Today is Monday and I'm at home, on the couch and pajama clad. No, I'm not slacking. I worked this weekend, so am taking a day off while all you other poor saps slave. Yes, let's not mention the Saturday and Sunday that said saps spent relaxing while I ran around like a headless chicken. No, let's focus on the fact that today is Monday and I still have bed-hair at noon.
With season 7 of the Gilmore Girls as background chatter, I've been flipping through my Lonely Planet books - one called Southeast Asia on a Shoestring and the other Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong - marking things with sticky notes, adding alarmingly spelled street names to a scratch sheet of paper (Th Narathiwat Ratchanakharin - huh?)
I'm also getting increasingly excited/anxious about this trip. Excitement to anxiety ratio is still in check, though, with excitement in the lead.
Even with excitement as the frontrunner, I keep thinking maybe I should've embarked on my first solo adventure in a single country rather than a region? Maybe I should've chosen a place where they use an alphabet of letters that is at least familiar? Maybe maybe maybe...
But then, no, I don't regret my choice - I think I'll just have to make sure my expectations include some tear-streaked moments where I'm completely lost, unbearably sweaty and mad mad mad about all the things things that conspired to bring me to that point. I'm sure they'll reach as far back as the breakup that initiated the whole thing, but I am already trying to cultivate that "get to" spirit, rather than the "have to" one that dogs me in tough spots.
I'll practice now. I get to set out on an epic adventure and go and do what I please, when I please. I get to buy outrageously cheap designer crap from street vendors and get to test an unknown ability to digest mystery meat. I get to see if I can truly travel light (my goal is one backpack, not fully stuffed, carry-on sized,) and enjoy the simplicity of two tshirts, three tank tops, a skit, a pair of shorts, 2 bikinis and one dress for three weeks. Most importantly, I get to find out my limits - bravery, compassion, determination, understanding and will finally get to tell the kinds of stories I've envied for so long.
Well, back to the books for me. I'm not accumulating stuff as quickly as I thought, but I do have all my travel sized toiletries in a ziplock baggie, a lock for hostel storage and a pile of summer-y clothes to sort through and pare (way) down. On the "to acquire" list is a travel sheet for less than spotless sleeping arrangements (I have Mexico to thank for that lesson) and a power adapter so I can keep my camera charged.
This is fun. I can't believe I get to do this!
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