The Backpacking Trip

This trip will take me to three countries that I've never been to, and an island that is also new to me. So in addition to going to the weddings, I am also planning on backpacking through these countries - doing a little carbon-amortization and emotional processing along the way. I fully realize the irony in a person searching for the secret to settling down taking a 6 month trip that criss-crosses the globe. However, if the question is, how does a 30-something with wanderlust in his soul figure out a way to settle down? I think that against all conventions, going around and seeing those that have figured how to do it, and meeting others on the road who may be struggling with the same issues, is actually a logical step.

The Weddings
I'll be criss-crossing Asia - literally - to hit all of my friends' weddings. There is probably little chance that the wedding locations could have been in a more inconvenient geographical order, but c'est la vie!

Vietnam. Hanoi, January 3, 2010
Hawaii. Oahu, February 19, 2010
Kenya. Nairobi, March 6, 2010
India. Tarapur, May 15 2010

I will include couples biographies here soon, after getting them approved by each couple! Check Back!


The Trip
Always a hater of inefficiency, it just doesn't make sense to me to travel to the ends of the earth and not spend some time looking around too. So, I'm planning on combining the weddings with a full-on backpacking trip. I will spend 2 weeks in Vietnam, going from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh on the notoriously slow train and bus system there, before re-charging in either Manila or Bangkok. I'll spend a week in Hawaii, exploring the North Shore and photographing Waikiki. Kenya will be a jumping off point for six weeks in Africa, with tentative plans to strike out southwards after climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania - hopefully hitting countries like Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar, and one of my personal life-list places: the Seychelles. Finally, the goal is to spend at least 4 of the hottest weeks of the year in India, going around to visit friends and some of the most famous sights in India before spending some time trekking in Nepal.

It's an ambitious plan, one that requires a very large backpack, a homebase, and an innovative solution to figuring out how to stuff a suit into a backpack. (This one is still causing me problems, so suggestions are highly appreciated!)