Southeast Asia, here we come!

Six weeks in Southeast Asia! Sounds like an impossibility--are we really going? Extended travel is something I've always wanted to do, but could never really make happen. Student loans, teeny tiny paychecks, commitments...I never felt I could break away. So when I decided it was time for a new career challenge, we decided to take advantage of my joblessness and take a big trip. Bo was lucky enough to be able to take a sabbatical (aka unpaid time off), and now--we're making it happen! Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia! Bo has been to the region twice before--Once with his family in 2002, and once with Rotary International for a month in 2004. He's spent time in Thailand and Laos, but has never been to Vietnam, Cambodia or Malaysia. I have never been, and I've never traveled anywhere for this length of time.

As you may know, we got a bit sidetracked from our trip planning by the purchase of our first house! The house is amazing--our stuff lives in the basement and we live in just one of the bedrooms, but that's worked out just fine for now. As soon as we get back we'll have a chance to unpack and really move in. Something to look forward to. We just fell in love with the house--when you know, you know, and you can't pass that up.

But the upside to not planning your 6 week trip ahead of time, is that when Thai protesters take over the airports in an attempt to oust the Prime Minister, you can easily change your trip and itinerary without any hassle! We were supposed to fly into Bangkok on Friday, but due to the airport takeover, we changed our flight to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, Vietnam. It's been a fairly peaceful protest--and it looks like they are re-opening the airports on Friday, but we're sticking with Saigon just to be sure.

We leave Denver on Friday, December 5th at 6am and land in Saigon on Saturday the 6th at 10:30pm. The longest leg of the trip will be San Fran to Hong Kong, which is about 14 hours--but the travel clinics readily hand out the sleeping pills for that. Our plan is to spend a few days checking out Saigon and then head up into Cambodia. After that we're heading to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We're aiming to be there on the 16th of December to spend time with Bo's family. And that's our plan, for now. We'll do quite a bit of planning in our first few days abroad, but it turns out it's cheaper and easier to book alot of flights, trains, etc. in-country.

So we're off! The shuttle picks us up at 3am, Friday morning. We hope to give you lots of updates and share lots of photos. I cannot wait to get on the road!