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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

It's a Trip

I used to travel internationally quite a bit but haven't done much in the last few years. (My vacation fund goes to buy Trail Blazers tickets now.) I moved back to the States from Japan in 2006, spent about a year going to Hawaii a bunch of times, went on a big trip to Europe in 2007, and then to Costa Rica for my surf school vacation in 2011. (Crazy, but all of those trips are catalogued on this here blog.)

I've been saving my frequent flyer miles for years specifically so if I found myself in a position where I really wanted to travel but couldn't afford it, I could use them. I thought maybe that would be retirement. Well, that time came sooner than I thought. 

I'm doing well lately but noticing some strange things creeping into my life. Strange familiar things. Like: too much work, not a lot of rich solitude (as opposed to just spending time alone - I got that in spades), and not much constructive reflection. I've been a little on auto-pilot just doing my work and basketball thing, not really feeling checked in.

So two weeks ago I bought a ticket to China. I leave in a week. I'll be spending one night in South Korea (where I used to go for business and the odd Backstreet Boys concert when I lived in Japan), and then 9 nights in Hong Kong. I hope to get up to Guangzhou for a day or two as well. 

When I was deciding where to spend my miles, I only had two criteria: I wanted to go to a place I'd never been before, and I wanted to go to a place where it wouldn't be horrifically cold this time of year. Knowing that could be a million places, I did some quick research and narrowed it down to Panama or HK. And then I just decided to go to whichever worked out best with available flights and my time off from work. 

It's WEIRD. I'm neck-deep in year-end reviews at work (as usual for this time of year), so it doesn't exactly seem real. But when I do have a thought about boarding a plane in a week, I get scited. Or Exared. (That's a combination of excited and scared.) It seems impossible. Wild. 

Cross your fingers for me, please. I'm hoping it will be fun, connecting, challenging, an adventure. And I'm open to anything. 

These guys don't look much worse for the wear.

6 comments:

  1. Wow, China! How awesome is that?! Enjoy your trip and please write about this adventure here.

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  2. I'm glad to see that you're reconnecting with your wanderlust. This year I might make more of an effort to discover which box contains my passport...

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  3. Ah! I'm so excited to hear about your trip! I'm happy you get to go and do something for yourself like this.

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  5. Whoa, just like old times! I write and you guys answer :) Thanks for showing up here again after so long. Nice to have you around.

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  6. Your third paragraph is me to a T. For a very, very long time. I don't see any travel in my near future, but I do need to shake things up and get out of my comfort/always scared zone.

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