A bit more than half way through the “Trip of a lifetime”

Five and a half years ago, I qualified for my sabbatical. Six weeks of mandatory time off. A chance to relax and regroup. I never felt that I really needed the time off. I had two major hip surgeries that gave me a minimum of six weeks off each time. I wasn’t sick for all of those weeks each time. One of the times, I even took Ari to Florida to “recuperate” for the last few weeks. 

My excuses for planning included; it wasn’t the right time, or I’m waiting for Marc to qualify for his. Those excuses carried me for a while. Now it was down to the wire. Use it or lose it, because I am eligible for my second sabbatical at the end of this year. So the planning begun. Where did we want to go? I have absolutely no desire to go to Europe. It means nothing to me. No connection. Southeast Asia on the other hand….The three of us have a connection there. For the past 11 years, I have had the conversation with Chua about traveling to her country with her. How fabulous would that be. She is such an integral part of our family. How could we not see where she came from. 

And so I began the arduous task of planning a trip. How do you go about that? Where does one start? Google of course. There I would surely find the answer. Holy crap was I wrong. How do you plan a trip to places you know nothing about. So where did I turn? Facebook of course. I posted an inquiry in a closed local group. One family responded that they had just booked a 2 week trip to Vietnam and that I should contact their booking group Tonkin Tours. So I did. I sent them the dates and what we wanted. A day later they responded. With different dates….I told them my dates were set. They tried to sway me that it was high season. Whatever. They’re out. I went back to FB and was told to join a different closed group. So I did. And I posted the same inquiry. I was told to contact this person. You all know by now who that was….However, that is getting ahead of this story. 
Marc and I left for NY last August. I brought brochures for SEA and for Australia/New Zealand/Cook Islands. Everyone was telling us Australia was the way to go. Everything is in English. It will be easier. But there was no connection. None. I wasn’t interested in any of it. My mom was insisting we go to the English speaking countries. We would be safe. Bla bla bla. Our LAST conversation with my parents on Saturday afternoon, 17 hours before they were killed was that they would go to Thailand with their friends who always go in February and we would arrange our trip so they could treat us to a nice resort for a week. Shit. Fuck. Damn. How wrong we all were. Fuck fuck fuck. World rocked…..
When Marc and I returned home three weeks later, he saw me with the SEA info. He asked what I was doing. I told him we were still going. It was then that I was introduced to Sakai. I told him I wanted to plan the “trip of a lifetime”. That money was no object. Just plan it. Here is what we want. You all know the rest of our friendship story…And my running away…
Fast forward to February 2,2017. The FOUR of us left my house and headed to SFO together. The best way to go. I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to me that Marc, Ari, and Sakai got to spend three weeks together in my world. Like many of the piles of rocks we have seen, I mean temples, we built our foundation. It was going to be amazing. 
I could never have guessed just how amazing it would be. Many of the things Sakai and I discussed and he booked are things he himself has never done. I mean really, who sees Vietnam the way we did for two days in Vietnam era Jeeps? No one. Who takes an entire day helicopter tour with multiple stops to places in Cambodia that are ONLY accessible by helicopter? Who does that? He kept telling me it was expensive. I didn’t care. Just do it. I had to do it for Aunt Peggy. Our last conversation was that she wanted me to travel. She had been around the world twice, but never to SEA. I promised I would. I was also going to take the trip my parents wanted us to take. How many times have I wanted to call them during this trip and tell them the cool shit we did that day. More than I can count. But there is no one to call. However, they are and have been traveling with me this entire time. I was wondering when I would feel them. It wasn’t in December when I ran away. Too soon. Not ready. But they’re here. They’ve been here the entire time. They’re the dragon flies I see that father around me. They are the smiling faces in the Hilltop Tribe people I’ve seen. They’re the welcoming arms that hug me in every country we have been to. They’re the carvings in the multitude of temples we have been to. They are even in the mosquito bites I have gotten. They’re all here cheering us on. Telling us how amazing this has been. And we aren’t even done. We still have weeks to go.
And if it were up to me, I would go on for at least a year……