Sunday, November 09, 2008

We travel because, no matter how comfortable we are at home, there’s a part of us that wants - that needs - to see new vistas, take new tours, obtain new entrees, introduce new bacteria into our intestinal tracts, learn new words for “transfusion,” and have all the other travel adventures that make us want to French-kiss our doormats when we finally get home.

--Dave Barry

As you may know, we just returned from a couple of weeks vacation in the Himilayas. It was a wonderful, insightful trip to one of the worlds most interesting places. We started with a couple of days in Bangkok (see above and here) and ended with 10 days in Bhutan (see below and here).  I’m not going to repeat a lot of the story here, just go to the photo galleries for the rest of the story.

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

You may click to enlarge…

Two weeks ago we left for our trek in the Himalayas, to the Kingdom in the Clouds, Bhutan. As you read this, we are on our approach to the Seattle airport and our reentry back into Western Civilization.

Among the travel documents we received before departure was a short briefing designed to condition our expectations. Below, I am quoting from this briefing:

We will be traveling to remote regions of the Himalaya that, until a few years ago, were impossible to reach without weeks (if not months) of arduous travel. While it now seems quite reasonable that one should be able to fly to places like Paro ... these trips remain on the fringe of mainstream travel and one should not expect the same ... conveniences found at home. Please prepare yourself for the adventure such travel brings.

At the time of our departure, I was tremendously excited about this trip. I liked the notion of the adventure we expect to experience. I loved the notion of traveling to a place few outsiders have visited. I was personally looking forward to a few weeks of decompression from my day to day responsibilities and stresses and the opportunity to lose myself in an adventure.

Did it work out? Was it all I expected? Will I have amazing pictures to prepare and share?

All I can say is, “Stay tuned, film at Eleven!”

And to borrow the last line from the last Calvin & Hobbs cartoon ever published ... “Let’s go exploring!”

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Serious Travel
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