Thursday, February 28, 2008

The trip of a lifetime…or lifetimes, depending on your religion

Sometimes, I wonder how I suddenly found a love for traveling. I guess it is the excitement just before you step onto the plane for that 10+ hour flight to a far-flung land you never would have thought you would have seen. I get that feeling every time, and keep it for the length of my trip. Having that thrill every minute, not knowing what might be around the next corner, is what drives me on these long trips. I have never been a fan of the one week vacation. By the time you have figured out what you like about a place, you have to head home.

The two years since my last great adventure have been wonderful. Work has kept me occupied, but the thought of law school just around the corner is intimidating. I need to get one big hurrah in before I plunge back into school and then another job. New York, no matter how much I love it, wears on me after a while. It’s time to sneak out of town and take a peek at the outside.

The vacation I am about to embark on is actually two trips, with a quick break in-between. This sort of happened naturally, seeming as there is so much to see. Trip one with be me and my backpack journeying over much of Southeast Asia and parts of Japan. Bangkok, Ko Samui, Angkor Wat, Bali, and Tokyo are defiantly on the itinerary and depending on time constraints/airline routing I may be seeing Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, or Lombok. I should leave mid May, and be back by the middle of July. Trip two is all about the road. The good old Honda needs a new home, as I will not need a car in law school and it can’t take another winter of rusting in Uncle Ken’s driveway. So two friends and I are going to drive it out to California, having a blast on the way. We will leave mid-July and pull into L.A. by the end of the first week in august. It is a journey that every American should do, even just to get an idea of how big the country really is.

And so, I am starting to plot and plan. With my job ending in just two months, and my future assured by acceptance to law school, I am chomping at the bit to get out.