A big, long trip is a life event. It stays with you, fills your soul with experience, colors your view. There is a lot to plan, but it is easier the second and third and fourth time around. It is exciting planting a seed and seeing the plant grow, flower, leaf, fruit.
We considered destinations for the fall and winter. Hawaii? South America? India? The trip began to coalesce around two seeds, one planted in Hawaii, the other in Thailand.
The email arrives from Hani. You may remember her from Edinburgh last July. She and Andrew are celebrating milestone birthdays. In November, at her aunt’s beach resort in Vietnam. We look at the calendar, sounds great, we’re in.
Hmm… we’d be missing Loy Krathong, a Thai festival that occurs nationwide on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. Or would we? We look at our dates, decide that a week in Bangkok prior to Vietnam would be a great stop.
The southeast Asia dates would work even better if we stopped over for a couple weeks in Japan. It turns out that Kyoto, famous for it’s cherry blossoms in the spring, is equally gorgeous in the fall (photo credit).
South of Kyoto, midway to Osaka, lies Nara, the capital of Japan from 710 to 784. They have temples and deer. As good a spot as any to celebrate AliSun’s birthday.
Following Vietnam, we embark to Northern Thailand – Chiang Mai – the digital nomad capital of the world. Five weeks, maybe six, we still have to work out Thai visas. Neither of us are feeling particularly drawn to doing a visa run. (photo credit)
The best part? We don’t know what lies ahead. We don’t know what experiences will be most memorable, what will stay with us for decades to come. We don’t know until we go. And so.