A New Adventure

I feel like my life is a series of take offs, landings and holding patterns. Whenever I’m home I feel as if I am in a holding pattern, waiting patiently circling the airport for my turn to land and to be assigned a gate. So since I came back from Russia back in December I’ve been patiently waiting and planning for a new big trip. I’ve made some smaller trips in between, to The Oregon Coast to visit my family beach house and up to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada twice, but nothing really compares to my big international trips!

For a month or so I had been planning a trip across Canada on the Trans-Canada railway from Halifax to Vancouver with stops in some of Canada’s biggest cities. I thought it was only natural to cross Canada by train since I’d crossed both Russia and Australia by rail. But as I started to book my tickets and take an in depth look at my accommodations on board the train I started to really have major concerns. The cabin was tiny, barely enough to even stretch out your body and barely enough room for a small bag. And then there was the fact you would have to eat dinner with four other people every night. Since I am not a huge foodie and really don’t like fancy food (I’d rather eat fast food honestly), I had even more doubts. Plus, the thought of making small talk with four other people for an hour or so over crappy food gave me even more hesitation. All this for triple the price of the Trans-Siberian railway. So, I decided to cut my trip back to only going across Eastern Canada.

I contemplated my trip across Eastern Canada and had some really great plans, but for some reason I could not get excited about it. Maybe it was because my new virgin passport would be devoid of stamps till at least fall when I may return to Russia. As the days went by I became less and less excited about a visit to Atlantic Canada and Eastern Canada. I did not want to waste money on a trip I was not 100% into. After a lot of thinking, I pulled the plug on the whole trip and went back to the drawing board.

I could return to Russia again?! But, I’d just been there in December, plus the Russian Ruble has been on a tear lately, gaining at least 20% in the last few months against the dollar. And then there was the whole Russian interference in our elections that still had me bothered. So, Russia was out until at least fall or maybe next spring. But if I were not to go to Russia and I wasn’t going to Canada, where on earth would I go?

The question of where to go weighed heavily on my mind for a few days until I came up with an answer. My acupuncturist who is from Taiwan had always told me I should visit Taiwan and explained to me about the friendliness of his people and the beautiful natural scenery. Since I’d been to a lot of other Asian nations, Taiwan really intrigued me. So……..after a lot of thinking I decided Taiwan and Asia would be my next destination.

Now after several weeks of planning I sit here in the Eva Airlines Business Class Lounge awaiting my flight to Taipei at 1:30am local time. It will be a nearly 13 hour flight across the Pacific. I will touch down shortly after 5am Thursday April 13^th.

After I complete my trip around Taiwan I will hop across down to Hong Kong where I spend a few days seeing one of the most famed cities of the world! Once I’ve seen Hong Kong, I jet across The Pearl River Delta to Asia’s answer for Las Vegas, Macau, a Chinese special territory that belonged to Portugal. After I’ve lost money gambling in Macau…….just kidding I really don’t gamble, I’ll head to Seoul and then to Beijing. I must say I am pretty worried about the air in Beijing. Checking the air quality forecasts the predictions range from unhealthy air to very unhealthy air. I guess I’ll just have to adjust and find a pollution mask! Stay tuned for more as I begin my travels!