Nailing Down the Details

With the flight drop in locations set and the dates and times locked in,  the task of nailing down some details is now full on. Our first stop, Bangkok we arrive at 1:AM. This requires making certain someone will meet us and take us to our hotel.  Maps, coffee, internet searches, and reading reviews take up a shit load of time but when the opportunity arises, we get to pick the brains of a traveler that has "been there and done that". Last night Jack Webley and Mark Robinson from our lovely town of Bisbee backed up a semi-tractor trailer full of travel information and unloaded it with a forklift over a vegetarian mexican food dinner while washing it down with organic wines. Three hours of intensive training on Vietnam, Laos, India, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. And that's not all folks...this morning in our electronic mailboxes came contacts for the Balkans, SE Asia, East Africa, and Iceland. This is a trove of great fodder to build our itinerary and rough out a route to see some amazing sites in this world of turmoil. Speaking of unrest, when we all got up to leave the Poca Restaurant (excellent food), local "Warm Hands" specialist, Nick Knight warned Sharon and I there were only a few remote locations in the world safe to travel at this time, a village in northern Norway and the Gulag tour in the former Soviet Republic. He's not too far off considering last night all outside communications have been cut off and troops deployed into the streets of Cairo. We'll let you know how it really is on May 17 when we fly into Egypt.

The adventure traveler's tools

Some other friends Chris Donaldson and Bill Durboraw from Tucson have shuttled us information on Nepal and got us in contact with Sherpa Sarkee to arrange a seven day trek into the Himalayas and visit some remote villages in the Ghorepani Poon Hill area. This should not be confused with our local Poon Tang terminology.


So now I've contacted about 98% of our monthly bill vendors to get set up with auto-pay procedures and met with my bank to clear all payments and charges out of the US. These tasks take a tremendous amount of patience and time but each and every person I contact to let them know why I'll setting up these accounts are truly amazed and drawn into our trip. It brings a childish smile to their faces knowing people are still willing to break away, flirt with danger, and seek adventure.

We are doing it our way but there are others use boat, motorcycle, bicycle (as Carl our son is currently doing), and RV. Last week Sharon and I received a call from our friends Chris and Bill happened to be visiting us in Bisbee but were staying at a near by RV park, telling us to come over to the park and talk with a German couple taking 5 years to drive around the world in their massive 4WD Volvo box truck converted into an RV. These are the big boys used to cross north Africa and more. Again they gave up working because they had enough to live on and now are seeking adventure where ever the tarmac, dirt roads, and sand dunes will take them. But why did they stop in Bisbee?...because their daughter visited here a couple times and said "You can't miss this town, it's just like being back in Europe and added it's unlike anywhere else."  Wow...why are we leaving?

Thank you...Jack and Mark.....Thank you...Chris & Bill....Thank You!