Travel Plans 2012: “Things we FOR SURE want to do this year!”

January 3, 2012 in Asia, Thailand, Travelogue

Elephant tour

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2012

That’s the first time I’ve written it. I can hardly believe it, actually.

We rang in the New Year quietly this year, with my best reproduction of Josephina’s “plata typica de pollo,” homemade tortillas, black beans & the works. We burned the remaining inches of our red Christmas candles, reminisced about the past year and made plans for this one.

“I don’t know why it matters what we want to do this year,” Ez teased, with sparkly grey eyes, “The world’s gonna end, you know!”

“No, no, that’s not until December 12, 2012,” Tony joked back, “We’ve got plenty of time!”

One of the best things about family travel and raising our kids the way we do is that they truly believe that anything is possible and that they can dream as big as they want, work hard, and it will happen.

“Would you like to know where we’re going this year?” Dad asked.

“Asia! We already know!”

“But would you like to know exactly where, and when?”

Their eyes sparkled.

Thailand, no later than May.

Excited chatter ensued and spun out of the silk of four young brains came the following list of

“Things we FOR SURE want to do this year!”

  • Ride an elephant (“But don’t elephants sometimes go crazy and kill people, Mom?”)
  • Get SCUBA certified (Elisha has been patiently waiting for Ez to turn 10 so they can get certified together)
  • Dive the Surin Islands National Marine Park
  • Celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary on this beach
  • Hire a Thai lady to teach me to cook
  • Learn to surf on the Andaman Sea
  • Learn enough Thai to get around (I’ll ride in a lot of taxis, cab drivers make the best teachers)
  • Attend the dragon boat festivals in Laos
  • Send a postcard to my nephew from Angkor Wat, like his Dad did for my kids
  • Travel part of the Ho-Chi-Minh trail
  • Sail between islands in Malaysia
  • Light a sky lantern for Yi-Peng
  • Snorkel in the South China Sea
  • Boat on the Mekong River
  • The children, unanimously, want to visit the famous floating market (I’m pretty sure it will be a tourist trap)
  • Fly all the way back to the USA in September to wear an Indian Saree in my cousin’s Georgia wedding
It’s not much of a list really. I’m sure we’ll do far more and things we can’t even imagine yet!Immediate plans include the Great Race that always is Launch for us. Friends to see, family to visit, school, work & gear to get organized, visas to procure and so much more. May already seems dangerously close.For those of you who worry about us more than others, the details include an initial 6 months or so in Thailand, on the island of Phuket where living is cheap (expensive for Thailand, but a bit less than Guatemala last year) internet is fast and we have a few connections to help us get our feet under us on a new continent.

From there we’ll branch out across South East Asia and explore, learn and adventure together.

Interested in seeing where we’ll be? Check this out:Interested in making some travel goals of your own this year? This article on Boots-N-All might be a good place to start

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