My trip explained via a list of interrogatives
Where: Southeast Asia, as you may have gathered from the title of this blog. More specifically, Thailand and Laos. I flew into Bangkok with the general plan being to go either north or south first. Planning has obviously not been a strong point this time around but I do definitely want to visit Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos.
What: My second solo trip to SEA. The first was a three-week stay in Vietnam this spring.
Why: This is the one I was dreading. In fact, I’ve been trying to eliminate this word from my vocabulary as I have a nasty habit of way overusing it. Regardless, the short story is that my life fell apart starting early this summer, with a devastating breakup, and sometimes when you sustain one big loss, it starts a process that will not stop until you have lost everything that seemed to be holding your life together. When that happens, people tend to hold on tighter and tighter to the things that are slipping through their fingers. I think – at least for me – the more sensible answer is to jettison whatever is left and go away. As sensible as it may be in the long run, for now I feel rather like Kit in The Sheltering Sky, dazed and with nothing left to lose after her husband’s death, wandering off alone into the desert.
Also, I have a novella that has been waiting patiently in the wings since this winter. I’ve known for a while now that eventually I would have to take some time to focus on expanding it into a novel. Not only because there is not a hope in Hades of getting a novella published but also because when I came back to it, it read like 90 pages of notes for a novel. Those pages are now sitting upstairs in my hotel room with a few notebooks piled on top of them, waiting to be filled.
How: I had been saving money for a while with the idea that I would be taking a long trip eventually. When eventually became imminently, I had the resources to do what needed to be done. So at least something worked out close to the way I’d planned.
When: Now, apparently. From now until…?? This trip is temporary but indefinite. A few people have asked me how long I am planning on travelling for. I have told them the truth: “Until I go home.”
Tags: About me
sandra_101
You really are an excellent writer, from what I can gather in your few blog posts. I like that you write unpretentiously and infuse humour. Best of luck getting your novel finished on your trip!
You are my absolute wandering hero, Sandy O., like seriously.