( first published July 29, 2005 at my first blogsite:http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/gypsygal/)
SINGAPORE —If ever I win a Noble Prize for pre-travel preparations, my thank you speech has to include an acknowledgement to two important things that allowed me to organize my travel itinerary even if I’m still tied to my workstation in Singapore, writing news stories that will be published by my soon-to-be-ex-media company.
I would like to thank the guidebooks (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Frommer’s), some of which I bought, others were borrowed from my friends – for giving me phone numbers, websites and addresses of hostels, hospitals, travel agencies, book shops and vegetarian restaurants; and a brief history and health advisory of all the countries I will be visiting in the next three months: Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, India and Indonesia.
And second, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank the Internet which allowed me to do a multitude of tasks: from looking for a yoga center in Kuala Lumpur to buying a travel insurance to signing up for a trek in Pokhara to enrolling in a introduction to Tibetan Buddhism course in Dharamsala. All these were done while sitting in front of my PC, chatting with traders over the phone and pounding my keyboard to churn out the latest commodities news from Asia.
I have this mania for organizing. And I believe it has something with having spent the past ten years working as a beat reporter. A job which required me to be fast but organized. My daily routine involved interviewing traders, politicians, pundits and psychics; surfing the net for some background information; and speed reading market analysts’ reports. I had to digest and sift a mound of information; and hopefully, produce a news story which is accurate, informative, concise and grammatically correct. And I had to this with a daily deadline in mind and an editor snapping at me to hurry up.
I also had my share of travel bloopers – I ran out of money in Bangkok and had to borrow 500 baht from a Thai colleague for my departure tax. I almost starved in Melaka as I couldn’t find stalls selling vegetarian food. I missed my bus to Toronto because I lost my ticket somewhere in the streets of Montreal. And, during a news coverage in Mindanao, I had to make do with wads of toilet paper as a temporary sanitary napkin. An “unexpected visitor” came and I forgot to bring the real thing. So, by planning and covering my bases, I‘m hoping that I won’t make the same mistakes.
Of course, I know that I can’t control everything. Shit happens and living means having to deal with it. But to me, all these crap that you’re not a real traveller unless you’ve been mugged, robbed, contracted malaria and stayed in the grottiest hostels is just that: CRAP. I doubt if experiencing these things will actually make anyone a more compassionate or a more learned human being.
Being prepared will allow me to really enjoy my travels, and give me time and energy to meditate, do my asanas, write travelogues and blogs, snap some pics, and savor a fresh cup of brewed coffee. Mmmmmm.
