Vacation Anticipation Syndrome

One of the best things about my job here in Myanmar is the amount of time off we get.  Work eight weeks, get a week off. Work another 8 weeks, get two weeks off. We get a month off in April. Unfortunately for me, certain circumstances have prevented me from enjoying my breaks to their fullest here in 2015.

In April, I was doing a challenging training course. In July, I hurt my back halfway through my journey through Penang.  In October, my time off was used to get back surgery. Now comes the December holiday break, and I am so looking forward to my upcoming motorcycle tour which starts a week from tomorrow.

I've already written about my plans on a previous blog, and although they've changed a bit, I won't go into detail about the itinerary. Suffice to say I can't stop thinking about it! Will my motorcycle hold up? (Of course it will; it's brand new)  Will I hold up? (Less certain) What happens if I run into trouble? (I'll deal with it) There are some nagging fears that in some ways make the trip more exciting. If I were entirely sure I'd be safe the whole time, it wouldn't be as interesting!

This trip is new for me in my disregard for planning. Normally, here in SE Asia, I book all my accommodation online beforehand, so I know where I'm going to be and go. This time, I've only done that for the first three nights of the 14 day adventure. Yeah, I still want to have the security of knowing where I'm going and knowing there's going to be a reserved room for me when I get there, but I can do that on the road too. I want the flexibility to change my plans as they go along. I want to be able to stay an extra day somewhere if I love it there even if that means changing the plans down the road.

Some people travel with no plans or reservations at all. Some people meticulously plan out every detail ahead of time. I'm looking for a happy medium between those two strategies.

In any case, I can't wait for it to start!

Yesterday, I bought something specifically for using on the road. I got myself a GoPro. It's my 8th video camera in the last 8 years. Going to mount it on top of my motorcycle helmet and bring you video like you've never seen before from my ongoing travel video series.

I had to test out the new camera today, and although the GoPro isn't the better at recording ukulele videos than my previous camera, it provides a unique point of view.