Wow! I feel like all of my trips start with a post like this. I’m super busy. Stressed out. Overworked and overbooked saying good bye to everyone, and under prepared.
This trip isn’t much different. Originally I intended to have two weeks to use to deal with getting new insurance, planning out the trip, seeing everyone, etc, etc… But then the trip just kept growing bigger and bigger.
It all started when my friend Judy told me I should come visit to her in Thialand. Sure! Then we looked into spending two weeks in India. Tickets for $400? How could we not?
Then my friend Jason showed interest in coming. I really didn’t think that he was going to come when I first asked, but a few weeks later, he followed up to see how things were going, and so he was in!
Then I talked to Thanh. Turns out his brother is getting married in Vietnam around the sametime we’ll be there. Ok!
If we’re going to go to three Asian countries, might as well add 3 more: Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia! Your It!
We actually looked into going to Indonesia for a short while too. But then we read the CIA’s travel advisory site for it. Its ranked at the highest level. Right up there with Iraq, Iran, and Packistan… I think we’ll pass…
So weeks go by, and I’m as busy as always, and have no time to plan out anything. I’m not too worried since that was about the same story when it came to Peru, but something tells me South East Asia might be a little different… But then Jason comes to the rescue! Since he works for himself from home, he was able to plan out most of the trip. He found the cheapest flights, booked hostels in the first few cities we would be staying in, worked out the ground transportation between countries, found out where we needed visa’s for, you name it! I felt like I had my own personal travel agent. It was great!
I managed to get a few days off to go to NYC and Boston to work on applying for Visa’s for India and Vietnam to try and pull my weight planning for this trip. On the bus ride back home I ended up sitting next to Arvinder’s friend’s (Udit) brother (Himanshu). Turns out Odith is also getting married on the same days we’re going to be in India and so Himanshu extends an invitation to us. Arvinder couldn’t let me go to HIS best friend’s wedding without him being there, so he joins in too…
While in India, I’m also hoping to possibly meet up with some of the people I met there before, like Marina and Balaji(!!!). So I’ll be traveling to the complete opposite side of the planet, visiting six counties, and seeing AT LEAST six friends from back home! I can’t wait!