back to lurking n' looking

hi fellow TT'ers. i am a montrealer. i went thru a phase a few years ago of constantly coming here knowing that i wasn't about to go anywhere. thank god i got out of that somewhat obsessive compulsive pattern 2 years ago. I am now back here but with an opportunity for travel coming up! my gf and I have just finished a 5 year plan involving real estate and my business. Humble but solid our plan now will allow us to take off for 4 - 5 months as of november '09. There is the usual resistance in me to taking chances but things are looking pretty good. My gf wants to go to Cambodia and region. I don't know where I want to go. for now i am going to return to this comfortable site and drink in the riches of you folk. with time different ideas will come up and somehow a trip will take shape. For your info i have been in a choir these last 5 months. new behaviour for me though i thought about it often enough. we are 65 strong and are doing beatles tunes. we have a show coming up in may 09. this has been a great adventure. very cheap and risk free. I could go to a yoga, creativity, dance camp instead of going away but i think it better to try to "live" the creative yoga dance and actually do a trip as well! see you all coming up these next mths! thks for the time.

some names i remember, packerjohn, canayun, living, bpguru, meddler, thats about it.

well...
bpguru is history(though I've heard talk of a reincarnation), meddler is well, still meddling and there are others you might remember as you see them come up. There are quite a few that have been on here for years, including me.

I would say that Cambodia and region are well worth a visit, I thoroughly enjoyed a 5 week trip there a few years ago. I too have fashioned my trips based on those tidbits I've picked up here. I decided on Cambodia and Laos as I kept hearing them mentioned on LP, they kept coming up on lists of favorites.

Congratulations on your business ventures and good luck on your lurking and travels.

You'll notice that this place (TT as a whole) is not what it once was. BPGuru has been allowed back, off the top of my head I can't remember which incarnation he is using this time but he's easy to pick. canayjun, living and meddler are still here, I think PJ might pop in sometimes.

Addendum - it is likely that BPGuru's latest incarnation is Resurgam.

Edited by: annD

Reliure, that's a great post, and I'll be watching with interest as your travel plans unfold.

Hey, I drank in and at Rick Steves Shows for 13 years b4 getting off the dime.

If you don't know a destination of your own,
Better to sleep on the floor, than ice cold bed. Go absorb Tailand.

Have everything dirict deposted and hit the road.

They have yoga classes in all parts of the world.

As an alternative to South-East Asia you might consider having a look at southern Africa (Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique and possibly even Zimbabwe). November is, of course, early summer here and the time that you can really enjoy the game reserves, the beaches, the mountains, the variety of cultures, the vinyards, the wide open spaces. And the sunshine.
Hope to see you on the Africa Branch of TT.

There's always the South Pacific .... anywhere in the South Pacific.

sooo interesting. thks for the hello people yes i say to africa. i had a few school friends from lesotho here in montreal. they were excellent stdts and thats why they were here, having won scholarships back home to get edjuh-mah-cated overseas.

thks for the hello's. i recognize your names too -Rudik, Watsoff, and Chapatigirl! ann d? no but then its not as if i was that deep into the Thorns.

hey Watsoff - my pretty and ambitious french speaking niece just left for the south pacific yesterday! and its her b'day today (20). she's gone there for english immersion and travel fun. if thats where we go fine. for now i will hear about her adventures. in here family she is breaking the mold a bit by flying off but everyone rallied round her. we had a big family to-do last sat'y night. tears and cards all around. lucky kid , knows she's loved. the kind of person that may not even care so much for travel as she has so much to live for at home. it will be interesting to hear how she likes the road.

We had a a great winter in SEA last year this time. Started in Hong Kong then over to Hanoi in northern Vietnam. Traveled down through Vietnam to Saigon (with some diversions) then up through the Mekong Delta to Cambodia. North through Cambodia to Laos then into northern Thailand. Down through Thailand ending the trip with some beach time in Phuket then back to Bangkok and home. Took 2.5 months but we were moving at a fair clip. 3-4 months would be even better. Fabulous trip. There are no doubt some trip reports for you to ponder lurking on this forum somewhere. Just search "living".

Nothing quite like daydreaming. I just taped a big map of South America to the wall here. Nearly a year away from take-off but time to move from dreaming to plotting and planning :)

East coast Canadians are always welcome back. Now if we could just get rid of the blue rinse old ladies from the West coast things would really be looking up.

I am startimg to believe in reincarnation.

