I started this website with the intention of doing a copious amount of travel writing. Of course in order to do this, I should, you know, travel. So I’ve been thinking a lot about my upcoming summer vacation (the maligned Thursday-Wednesday arrangement, I wrote about in a previous post), and I’ve come up with many less-than-optimal options.
I know whatever I decide is going to be great, but seeing how travel can be a bit expensive, especially when only traveling a week, I want to get the most bang for my buck. So here are the options I’ve surmised, listed in order of likelihood:
- S.E. Asia:Pros-Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia are all uncharted territory for me Also the travel time and ticket prices make this area highly accessible. If I stopped by Singapore I could get the insider’s view from Aunt Irene (assuming she would be in the country). Cons-Somehow being in any of these countries in July seems like a mistake. Oh, and it’s smack-dab in the middle of monsoon season.
- Philippines: See above. Same pros and cons, with the additional pro and con of it being a tropical paradise. To me, the tropics–while beautiful–seem to be just…boring, and more or less the same the world over.
- China and Tibet:Pros-I love China, and I’ve been wanting to take this train to Lhasa since it opened nearly four years ago. And it is a short and cheap flight to Beijing from here. Cons-The seven days of vacation would give me insufficient time to really get the most out of this trip. It’s a 3-day train from Beijing, which would only really give me two days in Lhasa before having to turn around and fly out. If I’m going to do this trip, I want to do it right and not regret it later.
- Japan: Pros-It would be nice to visit my old stomping ground and see my friend Rob in Nagasaki, and perhaps spend a couple days visiting Osaka and/or Hiroshima. It is both cost and time efficient, and I would be indirectly helping the country after the disaster by spending money there. Cons-I think I’ve had plenty of Japan after living there for a year.
- Australia: Pros-This country-continent has intrigued me for a long time, and is very high on my travel “to do” list. Cons-It would be both cost and time prohibitive. Even with a direct flight it would take up a day of travel both going and coming back (and of course, direct flights are very expensive).
And finally, I have a sixth option: staying here, exploring Korea, relaxing, and saving my money for when I have the time to really enjoy any of these trips. I don’t know what I’ll decide, but I’m open to any suggestions from the peanut gallery.