50….Days until I depart.

4.5…Months I’ll be away.

12…New countries I’ll visit.I’ve finally hit that button. That ever binding “confirm purchase button.” And as a result, I am completely elated, terrifically excited, and admittedly, a bit nervous.

March 18th: my plane takes off from SFO en route to (eventually) Kathmandu, Nepal. It’s here that I’ll begin a four and a half month trip around Asia. For the first month and a half, I’ll be alone.
Four months, it seems forever, or nothing. It’s the longest I will have traveled at once to date, it is more than a third of a year. And yet, it seems like nothing, a glimpse. Though it isn’t a year (a year traversing the globe is still on my travel-bucket list), it is by no means a minor endeavor. Planning has felt at times, exceptionally overwhelming. And while I’d like to be one of those people who just shows up, in say, Bangkok and figures it out as they go, I am nearly incapable of such a thing.
I’ll admit it. I’m an over planner. I want to know everything there is to know about, say, India so that I can most effectively choose how I spend my month there. But this is a very limiting way to travel. What if I make some great friends who want to travel to say, Tibet, will I just have to say “sorry guys, but I’ve got this reservation that’s non-refundable?” So, I’m making a compromise. I’m allowing myself to compulsively plan, and make rigorous schedules, but I’m not allowing myself to book almost anything. Instead, I’m allowing freedom to deviate entirely, with the security of a backup plan.
So as a result, I can’t say where I’ll be exactly, this summer (aside from somewhere in south east Asia…probably).
But, here are my intended destinations, in no particular order whatsoever: India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Hong Kong.

Almost two full months out, it hasn’t really hit yet, but excitement is slowly building. I can’t wait for everything I have yet to see and learn, and feel very blessed for the opportunity.

First up: trekking in the Himalayas.