As my ragtag little group of Twitter followers already know, I am leaving in less than a week for a five week trip through Thailand and Burma. I am not taking this trip for an assignment or for research. This trip is what I believe normal humans refer to as a ‘vacation’.
It has been over three years since I took a trip just because. At some indeterminate point in early 2005, I ceased being an aspiring travel writer and transformed into a genuine travel writer. Rather than my travels being ostensibly for me – though travelogued in nauseating detail, partly for the writing exercise and partly in the hopes that the notes would later come in handy for paying work – my travels started being all about a current or possible future paid writing gig. The added weight of responsibility irreversibly changed the way I travel and I’ve been a neurotic, productivity-obsessed, relaxation-deficient ball of travel partner annoyance ever since.
Then a strange thing happened recently. After over a year of praying to Buddha for a break from the ceaseless deluge of paying work that I had wished so hard upon myself, the break finally appeared in the form of the US economic meltdown. There was no project waiting for me when I turned in my latest LP manuscript. Three possible gigs fell through and I’ve been sitting here flogging an ill-timed book proposal intended for increasingly nervous and budget-conscious publishers ever since.
I eventually realized that I had two choices: I could stay here and continue to create non-paying work to fill my days, forlornly wondering when I might get paid again, or I could take an impulsive, extravagant trip – while forlornly wondering when I might get paid again. After much peer pressure, I chose the latter. At least in this case I’ll be warm and eating great food.
I freely admit that I’m very rusty at Traveling Just Because, not that I was ever very skilled at it in the first place. Even before I was travel writing for a living, my impulse to be more or less constantly on the go, maximizing every minute while traveling, earned me the moniker ‘Vacation Nazi’. Resisting the urge to spin my upcoming trip into paying work is giving me indigestion. Worse still, the effort that it’s going to take to not blog about and post photos of my every move may actually cause me to faint. I’m really not sure I’m up to that. How about a compromise? I’ll blog in vague detail? Post pictures, but not label them? Can I do that? Who am I talking to? Man, I need a vacation.
Anyhoo, apart from the stout support network that I’m going to need to relax a bit, I wanted to just call attention to the fact that I’ll be posting lazily, or not at all, starting next week and continuing through the holidays. Or I’ll break down and post constantly. It could go either way.
That said, if this trip through Burma ends up being even half a poignant as last time, you should expect all kinds of pictures and commentary upon my return, so there’s that to look forward to.
In the meantime, I’m going to direct you to my Bangkok travelogue of 2005. It is unabashedly long – no astoundingly long. It was largely written in a state of exhaustion and distraction, so there are typos galore. But, if I may say so, it’s an informational and entertaining read that will effectively fill two or three of your lunch breaks.
Now, I must start my ludicrously meticulous preparations for relaxation.
Have fun on vacation! But didn’t you just have a staycation? Are you “overcationing” yourself? Too much relaxing can lead to boredom. Extreme boredom. I almost relaxed myself into a boredom coma summer ’06. It happens. F’real. Definetly not something I just made up. Definetly.
I’d like to consider this following in my footsteps and for that, i congratulate you. That trip changed my life and I would not hesitate to do it again…
I think this vacation is going to prove very interesting. Have fun!
From someone who is older and, by custom, is expected to be wiser, I must protest your vacation as an abject waste of time and money.
Someone your age should be saving money for your future by putting it into the bank or investing in an IRA or 401k.
Wait…the banks are bust and the market is down ANOTHER 400+
Hell, on second thought, forget saving and go enjoy yourself while you still can.
Just be careful about drinking Coke while you watch the ping pong ball entertainment.
And I dare you to abstain from blogging while on your so-called vacation.
Nope, you’ll be picking up story ideas left, right & center. Saving them for sunnier days in the travel writing press. Publishing snippets of them here, to get people interested. You travel tease, you.
What I’ve always said when setting off for a 3-month trip somewhere or other: “It’s not a vacation, it’s an investment.”
(It’s led to a few sponsored trips in the past few years)
PS: I’ll be spending a few months in Burma/Thailand/Laos/Vietnam early next year, to research traditional papermaking. If you come across any mad papermakers on your travels, feel free to drop me a line.
(from a recovering Minnesotan now based somewhere between Hong Kong and Sydney)
You better be a fun time when we go out for drinks next week. Otherwise, I’m going to have to get drunk so i have fun lol
you should be a sex tourism travel writer. do they have those?
burma sounds fun!
Mary – the staycation was actually work – blogging, the eventually shelved book proposal…. Sick, isn’t it?
Ev – you know it brother. That’s the main reason I chose Thailand/Burma over the Bahamas.
Nat – interesting or hilariously doomed. It could go either way.
Frank – I can’t take that dare, you know that. I need help. Don’t enable me.
Elizabeth – There is certainly that aspect of it, but I’ve sorta promised myself not to even take notes. Unless you count ‘taking notes through photography’ which I do anyway.
Matt – See you Friday.
Lucas – You always have to take it just a step too far, don’t you?
I enjoy random thoughts and authenticity, I am not sure how to read travel writers except as a cynic. I feel that a vacation and being a travel writer are not mutually exclusive, a person can be on continuous vacation. I like to muse about the word “Wander,” do people really wander the planet and is it possible to be a Nomad.
Maybe if you have no assignment, you can make enough money writing for yourself and not as needed by the adveristers or guidebooks. Thanks from Andy of HoboTraveler.com in Guatemala Travel Blog and Hotels
Enjoying reading your blog. Hard work always pays off.