Travel Plans

Now that I'm a working stiff I feel like I never get to go anywhere. So instead I live in a fantasy world where I get to go on trips all the time, so I travel plan. Recently I've been developing an interest in long distance bike rides, not races, but rides. In the past there was a 1200k ride from Boston to Montreal and back to Boston. For some reason this ride isnt' held anymore, but it's still a permanent (meaning you can register for it and do the ride on your own and get credit). I love Boston and I've been wanting to visit Montreal for years. Leigh feels the same way about these cities and has expressed an interest in spending next year's summer vacation this way (instead of Hawai'i!). Obviously, riding 350 miles to Montreal and then turning right around isn't the best way to see a new city, so we've decided to make our own ride out of this.

Instead of hauling ass from Boston to Montreal and then getting back within 90 hours, we've decided to fly into Boston, stay a day or two, then ride to Montreal through Vermont, taking our time. We'll try to average 70-100 miles per day so we get done in a reasonable amount of time. We'll also "credit card tour" the whole thing, staying in motels and such so we're more comfortable. Upon arrival in Montreal, we'll stay a few days to check things out before catching a flight home from Burlington, VT. Sounds fun, right?

• Here's the route:

Leigh and I have also done some talking about our Southeast Asia plans. She's not sure she can/wants to go anymore, but she knows I really want to take this trip before I settle into a new job in 2012. So she's now encouraging me to travel Southeast Asia solo. Normally I would feel very guilty about this, that I am being selfish by taking a long trip while Leigh stays home and works, but when your spouse all but tells you to use your time between jobs to get a trip out of your system, it's best to listen.

The down side to this is that I'm sure Leigh would really enjoy this trip, especially if we pulled out all the stops money-wise and lived like kings the whole time. Another down side is that I'm sure I would enjoy having these experiences with her. The up side is that this way we don't have to juggle our work/out of work schedules to find sufficient time for the trip. Also, it frees up a lot of money only having to buy one $1,500 roundtrip flight instead of two. What's more, I'll have more time to see and do everything I had hoped to without the constraints of using up Leigh's paid time off. In all it sounds like a good plan, but of course it's based on some qualifiers: (1) having the money to buy the tickets ahead of time (2) getting a job offer so it's not completely irresponsible of me to run off for a month or so and (3) getting a job offer somewhere that doesn't mind me delaying my start date by 4-6 weeks.

Because I'm going to have more time to travel and will be on my own schedule, I've made some alterations to our former plans. Basically, I'm going to buy a one-way ticket from Anchorage to Bangkok and a one-way ticket from Hanoi, Vietnam to Anchorage. All of my other travels will be over land (trains, boats and buses). What's more, aside from having some vague plans to visit various sites and cities in a certain order, I'm not going to prebook anything except my accommodation for my first few nights in Bangkok (I'll be exhuasted, so it's best to have a plan for that!). Instead of high-tailing it out of Bangkok immediately, I'm going to spend a few days there before going to Chiang Mai, stopping at Ayutthaya along the way. Then, instead of paying a premium to fly to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat, I'm going to take the train to the border and then a taxi the rest of the way. Similarly, I'll take a boat and a bus to Saigon before exploring Vietnam from South to North by train. Traveling overland will save me headaches from preplanning and a lot of money (trains and boats are so cheap!) in transportation, plus it's all about the journey, right? As you can see, I like having a plan, but I think I am really going to love choosing my departure days and times and my accommodation and activities more on a whim.

So once again this is all just speculative, but it seems more likely to happen now that we've taken Leigh's work schedule out of the equation. I'll still get to go and see and do all the things I've been researching for months, including having some suits tailored for me in Thailand and Vietnam, and Leigh will get some alone time to focus on work. She's also planning a shorter [domestic] solo trip of her own during that time, though she hasnt' chosen where she'll go.