“But I don’t want comfort. I want poetry, I want danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
— Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.
We’re not quite there yet but in a bit over 4 months I shall be starting my, no doubt turbulent, first time attempt at backpacking.
The first hurdle that had to be overcome was explaining to my parents that her beloved, chaotic, accident prone daughter has decided to leave the world of adulthood behind her for a little while longer and embark on this adventure at the ripe old age of (nearly) 28. Because I am me, my original plan of a 3 month trip quickly turned into 6 months which was equally difficult to justify. The benefit of being a full on grown up (at least on the papers) is however that justification is a choice rather than a necessity. I am perfectly capable of doing this, after all I am 28 years old, thank you very much! (Apart from that, everyone who knows me knows it is practically impossible to talk me out of such a thing once I decided on it.)
So now, budgets have been calculated, saving is in full blow, various lists are being compiled in multiple notebooks, a rough itinerary has been made and, most importantly, flights have been booked! The rough plan for now is to start off in the north of Thailand, move on to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia before traveling down the south of Thailand to Malaysia and then to make my way back to Bangkok where this particular adventure will end. I’ve got 6 months to do this and the main plan is to not overplan. (Even though the sheer abundance of notebooks collected specifically for planning purposes might give a different impression.) For now I am working my way down my checklist and try to spend the least amount of money possible while living in London, so life will most likely not be at its most exciting.
So for now,
Good bye! Lā k̀xn! La Gon! Tạm biệt! Lee hi! Syabas!
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