The Places We Find Ourselves

There is nothing like this particular point in a trip. Jason, if you are there, we have talked about it countless times. It's the moment when the end is so far it is totally out of sight and the beginning is so close you can remember the events of each day. When you think back only one week it seems like three and five months to the future appears impossibly open. The promise of a pefect trip is still up for grabs.
At home with the foreign, small differences have become pedestrian and I dream of telling stories of the extraordinary. The act of traveling, of course, is often occupied by the newly mundane, when the romanticism of a new text on the ads has run its course and we have adjusted. But this state too is to be celebrated, if not as a testament to the human condition then as a triumph over it.

We have been led by the hand until now-a blessing and a curse- a fine introduction and an easy transition to be sure but the time has finally come for the true exploration we had in mind. Early this afternoon we said our goodbyes to the family, a bittersweet moment, and took a taxi to the first hotel we arranged on our own.

As I sit at this cafe I am still wrapping my head around the fact that our trip has truly and undeniably begun in earnest. This is the type of freedom that makes my head dizzy. All of our planning and saving has brought us to this moment in Bangkok, a city we leave tomorrow. From here on out our pace will be self-determined and our route our own, No matter what happens in the next five-plus months it will be our making and I have no doubt that what we will make will be beautiful.