All Thai’d Up

From Benjamin Disraeli:

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen.“

It’s official – I’m going to Thailand.

I finally bought my airfare. Two hours ago. I leave September 20 from LAX at 11pm, then arrive in Bangkok at 7am on September 22. Talk about crossing the international date line. I know it’s over 17 hours just from Los Angeles, so I’m trying hard not to recognize that I could listen to my iPod until it dies and I’d still be flying to Thailand.

Any recommendations for sleeping pills?

As always Rick Steves (usually known simply as Rick) has cleared my mind on this packing issue.

He thinks the biggest mistakes that tourists make are: “Packing too heavily, relying on outdated guidebooks, not wearing a money belt, leaving home with too many hotel reservations, and taking other people’s opinions too seriously.”

Whew! At least now I can pack a few skirts and some cotton tees without feeling too guilty. Maybe I’ll even let myself take more than one bag…

Having already spent some time abroad, I can’t help but want to pack lightly. I keep having horrid flashbacks of dragging two suitcases behind me that were so large, and my arms not so far apart, that they kept bumping together and tipping off their rollers in the airport.

Walking through Prague, and indeed many old towns in Central Europe, I learned that wheels were not made for cobblestone. Even worse, when I traveled for two weeks through Germany and into Scandinavia, I had a rolly suitcase, a backpack, and a tote bag with straps too weak to carry the laptop I’d packed inside. Just imagine trying to train to a small town in southern Bavaria, but its running on an alternate route that literally went in a circle. Not knowing the language, we got on and off the train at least five times in what was supposed to be an easy 2-hour ride.

I hate taking things with me that I don’t use. I hate even having shirts in my bureau that I don’t wear, so certainly when the space is lacking, every item should be usable and flexible. So I started looking at websites like OneBag and the BootsnAll forums to see how other people pack. Apparently there are specific rules you must follow to be an experienced, cool backpacker (even if you aren’t). These rules include: no backpacks that look like you’re trekking up a mountain, one bag only, and no bags with wheels (gasp!).

So with these rules in mind, I like the Rick Steves convertible pack and the MEI Voyageur that gets great reviews. But then it’s so overwhelming. For instance, smaller girls (like me, at 5 foot 3) are saying how some of these packs are too big for their backs, but then I lose space. I also don’t want a heavy pack, and some bags don’t come with a suspension system.

Then there’s the issue of taking clothing that dries quickly especially in tropical climates (hello, Thailand!), ie NOT COTTON. This is basically impossible in my life, as every single shirt I own is at least 95% cotton. Besides, all that poly-nylon-synthetic crap is expensive, ugly, and personality-zapping. Fuck those haters, I say, cotton is it.

Then they talk about only taking one pair of shoes and one pair of flipflops. Now I’m by no means a girl who’s addicted to buying shoes — I wear flip flops every day from about April to October. But as a teacher, I’ll need a decent pair of brown or black flats as well as some tennis shoes for hiking and stuff.

THEN there’s the issue of whether to bring my laptop. It’s heavy, won’t always get the internet, and is heavy. Scary images pop into my head of shocking myself from having the wrong converters.

ENOUGH, I finally yell at myself, remembering that I won’t be moving around every two days the way round-the-world backpackers do and therefore can bring more than 2 shirts, a pair of socks, 2 pairs of underwear, and, if I’m lucky, another set of shorts. But then it might not all fit into one bag and then I won’t be experienced or cool.

I’ve recently added another British slang word to my repertoire: jab. As in, I got my Hep A jab today, and the guy who gave it to me was a real wanker!

It’s much more profound and illustrative than the American ’shot’, I think, really giving the idea of what the nurse is doing to you. She’s not shooting me with a gun or anything that intense. No, she’s using a small needle but she is most certainly jabbing it in my arm – quick, the way you pop a balloon or slam a hammer, and in a way that will sting or offer sharp pain. A shot is more likely to rip my arm off, leaving me gushing blood in a flooding manner. Plus, a jab makes me feel like I’ve been through more – like I survived. A shot, well, gets me pity.

When the Brits make up words so infinitely more useful than the American version, I am jealous and enamored by them. Their brilliance always astounds me, leaving me wishing that I had come up with it. This explains part of my desire to be a little more British.

And I much prefer tea to coffee anyhow.

I’m leaving in just over a month to head to Thailand. In the meantime, I’m writing approximately 5 new to do lists a week. The current one looks like this:

• get passport pics done
• print out Thai letters for visa
• call traffic court
• library to get CDs
• Orioles tickets

I got a lot of yesterday’s to do list done, so some of these are carry over. What have I gotten done today? The last item – O’s tickets. Actually, all I had to do was make sure my dad got to Camden Yards to pick up 4 tickets to a game next week. What an unproductive day.

Between my sister leaving for college in 9 days and me trying to slowly check off many, many things before I leave on September 20, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. Not to mention the work for my old job that I promised I would do this week … and the daytrip to DC with my sister on Thursday … so what do I do instead?

Start a new blog, of course.