I leave for the airport in 5 hours. Graduation was a mere 5 days ago. The turnaround has been both alarmingly quick and surprisingly unstressful. Anna, Sam, and I are as ready as we are going to be. After a really long time traveling*, we will arrive in Bangkok International Airport to get picked up by Sid**, a lady who was a visiting international student with my mom at Butler. I've sketched out our tentative schedule below.
I'm not sure if I will be able to update this blog that often while traveling. Last year, I did most of my writing either in my dorm room at Oxford or on a laptop on trains. Since we are not bringing laptops (nor dorm rooms), I will only be able to throw up some updates at internet cafes here and there.
*Anna leaves first, from Detroit. I leave at 730pm Eastern Time, arrive at 1030am Thai time, 2 days later. I think this means I travel for 28 hours, and Friday disappears somewhere over the International Dateline.
**Sid's teen-aged children are named Bimp and Bap. We think.
Tentative plans:
The goal is to visit Chiang Mai, Ko Samui, and Angkor Wat (Cambodia).
May 28 Arrive
May 29 Sleep. Possibly wait for Sam to arrive if her travel bad luck continues. And hopefully check out Bangkok. Take an overnight train to Chiang Mai (purchased).
May 30-June 5 Stage out of Chiang Mai. See temples, temples, and more temples. Ride elephants, trek through the mountains, take cooking classes, and possibly a Buddhist retreat. All TBD
June 5, direct flight from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui. We choose Koh Samui over the more famous Phuket because of Monsoons at this time of year.
June 6-8. Sleep, sunbath, and snorkel. Possibly explore Angthong NP.
June 9 - travel to Cambodia via Bangkok. Hopefully the border is open.
June 10-12 - Stage out of Siem Reap, explore Angkor Wat.
June 13 - Return to Bangkok. Possibly via Phnom Pehn?
June 14 - Flex day in Bangkok
June 15 - Noon flight out of Bangkok. Sam, Anna, and I split in LAX after what is ideally a life changing experience.
June 18 - Tim's wedding.
June 22 - Depart Chicago for London.
At the time of writing, June 23 to June 30 is entirely open. Probably me covering Serbia and Bulgaria solo
July 1 - meet my little sister in Istanbul.
Turkey for 11 days, then Berlin-Dresden-Krakow-Budapest. Gina and I are sorting out a few things before we buy flights; hopefully will be hammered out soon since Gina's currently in Troyes, France.
July 21 - leave Budapest for Chicago.
July 23&24 - Martinez family reunion, New Mexico.
September-ish: Become an adult.
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