remy’s outside Fenway Park. More
05 Oct 2010 1 Comment
in Pre-Departure Tags: Boston, talking heads
[Audio https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9901364/03%20Once%20In%20A%20Lifetime.mp3%5D
On Life Change
The decision to travel isn’t just about travel. It’s a decision to take your life as you know it and lock it up in a 5′ by 10′ storage container. Everything you identify yourself with: your career, your community, your family and friends, in a way they get locked away too.
This is not easily done. I’ve recognized for a while though that life has a way of moving fast and slow at the same time, and despite my attempts, I have never been able to slow time down or speed it up. So failing at that, Tim and I are making a change. One where the days are so different that they won’t be able to pass us by.
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26 Sep 2010 2 Comments
in Pre-Departure Tags: Boston, Mama Cass
Why Long-term Travel
The most scary moment so far in the planning of this trip was when we purchased one-way tickets for an island most people have never heard of in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I had a moment of asking myself “why am I doing this again?” So I thought I would answer that here:
Adventure
Whenever I make the decision to go on a trip to a new place a vision tends to pop into my head: diving deep under water, wandering down an interesting alleyway, biking through rain forests, you get the idea. I love those kinds of adventures. It’s usually the ones I’m not planning on that are the best adventures though. Ending up in the wrong destination (that turns out to better than your intended one), attempting to order lunch from a waiter that speaks no English, or going out for just one quick drink and finding yourself at a 4am beach bonfire. The possibilities for these things on the road seem infinite.
Freedom
Unlike so many people, I loved my job. I didn’t love that my job caused me to be constantly attached to my email. I could leave for a week but my clients were still there while I was gone, and the requests were building up. I carried my job with me. To a lesser extent we all have obligations to our network of friends and family. Our “free time” is filled with baby showers, birthdays, helping friends move. We don’t mind these things individually, but we also enjoy the break. On the road, it’s just Tim and I. The days are ours – all of them. More
22 Sep 2010 Leave a comment
in State Side Tags: jetlbue, Kerouac, Otis Redding, san francisco, wine
[Audio https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9901364/01_Sittin_On_The_Dock_Of_The_Bay.mp3%5D
The Trip before the Trip – San Francisco, California
The Painted Ladies
At midnight on Thursday, after sitting on a plane for over 6 hours I looked down on what was supposed to be San Francisco. The Pilot was explaining that we had been circling for some time over the city covered in thick fog and now we were out of gas and going to Oakland to fill up (which was even foggier, but there was no line to land). Being an East Coaster, I don’t know exactly how Oakland fits in with SF (well I do now) so when we landed and were informed that we were getting gas and would be back in the air to SFO eventually I wasn’t sure what to do. “How much is a taxi and how long is the ride?” …”Oh wait, the BART runs all the way here?” So I got off at Oakland.
the BART at midnight - not too sketchy
Now, my friend had a town car meeting her at the airport that I was supposed to jump into, so being down-grading to a 45 minute commute on the subway at midnight, or 3am according to my internal clock, was low on my list. As I was running with bags to make sure I made the last train a thought came over me: this is going to be my life for the next several months – dealing with it in the U.S. is good practice – at least the directions are in English. After arriving at my stop and following a very stubborn blue dot on my iphone in every direction but the right one, and then finally dragging my bag in correct direction (up a 20 degree inclined hill for several blocks), I made it to the hotel. I found Michelle, changed my shirt and despite every bone in my body begging me not to, we went and grabbed a beer and at a great pub – and then, just like magic I felt completely content.
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12 Sep 2010 4 Comments
in Pre-Departure Tags: Boston, carbon leaf
Here we go.
My husband and I are doing something insanely stupid. We’re giving up everything we have worked hard for years to achieve so we can spend the next several months being bit by mosquitoes, arguing in languages we don’t understand, and subjecting ourselves to some very ugly bathroom experiences.
And we can’t wait.
Today is the beginning, because it is the first blog post. It’s out in the world and we can’t take it back now. Of course, we have been mentioning plans to friends and family for years now. The responses have been all over the place, but the biggest thing we hear is “I would love to do that, but…” All types of things follow that…jobs, family, it just sounds so risky and scary. They ask “aren’t you scared?” And the answer is – Yes! Scared s%!tless. I don’t know why we tell ourselves being scared of something means we shouldn’t do it. It makes life more fun.
The idea for this trip started years ago. Tim and I were out to dinner one night and I was explaining that it would be hard to get to all the countries we wanted to visit by taking one or two-week vacations. He listened hesitantly while I mentioned long-term travel. I remember him saying “how about a month?” and I said “maybe,” but I always knew if we were going to do it we had to go bigger than that.
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On The Banana Pancake Trail 