So I am currently sitting at Pearson International Airport in Toronto awaiting a flight home. Sounds glamorous, I know, but I just flew here this morning for a business meeting so it really hasn’t been too exciting… the airport, an office, and back to the airport. I have been nursing a beer for almost an hour and still have 4 more hours to wait before my flight leaves. I could be drunk before I leave but that probably wouldn’t be a great idea since my boss is sitting at the next table and I have only been working for him for about 3 months (maybe after this Friday’s Christmas party it would be OK but not today.)
On my way here this morning I was thinking that I should have booked my return flight for Sunday and got my wife to fly here tonight so we could have a weekend away but I tend to think of these things way too late, besides, her sister is coming from Edmonton on Saturday so we should probably be there to meet her since she is only staying a week.
I am starting to let my thoughts drift, which I tend to do, so back to the thought for the day. My travel today has me thinking about the places I would like to go and as I look at my list, I honed in on one of the older items on my places to go list.
I was a child of the 80s and being from that time Vietnam was a forbidden place. The Vietnam war ended in the mid seventies and so the enemy in many Hollywood movies was the Vietnamese (I am thinking specifically Rambo: First Blood II). This was a place that it seemed at the time (to someone who was in the neighbourhood of 10 years old) a place that someone form the West would never be able to visit).
Then one day I read an article in the paper about travel to Vietnam, the beautiful beaches, low prices, and of course wonderful food. I don’t know what it was but I immediately wanted to go. A beautiful but previously forbidden country… what more can a traveler ask for? If that had not been enough to convince me, on a television program I saw some people on a cruise in Ha Long Bay and I was totally hooked (thus #96 on my list).
Then, a couple of years ago, I saw a program that The Great Adventure People used to have on television in Canada that highlighted their trips. This show featured a biking trip in Vietnam! I love my mountain bike and I have always wanted to do a trip on it, so it (the bike Vietnam trip) immediately went on my “wish list” (which at that time as mostly wish but not much action).
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it and about 2 years ago I decided that this was what I wanted to do for my 40th birthday. I don’t know if the weather in Vietnam in January is favorable to doing this (I guarantee it is better that in Saskatchewan) but if it doesn’t work I will go at a different tome of year.
There are two barriers to doing this for me. The first is that I am in no shape to go biking around the hills of Vietnam in +40 weather. This I am working on although I think in the new year I am going to set training goals for myself to follow to ensure my success. The second is that my wife has no interest in traveling to Vietnam. She tends to humour me when needed and even flew over to China by herself in the summer of 2009 to meet me in Beijing (after I was done with my 4 week business study class in South Korea). Vietnam, though, is not really at the top of her travel list, but neither was China so you never know. Have a couple of options here, the first is that her sister will likely be back living in either China or Taiwan by then, and I will get her to go visit her where at least we can fly to Tokyo together, or convince her to come on the trip with me (which, of course, I would prefer). The two things I have going in my favour are 1)she is happy she went to China but really has no desire to go back , and 2) she was thoroughly impressed by our previous experience with The Great Adventure People (China Express) and since I hope to do my cycling tour through them, this may be enough to convince her.
Either way, in or around January of 2013, I plan on being on a bike amoungst the green rice terraces of Vietnam and enjoying Pho Bo every evening.
Traveling to Asia scares the crap out of me. I've always found the Asian cultures very intimidating. I think it is because it is completely out of my comfort zone. That being said, my uneasiness about visiting that half of the world is the reason behind some of the ambitions on my Bucket List. What better way to conquer a fear than just hop on a plane and immerse yourself in it?
ReplyDeleteSigh, the bar at Pearson....I know it well. Your life list is deadly. Why a winter in Europe? Why not a lovely summer??? :)
ReplyDeleteI can recommend surfing off the west coast of Ireland, Paddy's Day in Dublin (it's actually pretty mental - skip the parade and get into the pubs early), Canada Day in Ottawa, Michelin star restaurant (last night in fact!), Oktoberfest in Munich, the Louvre and sleeping in a castle. Biking adventures in Vietnam sound awesome - I would never be that brave.
Oh, and your mother's decorations sound AMAZING! I love when people go over the top on Christmas :)
Jan, winter in Europe just sounds way better than winter in Saskatchewan. Someday I am going to spend my summers here at home and my winters elsewhere and I love Europe.
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