Day 1

After 24 hours of travel (IAD-NRT-BKK), we have arrived in Bangkok. I wish I could say it all went smoothly, but that wouldn't make for a very good story.

We started our adventure the night before we left when Jeff "misplaced" his passport. After frantically searching every bag and item in the house, we had just about decided it was locked up in storage when we thought to search the washing machine. There they were - 24 soaking wet pages. A towel and several minutes of blow drying returned the passport to almost new. Hopefully the authorities won't notice the smeared signature on Jeff's Visa when we get to India.

The next phase of the adventure began at Washington Dulles when the counter agent told us that we could not enter Thailand and stay there for three months without having a visa. We had planned to get a visa on arrival, and  never once planned to stay in Thailand for our entire trip. There was no convincing the counter agent of this without a "purchased" itinerary. So we called in reinforcements. Our favorite Asian saved the day by looking up a flight number that would have us depart Bangkok on December 1. Then all we had to do was swear up and down that we had actually purchased the tickets. I will note, that Thailand does not require a departure itinerary upon arrival. This was all United playing the CYA game.

Can you tell we're excited?

The last hiccup came in Narita. I should first mention that our favorite Asian upgraded Jeff and I to Business Class for both our IAD - NRT and our NRT - BKK legs. This was my fifth time flying between Dulles and Narita in about a month and a half, and can say that this was the only time I was surprised at how "short" the flight felt. Bless you Will, and bless you Business Class. However, you can only imagine how happy I was when Jeff was upgraded for the NRT - BKK leg and I wasn't. Thankfully, they upgraded me at the last minute and I was able to convince a nice man (sitting in an aisle seat) to switch seats with Jeff (who was sitting in a middle seat).

$20 for this large room, aircon, hot water, and a balcony.

Lotus Flower Towels

After all that, we are here. We've checked into an airport guest house for a steep $20 - they probably charge extra so they can pay the person who folds the towels into lotus flowers. Tomorrow afternoon we get on yet another plane to go to Chiang Mai for the Loi Kratong festival. We are super excited!

-Alexis

One foot out the door

I don't know how many times now I've been asked, "How can you do that?" or I've heard, "I wish I could do that".  Just an hour away from leaving, and I'm still wondering how it has all come together, myself.  Last week I left my old contract, and earlier that week Alexis had her last day of work for three months.  All of our things are in storage, our tickets are booked, we've handle banking, visas, insurance and logistics.  We have a plan for our first week, for some holidays, and for meeting up with a few friends along the way.  All that's left is to wish our friends and family farewell and anxiously tap our feet while we wait to board our first flight... The last few days have been a whirlwind of last minute tasks mixed in with lot's of anxious foot tapping so it's a good thing we've had our friends to help distract us for our remaining time at home. Au Revoir!

-Jeff

"Of Course I'm In, but What Have You Done With My Girlfriend?"

This is what Jeff said to me back in January when I brought up the idea of going backpacking through Southeast Asia for three months. I was working in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for two weeks at the end of January. I was hanging out with some people I met at the hotel when I brought up how jealous I was of friends who had been backpacking throughout the world. One of the guys asked me why I didn't just do it myself. I had countless reasons why not - I had a job (how could I possibly leave my job?), I had a car (not yet paid off), I didn't have the money (it would probably take forever to save up), and I had a boyfriend (how could I convince him to do this with me?). Bottom line - I could not just ditch my life in VA to go galavanting through Asia. 


Needless to say I became convinced that I could do this. I could leave my job (temporarily), pay off the car, save up the money, and bring the boyfriend. I went home, got on Skype, and called Jeff. When I told him what I wanted to do, he really did say "Of course I'm in, but what have you done with my girlfriend?" You see, I'm not a very spontaneous person. I like to plan my life, and I swear by my Franklin Covey Pocket Slim day planner. In this way Jeff and I are complete opposites. He is spontaneous, likes to fly by the seat of his pants, and go with the flow. If it weren't for him, I would have probably come up with some kind of itinerary. Instead, we have only a handful of items on the agenda. For now, our sights are set on Chiang Mai where we will go to experience the Loy Kratong festival. After that we'll just figure it out as we go along. And yes, I will bring a planner.


Alexis