We mentioned in a previous post that we’re trying not to plan everything about this trip. But of course, some planning has to happen, including where to start. After deciding on Southeast Asia, the next question became which countries? Stereotypical though it may be, we are planning to visit what could be considered the core of the so-called Banana Pancake Trail*: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. These four … Continue reading Where to begin?
How to plan NOT to plan. Continue reading The Challenge of Not Planning
It’s been almost two weeks since we returned from Thailand, and at least half that time was spent in a jet lag fog, and the rest getting back into the swing of work, laundry, and normal household routines. In our final pre-trip post, just before taking off from Boston, we talked about the resources we found most useful for planning the trip. But did our planning pay off? … Continue reading Thailand: 5 travel tips
In the last post, I promised to share a bit about the resources we found most useful in planning this long-awaited trip to Thailand. When we first set our sights on a destination–and this might be a year or two out–we buy a few guidebooks. Lonely Planet is a favorite, and the DK books are great detailed reference material for the cultural sights. For this … Continue reading Planning Thailand
We’ve been planning this trip for so long that it scarcely seems real that it’s almost here. And by so long, I mean…a little over 20 years. Even before we got married or traveled anywhere, we would go to a certain favorite Thai restaurant in Swampscott, look longingly at the photos of those famous floating markets on the wall, and imagine a time in our future … Continue reading Countdown to Thailand, and travel secrets
We’ve written about the fact that we really enjoy the pre-travel planning and research that goes into any trip. So much so, in fact, that lately we seem to be planning trips further and further in advance, giving us more time for anticipation. Once a trip is booked, we love looking in used bookshops for books (both fiction and nonfiction) about our destination, or searching Netflix … Continue reading Anticipation=Happiness
“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde The question of what reading material to bring on vacation is serious business for us. It’s one thing if we’re just away for a long weekend, but when we are traveling somewhere by plane, and know we’ll have a good bit of dedicated … Continue reading Vacation reading: what do you bring?
As we make our plans for India, we have been very lucky in that we have an inside track: our friend Richard has lived in India for the past few years, and recommended hotels in two of the four cities we will be visiting: Jaipur and Kathmandu. Having stayed in them both himself, we saw no reason not to take his word. Even more delightfully, … Continue reading Booking a hotel halfway around the world
When we started planning this trip, we knew it would be a daunting task, given that we were setting out to plan and book every aspect of a multi-city visit to Asia ourselves. But as we’ve mentioned before, we do enjoy that part of any vacation: for us, reading and planning is half the fun. In previous posts we’ve described our process and hurdles with … Continue reading The last hurdle: obtaining our Indian visas
Inevitably, when you tell someone that you’re going to India and Nepal, they ask you how long you’ll be there. “A little over two weeks,” you say, “actually 16 nights in total.” And then, depending on whether they have ever traveled to that part of the world or not, they will either comment on what a fine long trip you’ve booked, or look at you … Continue reading You can’t get there from here: booking travel within India
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