I catch a noon flight out of SFO in 2 months from tomorrow and then the adventure (and restless leg syndrome) begins. I think I'm in pretty good shape preparing for the trip, but thought I'd go through a quick check list...
- Research: Since I've decided I want to wing it, this has pretty much given me a license to be lazy about research. Still pretty sure my first 2 weeks will be as I previously described, but then i-doh-no.
- Packing: Planning on packing extremely light, which also makes this easy to be lazy. I think I will bring approximately 2 changes of clothes and launder often. I'll have my Lonely Planet SE Asia book and I bought Walden so I'll look cool to other travelers. Add my cell phone (will try to get a SIM card there, so if you get a Skype account, you can call me. Don't forget about the 15 hr time difference...), my iPod, and my camera. Passport, ATM, credit cards. My razor and some toiletries and i think I'm set. If my backpack weights more like Mocha than Zipper, then I did something wrong...
- Visas: Still trying to figure this one out. I think most places (Thailand and Indonesia anyway) will let me in for 30 days without getting a Visa in advance. But I'm gonna fly into Bangkok with a return flight 90 days later, so I'm not sure they will believe me when I say I'm not staying for 30 days. Need to look into that. Also, if I love Sumatra, Bali, and Lombok, I might well want to stay in Indonesia for more than 30 days. Don't know how that works. If anyone has advice here, let me know. 3 months on the beach sound much better than 3 months in an Indonesian jail.
- Work (US): Things seem to be falling into place nicely for my future employment. By that I mean quickly, but not too quickly. Now strongly leaning towards setting up my own energy efficient lighting consulting business (please help me come up with something better than "Page & Associates"...) and I have 2 very solid leads for consulting contracts. If either one of these come through, I will pull the trigger on the business. If both come through, I will already have too much work. But both potential clients know about my trip and both are OK. Even better, both might have work for me in June/July as well as when I get back (mid Oct), so that my give me a little extra cash meaning I won't need to stay exclusively in places without electricity and plumbing.
- Work (abroad): Still think this would be cool, but nothing much is happening. Still a couple of leads though and something could break either before or during my trip. Not pushing too hard though as the Work (US) stuff looks so good that having the 3 mo's just for play is pretty tempting. I was briefly thinking of looking into volunteer work in Burma in the aftermath of the cyclone, but I'm not sure what I could do even if their government wasn't retarded and was willing to let foreign aide workers in. So I guess I will learn to scuba instead of trying to save peoples lives.
- House: House is still for sale and interest is not very interested. Still, we'll probably keep it on the market until I go, and then take it off. If we sell, we will move to Ukiah and probably rent for a year (or so) while things shake out. If we don't sell, we will stay in Winters for the shake-out.
- Katie: Katie and I are talking more about her coming and visiting me for 2 weeks in the middle of my trip (destination: unknown). This would be great. This would also probably require me to have my Work (US) nailed down so that Katie doesn't try to take me back with her to make me get a job.
