Progress!

Alright, I officially am making progress for my trip to South East Asia, and I've got great news:

I've bought my flight tickets to Bangkok! That's right, I've finally done it. It's official, I WILL be traveling this coming summer.

I kept track of prices for awhile and stumbled upon a price war going on between domestic carriers and the asian carriers. Tickets were all sitting at $1500-$1800 round trip, which was putting a big strain on the tight budget that I will have available. My goal was to buy my tickets for under $1200 total for the flights only, what I noticed (through other bloggers pointing this out to me) is that when buying a ticket from the mid-west US, the price is between 1/3 to 2/3 more expensive if you pick up a connecting flight.

Example:
Flying from Kansas City: $1500-$1800+
Flying from San Francisco: $1070 (this is the ticket I bought)

I'm planning on picking up either a budget ticket ($230 or less) or a greyhound ticket (currently $230) for a separate round trip to drop me right in SFO or the city in general with plenty of time to get to the airport and time to maybe couch surf a day or two before leaving on the return leg.

I'm leaving May 8th and returning July 10th. My flight transfers in Tokyo (I ended up flying Delta airlines because I wanted to save $200.. might bite me in the bum, but maybe not) and, sadly, I arrive in Thailand around midnight local time. So I'm thinking of relaxing for awhile at a coffee shop or something. (thanks wanderingEarl for that pointer).

So I have my ticket, my passport, backpack, and some of the clothes I want to take. I'm looking into getting my shots here, though I found I can get them at the red cross (aka snake farm) in Bangkok for MUCH less (have heard around $100, which is WAY better than several hundred). So that's where things stand, New backpack update soonish (busy with school, so updates come second, apologies).

Feel free to comment with questions or comments!

UPDATE!

Alright, I’m back from my overly long hiatus. UPDATE TIME!

So, back in November of last year, I hit a funk. I had been working very hard at a job that I didn’t really enjoy too much to save money for my trip. Add to this my transportation issues that cropped up off and on, plus school, family, sickness, etc. etc. etc. With all of the things piled up, I managed to get myself in a sort of depressed state, but still managed to save money.

Fast forward to March of 2012, I was fed up with missing class because I didn’t have my own transportation. I ended up taking my savings (around $2000) and bought a motorcycle. Long story short, I should be selling the bike this coming weekend and I’ll have the money for my summer trip again.

My current itinerary is in development, but I’ll probably fly to Cancun, MX in a few weeks (looking between mid-june and july 1st and returning around august 1st – 8th. I’m going to sell a couple more items to make sure I have enough money for the duration of the trip, but I’m going to do it. I’m going to take my trip like I originally planned. It’ll be a bit of a rush to get everything finalized, and the trip will be a tad shorter, but It’ll still be pretty awesome, I think.

I know that I want to see the big volcano in Nicaragua, I want to go out to some tiny island and walk its’ circumference, and I want to possibly see the panama canal, I’ve heard it isn’t spectacular, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it.

More to come in the next few days as I put things together and get my tickets bought.

-Greg

A Change of Scenery

I'm struggling up a steep hill, having hiked a couple miles already, a glance ahead reveals the loose gravel road beginning to level off. I shift the weight of the backpack holding the food I just picked up at the small store back down the road, adjusting the straps to keep it from sagging. “Only another mile, slowpoke” my friend calls from ahead. “Yeah,” I think to myself, “only another mile.” My shirt soaked in sweat, my asthma acting up, feet protesting every step, but there's a difference, I'm having a great time.

That piece is out of my old journal that was written after my trip to Canada. I wasn't in the middle of nowhere, though it seemed that way sometimes because I wasn't familiar with the area. Looking back at my writings from 2006 and thinking back with fresh perspective, I've seen how much I've grown and changed in five years. I was fascinated by travel back then, though also afraid. Not afraid of the travels or the experience, but of what other people would think of the lifestyle I was desiring even then. Back then I cared so much about what people thought of my choices. I wanted people to approve of whatever I ended up choosing as a career. I was lost and confused and misguided. It took a long time to grow into the person I am today. I'm still growing, I'll never be finished “growing up” mind you. Life is all about the adventure.

A modern explorer. That's what I want to be. No, That's what I AM. I've always looked at Columbus (even though he failed at finding a route to Asia and found Cuba instead, he took it in stride), Marco Polo, all of those other explorers that I can't remember the names of, I've always looked at them with a sense of awe. “Thats what I want to do” I'd always say, but I always thought there wasn't an option for me to do anything of the sort. Now I know that there is in fact exploration out there. Sure, I won't be looking for new civilizations or vast unseen lands, but exploring the already established ones that are out there to see sounds like an adventure. That's what I want to do, that's what I am going to do. I will find a way to do what I want and be open to the various doors that life opens.

This dream is as multifaceted as a finely worked diamond. Each facet different while all together making something amazing. I'm discovering my talents as well as the things at which I am not as skilled. I can do chemistry decently, but not as well as most others. I can do other sciences as well, but not to the degree that many reach. I am learning that I have a penchant for writing and it happens to be something I've wanted to do for a very long time. Along with my dream of traveling the world, I am pursuing my dream to be a writer. I'm willing to do what writing comes my way, I'm not looking to be a hard news writer, but if that's a project available to me, it might be what I do for a period of time. If all I manage to write are tales of my exploits, so be it. I'm not under any delusion that this will be a walk in the park. I fully believe and hope that it will be the challenge I feel it will be.

           With enough perseverance, hard work, and a good attitude, I fully believe that you can accomplish anything. I will be traveling by this time next year. In fact, I know that's what I'll be doing. I'm going to travel and write about my travels. I want to find more inspiration for writing. Things that I can put into a new perspective, have a source for more accurate brainstorms about the fiction novel I've wanted to write. I'm not afraid of danger, new things, or changes. Proof of this would be last year during the blizzard. A friend and I walked about 5 miles (2 and a half each way.) Why? We wanted chili for dinner and the campus store was closed so we walked through the blizzard to the grocery store. We caught a bit of flak for that when we returned. The RA's were not happy about it, but found the situation funny afterwards.

I'm not apprehensive about taking this kind of giant leap into the unknown, it excites me to be honest. This will be a huge step into new territory. Most people in my generation don't do things like this, I find that quite sad. The “wanderlust of youth” isn't entirely gone, but mostly involves small trips within our own country, within the confines of their home state or to neighboring states. I'm not knocking the USA or its sights to behold, I just think that if you're gonna go, go big or go home. I plan on seeing the sights back here at some point in my travels, I just want to get out there and experience the world first hand. I've spent 23 years in the USA, I'd say I'm due for a change of scenery.