BootsnAll Travel Network



Travel or Vacationing?

Loutro

The Thailand trip never came together. It was one of those things that gets talked about but never realised, like people talking about writing a novel ‘one day’.

Normally, I’d be booking my flights around now and to hell with everyone else. I would probably fly to Bangkok, because it’s the gateway to SE Asia, and travel around Vietnam and Cambodia and along the well-trodden path to Laos for a while before finding a nice island somewhere. I don’t have the stomach for India or Bangladesh right now.

But the job hunt is still going on. We may be re-joining the human race, fingers crossed, and our strange exile in this corner of chavdom may be coming to an end.

And then there is the stomach issue. If John comes along, this will be a different trip. How different depends on the duration. The less time we have, the more we’ll spend proportinally. A two-week-holiday will have a budget of at least five times that of the same time spend on the road, discounting flights.

A quick trip, , no matter where to, is all about quality. It starts with a decent airline (Thai or Cathay Pacific or anything else with at least a four-star rating, and no more Virgin if I can help it). A taxi from the airport to a pre-booked 4-star hotel. The hotel will be cool and discreet and screened from anything that really goes on behind the walls. Perhaps there will be a guided sightseeing tour. Food in quiet restaurants that may or may not bear any resemblance to what people actually eat in that country.

Then we’ll be whisked off to the resort in an air-conditioned coach, plane or train carriage entirely devoid of locals, except for the people who do the ticket collection/driving/trolley service. The resort itself will be behind walls, or involve a trip on a dive boat, like a self-contained island (I won’t be diving, so we’ll see about that. If I still were, and if we were still adventurous and young, Kalimantan would be the place we’d go to in Asia. If you fancy the Red Sea, try Dahab. Seriously!).

If we’re not out doing a tour, we’ll be lazing on a private beach or by the pool. Strictly no touts. It will get boring by the third day. There may be a little local colour in the food and entertainment, but apart from this it won’t matter whether we’re in the Caribbean or somewhere in Africa or Asia.

In practice, the holidays we take are usually a mix of the two. I often hanker after the former: absolutely no hassles! But at the same time I’m left feeling like an animal in a cage. John feels exactly the same, but he’ll admit it only grudgingly.

The bus drove past endless beachside developments for what seemed like an hour before we finally got to town.

“There are no door trees here,” John said sadly.

Indeed not. Just a few sad potted saplings and row upon row of concrete.

Either way, there is a price to be paid. Compromise is a lesson I learned from an old traveller on my very first trip. Spend the odd night in comfort. Rest before it all gets too much. Some nights are four-star, some nights are spend under a starry desert sky with meteors streaking across the band of the Milky Way while you shiver quietly in your sleeping bag as temperatures drop below zero.

Travelling—and getting it right—is an art I’m still trying to master.

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