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Published: December 20th 2012
Hello and welcome to my blog... it's going to be a learning experience for me, having never done one before. I hope you enjoy the stories and photos and I look forward to hearing from you, even if it's only to whine that it's snowing and -30 outside.
It's remarkable how many details there are to take care of when you decide to take a break from your job to go traveling for an undetermined length of time - I don't remember it being quite so complicated when I took a similar break in 1998 (which I planned in 5 weeks). The "to-do" lists had "to-do" lists so I finally had to organize it all in a notebook by category - a thing of beauty! That's the accountant in me, I guess. Anyway, it's coming together, and my departure date of January 1 is just over the horizon. Tom the cat and the house are taken care of (thanks Brad!), flights are booked (mostly) and while not a single item has seen the inside of my backpack yet, I have lists of what I need to pack and a new camera lens to go buy!
The first stage of my journey will begin in Sri Lanka, after a fairly ugly 51 hour transit from Calgary to Colombo, via Los Angeles, Tokyo and Singapore. It sounds worse that it will be, as 20 of those hours are a layover in Singapore, which I haven't visited since 1996, when I was there with my sister. One of my uncles is temporarily working in Sri Lanka, so I'm looking forward to seeing George (and Maria briefly) very early the morning of January 4th. Nothing like travelling half way around the world to visit family who live in Vancouver. After an organized tour in Sri Lanka, I'll have a few more days with George before heading to New Delhi, India. In the interest of breaking myself into India gently (if there is such a thing), I'm travelling with a small group throughout Rajasthan for 3 weeks - the itinerary appealed to me, so I'll see how it goes - if nothing else, it will be a good introduction to the Indian rail system. I'll have 5 weeks on my own afterwards so I'm going to wing it and see what happens.
I do know that I need to be in the Maldives on March 24th to meet my friend Shelley for two weeks of of scuba diving. I think I made her year when I agreed to meet her the Maldives, the caveat being she has to bring my scuba gear and underwater camera over with her. We've planned a week at a resort on one of the northern atolls, followed by a week on a liveaboard dive boat called the Monsoon (the name better not be prophetic!). I suspect that after nearly nine weeks in India, the Maldives will be an oasis of calm. I'll be back home on April 9th if all goes as planned. Family, please make sure you have your tax return documents together before I get back!
The second stage of my journey is much more unstructured at this point. I know I will be in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (via Quito) for 10 days from April 16-25. I then plan to head for Colombia to exercise my brain for awhile, taking Spanish lessons for 4 to 6 weeks somewhere, and seeing the country. After Colombia, I'm heading north, back through Central America. Surf camp in Costa Rica appeals to me but time will tell.
At some point in the spring/early summer (and I'm trying not to think about it now), I will have to check in with the office to see what the job situation looks like...
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Rose
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Wow, big adventure!!
Hi Marilyn! It's your tent buddy from Kenya/Uganda last year! Wow, what an incredible journey you're planning. I'm very jealous! Before I decided on Kenya/Uganda last year, I was very close to booking a trip to Sri Lanka and Northern India/Nepal instead. It's definitely on my to-do list for one day. But I know what you mean about easing yourself in gently.... India sounds like a fairly full-on country that requires a bit of stamina! Have a very Merry Christmas (hopefully not too much last-minute stressing!) and all the best for your travels! Oh, and while you are hopping planes through Asia on your way to Sri Lanka, you should be coming to visit me!! I'm living 2 hours north of Tokyo at the moment, teaching English at a junior high school.