Countdown

Please accept my apology when I tell you that I haven’t channeled a writerly thought in now nearly a decade. In fact, it is with distinct physical discomfort that I sit alone tonight, in the darkened kitchen nearing 2AM, banging away at this keyboard in what is now my seventh effort to get this damned blog (guttural moaning) off the ground and onto the screen.

But rest assured, I feel I have a good enough reason for putting myself through all this in the first place. In exactly 31 days, my husband, Ryan, and I will lock up the house, strap on packs and jet off across the Pacific for Tokyo, where we will begin nearly a year-long voyage all around the Eastern Hemisphere. August 2009 Japan-China-Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand-Laos-Nepal-India-Singapore-Indonesia-Australia-New Zealand-Fiji June 2010. Even with the countless months of preparation that have already been logged, this is undoubtedly the most ambitious backpacking adventure I’ve ever undertaken. And for his part, Ryan’s prior travel experience by and large consists of tent-camping with his parents 20 years ago, followed by the five-star hotels of his former career as a Wall Street research analyst.

And then of course there’s the Ollie-factor. Our son, Oliver, two-years old on August 2nd, will be riding shotgun all the way.

So here it is. The most efficient mode of communication I could dream up to chronicle this period of our lives. Want to see if a rambunctious two-year old can ride a camel with the best of them in Rajasthan? How about what a ryokan (traditional Japanese-style lodging, characterized by paper walls) looks like after Hurricane Rauch passes through? Stay tuned, folks.

The question remains: why? Why indeed? As Baudelaire once said, the ‘true travellers are those who leave for the sake of leaving itself…and who, without knowing why, are always saying: Let’s go!”