Lucky 13

In case you're wondering about the staggering blob of text below (three thousand, two hundred, and three [more or less] words and counting), this is not going to be a text-only journal. Thanks To The Power Of HTML, there will actually be pictures (and ever perhaps other forms of media) from time to time.

Like this one.

Speaking of Bali, I have to say that the travel itch is striking again. That restless feeling, that wanting to move and see new and strange and beautiful things. It's not unbearable yet, but it's there, and it's quite real. It's not as bad as it was last year, when I just Had To Get The Hell Out Of Dodge for a few weeks; not quite as imperative, not as demanding, but it's an itch, and one that's gonna get worse until I finally end up scratching it.

It's not that I want to leave New York—quite the contrary; I very much enjoy living here (not to say that I wouldn't move if the circumstances are right). It's that, well, I get more done when I'm on the road. I feel like I'm actually accomplishing stuff. I can cram a year's worth of living into three weeks on the road. The lure of the road, the romance of the road, me and Willie Nelson singing On The Road Again.

The question, of course, is where. I'm thinking about Asia again, Hong Kong again, maybe Vietnam, maybe China proper, maybe Japan. Nepal sounds quite intriguing, particularly after what happened with the Crown Prince and all that.

Europe is also an option, particularly if my sister ends up spending some time there. It's been a long time since I've been over on the other side of the Atlantic and travelled.

Shortly before I left Hong Kong to come to New York, I took a three-week junket around South-East Asia, and I swore that I'd never travel alone again. Last year I spent three weeks wandering aimlessly around South-East Asia again, and was travelling more or less alone once more. I learned a lot about travelling by yourself on those trips. I think that if I go again, it'll probably be by myself. Not because that's become my preference (I think) but rather that it's much easier to head off on one of these trips if you're not travelling with someone. I had enough trouble trying to schedule this stuff around my job and other obligations. Doing it around two people's schedules is more than double the trouble. Either that or I'll just have to win the lottery so I don't have to worry about these sorts of things...

I think that I'll try to avoid cramming everything into a short trip. Which either means:

  1. Going for longer periods of time, which would probably be predicated on winning the lottery (see above), or
  2. Just not going to as many places.

I think I'd prefer Number One, but I may just have to settle for Number Two.

The problem with Number Two is that I'm always tempted by more. It's like when I'm shopping for dinner: I'll be in the supermarket and one thing (artichokes) will catch my eye and then another (asparagus) and a third (orange bell peppers) and the next thing you know I'm making eight different things and trying to fit them all on one plate. But sometimes it'd be better just to focus on three things and keep it simple and clean, you know?

The problem with Number One is that I might experience travel fatigue. If that's the only problem, though, I think I can deal with it...