The Route

So where the hell am I these days anyway? Well, right now I'm sitting at a cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam. Last week I was in Thailand. Two months ago I was living in Korea. Another couple weeks from now and I'll be in Cambodia. Not a clue where I'll be six months from now, but six months ago I was in Mongolia. What travels will I be writing about?? The current ones, I suppose. But not without a reference, or an homage, here and there to the roads that I've traveled that brought me to wherever I might find myself currently. What exactly are the current travels? Well, after doing this traveling thing for the past 8 years off and on, I thought it was high time I finally cover the route that practically defines the concept of modern-day, cheap travel in faraway lands... good ol' Southeast Asia.

My route is a bit hodge-podgy, starting south, going back up north, making my way south again. Without a doubt, catering my trip towards meeting up with amazing travel partners is an easy choice to make. From Korea, I flew south to Bangkok. After six weeks in Thailand, I flew north to Vietnam. Now, I will trickle down south again, through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, back through Northern Thailand, over to Burma, and hopefully still have time and funds left for Malaysia and Indonesia. I started on February 7th... I plan to keep going through July, at least.

Though it's already been seven weeks since I began these current travels, I plan to back-track in this blog a bit, and begin where it began. In Bangkok, on Feb. 7th. Stay tuned...

"Wanderlust"

"The urge for adventure, the desire to know what is over the next hill are like echoes in the backs of our minds that speak of sounds not quite heard and places not quite seen.

Take the chances and follow the voices that call you to distant places. Live, if only for a short time, the life of a traveler. It is a life you will always cherish and never forget. You leave your home secure in your own knowledge and identity, but as you travel, the world in all its richness intervenes. You meet people you could not invent; you see scenes you could not imagine. Your own world, which was so large as to consume your whole life, becomes smaller and smaller until it is only one tiny dot in space and time. You will return a different person.

Many people don't want to be travelers. They would rather be tourists, flitting over the surface of other people's lives while never really leaving their own. They try to bring their own world with them wherever they go, or try to re-create the world they left. They do not want to risk the security of their understanding and see how small and limited their experiences really are. They move from hotel to hotel, protected by money and credit cards, and never really meet the world through which they are traveling.

To be a real traveler you must be willing to give yourself over to the moment and take yourself out of the center of your universe. You must believe totally in the lives of the people and the places where you find yourself.

Become part of the fabric of their everyday lives and you will get a sense of what it means to live in their worlds. Give yourself over them - embrace them rather than judge them - and you will find that the beauty in their lives and their world will become part of yours.

When you move on, you will have grown. You will realize that the possibilities of life in this world are endless, and that beneath our differences of languages and culture we all share the dream of loving and being loved, of having a life with more joy than sorrow.
You will never regret your choice.

To be sure, there will be moments of doubt when you stand alone on an empty road in an icy rain, or when you are ill with the fever in a rented bed. But as the pains of the moment will come, so too will they fall away.

And when you get old, and your body has begun to fail you, the memories will be waiting for you. They will lift you and carry you over mountains and oceans. You will hold them and turn them and watch them catch the sunlight as they come alive once more in your imagination, You will be rich and you will be at peace.

In the end, you will be so much richer, so much stronger, so much clearer, so much happier, and so much better a person that all risk and hardship will seem like nothing compared to the knowledge and wisdom you have gained."
 

-A man who so eloquently said everything I perceive to be true about travel... Kent Nerburn.

A beginning, of sorts...

This website right here, this is "Laura's First Travel Blog". This picture, is me.

Hi   :)

Though I've constantly kept a travel journal with me over the past few years, and managed to fill up several books with my 'thoughts while on the road', blogging is quite a foreign concept to me. Similar to those journal writings, those of you who know me well have probably received a lengthy email or two throughout the years, as I attempt to detail and sum up all of my recent experiences while traveling in foreign lands, in order to stay connected to you. In some ways, this blog might be a combination of those two things... a way to write about my personal thoughts and experiences in a way that allows the people in my life to tune in, whenever they feel like it. Should anyone else ever tune in, well hopefully I can keep them entertained as well.

