Where In The World Is Becky?

Here they are, readers, the answers to the questions that have been keeping you up nights. Where is she going again? How in the world can she afford this? How many pairs of underwear is she bringing? All of these and more are answered right now, so pop some popcorn and get ready for the read of a lifetime!

Where in the world are you going, Becky?
I’m glad you asked! I’m starting in London, where I’ll hang with my homies Suzie and Toni. Thank God I have a free place to stay, cause that is one expensive city. Then, I’m off to Paris to eat lots and lots of pastry, mostly. I might go to a museum too. Then, it’s off to Greece to meet my sister Karen and her man, Mike. We’ll spend a week checking out all sorts of old stuff, or on the beach if the weather is nice. Then on to Rome and the Isle of Capri for another week. This is where I part ways with the sister and head off on my own to: South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and India. Phew, I’m tired just typing the list. Alternately, I will be on the beach in Bali for 7 months.

How did you pick all those countries?
I threw a dart at a world map.

You’re going for 7 months? Really?
Seven months — seems crazy, no? I’ll be in Europe for a month, then in Africa for 10 weeks, Southeast Asia for 12 weeks and India for six weeks. At least that’s the plan now.

What are you going to do with all that time?
That’s the beauty of travel, my friends: who knows what I’ll do! Maybe nothing, maybe climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Probably the latter.

And you’re going alone?
Yep. I could write something here about how you’re only alone if you want to be, blah blah blah, and that is true when you travel — there are thousands of other slackers doing exactly what I’m doing right now, and at least a few of them will be my new BFFs. Anyway, most of the people I know are busy doing things like “having kids,” “buying houses,” and “working” — Whatev, man. So I’m on my own. Besides, I’m really bad at compromise, so it’s probably for the best.

What are you doing with all your stuff?
I don’t really have that much stuff — see below. Various friends and associates have agreed to babysit my boxes, my kitchen table and my plant.

How in the world can you afford this trip, anyway?
MYOB. Seriously though, here’s how: I don’t own a home, I drive a crap car that’s been paid off for years, all of my furniture, such as it is, could fit in a closet — in short, I don’t buy stuff, as evidenced by my wardrobe, circa 1999 Old Navy. Oh, and I work two jobs. Oh, and I was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won 8 large a few years ago. That helped. And since you asked, I’m taking around $19,000 with me. Which leads to the next question:

What’s your budget?
You people really are nosy. Well, I’m planning on around $100/day in Europe and $50/day everywhere else. I don’t think I’ll actually spend that much though, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Ideally, I’ll come home with a little cash in the bank so I don’t have to move into mom and dad’s basement at age 33.

But how can you afford a hotel on that kind of ching?
I’m not staying in hotels, sillies. My crib for the next seven months will be the youth hostels of the world, though I’m not really one of the youths anymore. What are they like? Well, some really suck, and some are super-duper nice. A decent hostel will cost around $8-10 in many parts of the world. The only catch is, you have to sleep in a room with 4-10 strangers. What better way to make friends than to say something like, “Dude, you have a really bad gas problem when you sleep, just FYI.”

What are you bringing with you?
Ah, the burning underwear (burning underwear — ha ha!) question. I’m bringing four or five shirts, one dress, two pairs of hippie Thai pants, a skirt and seven pairs of underwear. That way I’ve got a week between laundry loads. I’m also bringing a small pharmacy, just in case, the basic toiletries of course, a pair of sandals (yes, they’re very supportive for walking) and a pair of slip-on shoes. I’m also bringing this nifty water sterilizer so I can drink tap water the world over. There’s actually a pretty big problem with all the waste generated by plastic water bottles in many countries, and I don’t want to contribute to that if I don’t have to. Finally, I’m bringing a little travel towel, which I’m on the fence about. It’s pretty compact, but it may not do the trick with hair like mine. So, if it sucks, I’ll get a regular towel, even if it’s bulky and heavy. This trip is supposed to be fun and it won’t be very fun if I have to start every day by drying off with a car chamois.

What are you going to do when you get home?
Well, that’s the big question, isn’t it? I have no idea. For a while, I was thinking I’d like to go to pastry school, and I’d still like to, but that costs some major dinero, and I’m going to be tapped out when I get back. I’ll probably come back to Madison, mooch off my friends as long as they’ll have me and think wistfully of my days sleeping in crappy bunk beds. Maybe I’ll keep washing my underwear in the sink and keep all my stuff in a bag under the bed just to remind me of the trip.

That’s it, readers. I’m sure I’ve missed a few. Feel free to fire off any thing else you may be wondering. That’s it till London, folks. See you there!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 10:35 am and is filed under About Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.