I was just thinking the same thing..... oh joy

Does the cycle never end?

i am troubled by the difference between a good trip and a vacation. somehow i am looking for something that inspires me. real inspiration can come from a silent week in a monastery an hour from home. the very idea of going to the other side of the world to be inspired is like going to an expensive restaurant when all you wanted was quality sustenance.

whats with the welcome to us east coasters? or maybe i shouldn't flatter myself as an east coaster. i am a quebecer.

Your search for something to be inspired by elsewhere fits well with your being a Quebecer.

The welcome is not so much a welcome to East Coasters reliure, it's more of a case of, 'a change is as good as a rest' from the little old ladies from the West Coast who seem to take up an inordinate amount of space on this branch with boring monologues about their cruise ship experiences and other assorted 'trip reports' (My 2 weeks in Cuba).

That would be bearable by simply scrolling past them but then there is their whole pc sensibilities to have to deal with as well. Dare to suggest something that offends their sensibilities in any way and of they go ranting about what a bad boy you are.

There should be a set of criteria by which it can be determined whether the time has come to have them put down just like a faithful old dog.

You could also ignore what you don't like by scrolling by. Lose your sour grapes.

Umm, did I mention scrolling? I think I did.

What colour is your hair Watsoff? Blue?

Seem you don't scroll past what does not interest you. Just because you don't like little old blue-rinsed west coasters' reports doesn't mean everyone else has to put up with your rudeness and arrogance. Or your multiple re-incarnations. Put a sock in it and scroll on by in future.

its easy to ignore the posts u don't like. its not like we pay to b here.

i'm just back to thinking seriopusly about travel. i guess some people have never been "serious" about travel and think that going to cuba for 2 weeks qualifies as something worth recanting. which for them it is. my newish father in law thinks he didn't really travel until he started going to florida during our winters. he bought a condo there and played cards alot. this he called travel. people are funny like that.

He must be about 90 if he is your father-in-law, which isn't what I would call newish.

I am a Montrealer ..in my sistys..... .....I sold my house a few months ago.....I plan to be on the road again for awhile ....possibly for a year.....I am wondering if anyone would like to meet some place for a coffee and a shat on our travels....I am in South Afrika at the moment I will be back to Mtl end of March......

Karo2 - I have sent you a PM.

"The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step."

and kayak.com

"On your deathbed, you'll regret the things you never got around to."

babus !

"On your deathbed, you'll regret the things you never got around to" (and you will continue to regret then for ever after, even unto eternity.)
That is really the most ridiculous expression that I have ever come across. Can you really picture yourself lying there on your deathbed, thinking of all the things you have not done and being even remotely concerned about them. And even if you were to... would it really matter?

Rudi, I totally agree with you in the sense that we cannot put experiences "in the bank" and go back and re-enjoy them later. It's like people saying they want to do something "while they still can." To me ...well, if you cannot do them later well, sobeit. You will be in a different place in your life. Travel expereinces are not like cans of beans that you can stock the pantry with and live on later. Memories don't go very far in terms of increasing one's enjoyment of life.

In fact, it always strikes me as exceedingly pathetic when you do come on someone who persists in re-living their glory days instead of living their current days. I am absolutely certain the day will come eventually when I no longer have the stamina for international travel. I expect a day will come when I simply realize it's no longer what I want to do. So then I will do other things. I love playing music so maybe I'll finally stick around long enough to get really good and start an oldies rock/blues band. Or I'll finally have time to learn how to do all things I've always wanted to do well - paint, throw pots, write a novel.

Who knows, but what I am understanding about life is that it is important to live in every moment, exactly as it presents itlself.

All that said, I do find that my greatest highs come about when I jump out of my comfort zone and do something that that I fear I might regret - but never have so far. I think THAT is what the quote refers to. But you are right, I am not going to lie on my deathbed enumerating the trips I did or did not take. I suspect the thoughts in my head - if I see the end coming will likely be more about the people in my life and have I done what I needed to in respect to them.

The doctor says grandpa is slipping away quickly now, a short while
and his time will have passed. What? What's that he's mumbling about
to himself. Go listen. Whats he saying?

You won't believe it! He's actually grousing to himself about the time
he had a chance to lay grandmother's sister and passed it up!

"On your deathbed, you'll regret the things you never got around to
because you spent so much of your time surfing the Internet."

Did anybody recommend Tales of Asia yet?

talesofasia is quite a valuable resource. just checked it out

On my deathbed, I'll send somebody after a lottery ticket. Tell 'em I'm feeling lucky.

I told my nephew, "When they say he had a full life." about me.
Ask, "Full of what?"