My greatest fear in writing a blog is to be misconstrued, or to come off as sounding far too self-important. For that reason, there are a few things that must be said before anything else is said. Disclaimers, I suppose.

No matter what I write in this blog; no matter how I feel about a place, an experience, an interaction, a culture, or a meal; no matter how strongly I feel that way, I am never presuming to try and tell anyone what something IS. Subjectivity will reign supreme throughout, and behind every one of my statements is the unwavering knowledge that the opposite statement can be equally true and equally valid... in another person's blog perhaps. Not only is everything I experience being filtered through my own perspectives and beliefs, (even when I'm trying hard to quiet those), but I'm also fully aware that for every experience of mine that left a certain impression, there are uncountable other people who have came away with an entirely different impression. Different days, different moods, different interactions, different weather, and a hundred other variables... all these things color our intake of every situation. These are my intakes. 

Also, I travel in a particular manner. I prefer some kinds of experiences over others. I often gain greater fulfillment from more challenging, authentic, off-the-beaten track routes, while I am often left wanting, and uninspired by typical, touristy places and activities. Tour groups and tour packages are almost never my friends.This is not to say that those kinds of travel don't have their place in the world, it is simply to say that they do not have a place in my heart. My own finances dictate a large part of my travel style, but it goes beyond that as well.

For example: I sometimes prefer to stay in cheap backpacker digs, instead of opting for more comfortable and convenient hotels, even when the price is only a small difference. YET, the dichotomy of my psyche is that that does not mean I don't enjoy hotels. Quite the opposite actually! Of course it's cozy to have a looked after, spacious room, a bed that's made every day, a/c in hot climates, hot water in cold climates, privacy, and perhaps a bit of insulation from the sometimes chaotic environments I find myself in. I've stayed in those places, and by no means did I just tolerate it... I quite LIKED it. However, I've noticed a price that is paid beyond the room rate. When I have a cozy hotel room, I am less likely to spend most of my time away from it (cause it's just so nice in there isn't it?), but when my room is a simple bed within four walls, I am far more likely to only sleep in it (there's always somewhere more interesting to be than a dingy, simplistic, or borderline uncomfortable, room).

On top of that, there's the matter of the people one meets. In the budget, backpacker guesthouse I am far more likely to meet independent travelers who can offer tips, stories, and information about independent traveling. In pricier hotels, I am more likely to meet travelers who book tour packages, and will recommend agencies, guides, and drivers who will 'take care of all of the organizing', whilst many times allowing me only glimpses of the most common, pre-approved, 'sights'. Each to their own. Even though it sometimes goes against my very natural desires for comfort and ease, I choose to inconvenience myself and hope for the reward that that can bring. Many times I pay the price for that choice too, and only end up frustrating myself, achieving none of the 'pay-off' that I hoped for when I chose the more difficult route. Choices have to be made though, consequences weighed out... and more often than not, I'll choose to take my chances on the cheaper, more challenging options.


Allow me yet one more disclaimer. Though I have just rhapsodized about how I fancy myself an independent traveler, seeking 'off the beaten path' opportunities, that is NOT to say that I am by any means a gold-star member of that club. I am constantly aware of (and sorta jealous of) the plethora of travelers out there, who could easily run circles around my travel experiences. In a world that is becoming more accessible by the minute, finding untraveled areas is practically impossible, and it is not my be-all/end-all intention to be the only traveler in every destination. I just want to travel everywhere and experience everything I can! If that means covering the 'tourist trail' at times, (which has become popular for a reason), I have no shame about doing that. And, damnit, the Lonely Planet is helpful to me. Perhaps I many times end up traveling the more beaten, off the beaten, path. I'm very aware of, and perfectly okay with that.

Alright folks, I think I'm done trying to explain myself, and ready to begin explaining my travels instead. With an entire, lengthy, posting about my intentions and my hopes for how my words will be read... I must now leave the rest of your perceptions up to yourself and simply write what I want to write. In the words of Anthony Burgess, "Eat this sweetish segment or spit it out. You are free."