I'm sitting in my room on a Friday night after an incredibly busy week of planning, working, and going out a lot. I decided to take the time tonight to give my mind and body a rest and finally start this blog as I get ready for this insane trip... I am feeling so unbelievably excited and anxiety-ridden thinking about this experience. I'm leaving for Bangkok first. Spending a few days there, then moving onto the islands, then we'll see what happens. Eventually laos, vietnam and cambodia. A lot of my trip will be based around the people that I wind up meeting and the places that i wind up wanting to visit. I currently don't have a solid plan, which is the exciting but nerve-wracking part. Also I'm going SOLO. I only have friends I know I'll see when i get to Vietnam. I think i'm mildly psycho for booking a one-way trip without a friend but unexpected changes in my life have actually pushed me to follow one of my dreams. Call it an escape, call it a revelation, call it seizing the moment, call it running away from my problems... bottom line something told me i had to do this trip soon, and now is the time. I've been wanting to do a trip like this for at the very least, 3 years now, and the opportunity to do so revealed itself when i least expected it.
Someone asked me recently what i wanted to accomplish by going on this trip. i couldn't answer it fully. i still really can't... but as of now i can say a few things. the most obvious: I want to learn more about myself. I need to challenge myself, get out of my comfort zone, meet new like-minded people, try things I never have before, immerse myself in totally foreign cultures, customs, environments... communicate with locals, give back somehow, maybe (hopefully) volunteer for a week or two, and just lose myself in a trip that i know will be character building and life changing, whatever happens. These answers all sound so contrived, but I really do mean them.
I might write one last time before I hop on the plane on Wednesday, i'm probably gonna need to type all my nerves and excitement out. I also want to end my first blog post by reiterating my new years wall post, which really made me feel at peace with the obstacles and uncertainties of the recent past and near future: "It's been a year full of great surprises, achievements, challenges, wins, losses, blessings, discovery and change... curious to see what path 2012 has in store. Cheers to the new journey."
Celine
1 comment:
Whoa, what an amazing first week already!!! Much enjoying your blog, and the pix are be-au-ti-ful!! Don't know remember if I told you, but what struck me most in Bangkok itself when I visited many years ago was that there were as many VD clinics as there were temples... Sent you comments on day 1 but looks like it got lost in cyberspace. xoxoxo moms
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