The Plan

Hey everyone. Thanks for the great initial positive feedback everyone! That should keep me blogging for a little bit.

Thought I'd talk a little bit about my travel plan, and if people have advice, opinions, contacts, 2nd houses in Bali, etc that they would like to share with me, that'd be great!

My main plan is to limit my planning. G. K. Chesterton said, "The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see." I hope to be a traveler, not a tourist. I think I will end up with a loose plan for my first 2 weeks or so, and then really go (or stay...) wherever seems right. Obviously I've never had anywhere close to this amount of time to travel before, so I'm hoping this will help me stay put and relax more and fight my natural tenancy to see and do everything because when am I ever going to be here again. And if I get to a place that I decide is nice enough to stay for a while, I should be able to really "see it" if I'm there for a while.

In figuring out that first 2 weeks, one of the most important things is to pick a direction. Do I head North (towards Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) or South (Thai islands, Malaysia, Indonesia)? I'm leaning towards South in part because the monsoons will be hitting the North during my trip but not yet the South, and in part because some random dude I met in Thailand told me that Sumatra was the coolest place he'd been in his 15 months of traveling. Might still end up in the North if that "seems right" at some point during my travels.

So for now, my first 2 weeks are looking something like this:

Day 1: Katie drops me off at SFO. We are sad. But I'm also excited about my trip and she's excited about not washing my biking clothes for 3 months. I fly to Tokyo and enjoy my economy seat.
Day 2-3: 1 day, 2 nights in Tokyo. Was going to be 2 days, 3 nights but I forgot about the international dateline when booking the flight. Not sure exactly what I'll do in Tokyo but I assume raw fish, consumer electronics and well manicured gardens will all be involved.
Day 4: Fly Tokyo to Bangkok. Skip Bangkok altogether, catch first flight to Ko Samui. (island).
Day 5-6: Find cheap but descent hotel/bungalow away from party central. Eat spring rolls, thai noodles, fried rice. Drink Singha's. Get several massages.
Day 7: Ferry to Ko Tao, the "scuba island". Find cheap but decent hotel/bungalow.
Day 8-12: Take PADI scuba certification class. Find time to eat spring rolls, Thai noodles, fried rice, drink Singha's and get massages during breaks.
Day 13+: Hit more and more remote Thai islands as I head South towards Malaysia/Indonesia/Sumatra.

Doesn't sound too bad, huh?

PDA Test Post

this is a test posting from my cell phone. i'm one mobile solidude...

FAQ

I know that alot of you probably have some questions. So here is a FAQ that hopefully will cover most of the bases.

Q: Is Katie gonna go with you this time.
A: No, just me.

Q: Uh, are you guys doing OK?
A: Yeah, we are doing great. Many things have been pretty hard lately (OK, pretty much just work...) and Katie has been wonderful. In this time of big changes, Katie and my relationship is the one thing I can really rely on.

Q: OK, then why isn't she going?
A: Katie doesn't really like to travel as much as I do. And its pretty hard on her health to be adventuring around in 3rd world countries. So she'd rather stay and I'd rather go. And we are both OK with that.

Q: So what's Katie (and Mocha and Zipper) gonna do?
A: They are all gonna stay are Katie's mom Samia's house in Ukiah. Katie will probably start looking for a place in Ukiah for us to rent for awhile when I first get back, while we sort out our next moves.

Q: Well, I don't really get it, but let's move on. Where are you going?
A: I'm flying into Bangkok on July 12 and out of Bangkok on October 10th. Where I go in those 3 months is pretty wide open. Certainly some time in Thailand again, but probably more time elsewhere. Probably Indonesia and Malaysia. But I might also go up north (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma).

Q: So why'd you quit that awesome job of yours anyway?
A: That's a long story and until I'm certain that there won't be any lawyers involved, I'd prefer not to comment.

Q: Hmm, that doesn't sound very awesome. Did you get fired?
A: No, I quit. There were a number of reasons why it was just time to move on. Let's talk about something else, OK?

Q: Fine. Why a 3 month solo trip anyway? To "find" yourself or something (asked in sarcastic tone)?
A: Yeah, that is certainly part of it. I've never had anything close to this much time off in my life (not since summers in jr. high anyway...) and I wanted to advantage of this transition to really clear my head and thing about what should come next.

Q: So why SE Asia again?
A: Well, I really did have a great time last time, but I did have 8 or more dental appointments over that month, so that made it a little less great. The off-the-beaten-path places that I got to were extraordinary. But since I had to be in Bangkok ever few days, I didn't get far afield too much. This time I want to.

Q: Anything else?
A: Yeah, the people where super friendly and helpful. The food was AWESOME (except when it sent me to the hospital and made me sick for days...) Everything was cheap. Most places outside the cities were gorgeous.

Q: Anything else?
A: Oh yeah, the daily 2 hour massages for $5 were also pretty cool.

Q: Uh-huh. So are you going to be able to blog as much as you did last time?
A: Well, probably not as much, but hopefully enough to keep you all interested. I plan to travel much lighter this time, which means no laptop this time. And while internet cafes seemed pretty prevalent in most places that I went, I imagine it might be harder to find internet if I'm really in the boonies. But I'll do my best.

Q: Can you really afford to take this much time off?
A: Maybe?

Q: Can I help you in anyway?
A: That is very kind of you. Look for a Paypal "support Erik's travels" donation link coming to this blog soon.

Q: Why is your blog called 100 Days of SoliDude?
A: Yeah, funny thing about solidude. It actually was a typo when i registered the site. It is kinda a better title in someways, but i'm also concerned that it sounds like i'm going on a solo "mancation" seeking out beer and babes (close, but not totally true...). I tried to re-register as 100daysofsolitude but some guy with a sex addiction already has that site (maybe i can trade him?!). So then I planned to go to something altogether different and call it "Reprieve from Chaos" which is the title of a self published book about aliens that my grandfather wrote in the 70's, but is also a fitting title for what I'm in search of. But people who found my new blog even before I have publicized it's existing widely and seem to like soliDude. So now I think I might just keep it...

Q: So what are you going to do for work when you get back?
A: I'm pretty sure that I'll be setting up my own consulting firm focusing on energy efficient lighting.

Q: Is that gonna work?
A: I hope so. But if it doesn't, it seems like I will have plenty of other opportunities for "jobs." I have alot of friends in the industry, and the worker-to-skilled-laborer ratio in energy-efficiency right now greatly favors the worker.

Q: Um, you aren't going to try to move in with me while you try to make ends meet, are you?
A: Maybe. Do you have a spare bedroom? Can I bring my dogs?

Q: No more questions.

New Blog, New Life

I quit my job. We put our house on the market. And in July I'm gonna hop on a plane to SE Asia for 3 months of wandering. So, I figured I better start a new blog so that all you wise souls can help me figure out what the frack to do with my life.

This blog primarily will serve as my travel log, so most of my posts will have to do to the trip. But the purpose of the trip is intrinsically tied to the bigger things going on in my life right now, so "life" might be discussed from time to time as well.

Anyway, welcome to the new blog and the new life. Should be quite a trip...