Pre-Travel 2016

I go off on another adventure today. I am all prepped up for fighting mosquitoes in Africa, got  my million lists and folders ready and shared, ticked off my to-do checklist, checked in and waiting at the boarding gate.  

For the first time, I do not have a fixed itinerary or a return date for that matter (that is most unusual for me) but given the longer timeframe and the experiences from last time, I decided to play this trip by ear and see how I feel. Hopefully someway along the way, I decide to buy a return ticket – Or even better I decide to do this forever!

The history of this trip is a bit funny. It started off with 6 weeks of Europe (including 2 weeks with the family for mum’s birthday) . When the friend I was meeting up with took up an unmissable opportunity, I decided to extend it, scrap Europe and landed on Kenya and SE Asia. Organised it through work, did my budgets, ironed out a few career details – and we were in business!

So the trip is slightly more than 9 weeks. I don’t have an official back-to-work date (how cool is that!). I start off in Doha for a couple of days, meet my wonderful family in the jungles of Kenya and catch up with girlfriends in Thailand and Laos. I then have around 10 days to myself – Currently the plan is to either book in a tour somewhere or a bit of urban adventures (Let’s review this at the end of the trip to see where I ended up), I then meet up with the folks in vibrant Saigon and post that  – I do not know what to do. In the mindset of playing it by ear I will see how I feel. Some suggestions are Mauritius, Indonesia, Philippines – or maybe one of the pacific islands – Let’s review  this as well.

It took me a while to get excited for this trip. For a long time, I have had bad butterflies about travelling solo for an extended period or being lonely. Even on the trip to the airport I was nervous. But now, sitting at the gate, all checked in, there is no going back and I am feeling excited! Let's hope it's going to be a fun 9 weeks coming up.