"You're doing what? Are you insane?" and other FAQ's

"Wait . . .where are you going?"
India from jan-march 21ish, living in beijing with michael until mid-April, travelling through china for as long as I can stand the language barrier (probably a month), cross the border into laos and make my way to bangkok, where I'll fly to london and live there for a month with michael so I don't go insane -- late june-july, most likely. fly back to bangkok and finish up the backpacking trifecta of thailand, vietnam and cambodia. get to malaysia, make my way down to singapore, maybe cross into indonesia and go through sumatra. see my family in the philippines, then fly to beijing so I can take the transsiberian railroad through mongolia to moscow, then get on another train and stop off in warsaw, berlin and brussels before I finally meet michael at st. pancras in london. this itinerary gets pretty sketchy past august, and anyway if I run out of money, I'm coming home a lot sooner :)

"what on earth is driving you to do this?"
it's the natural break in my life -- I hated my job in NYC and was going to leave anyway in January to go travel for 4 months before coming back to find another job. but when I was laid off in September, it actually worked out better because I was able to spend 2 months living in london with michael and see my parents for a good month and a half before leaving. cutting off all my ties to nyc is a lot more exciting anyway because it feels like I have the whole world at my feet and I can do whatever I want. and anyway figuring out what to do next is much easier when I'm relaxing on a beach somewhere in thailand, as opposed to freezing my ass off in february in NYC.

"so what are you going to do when you're done travelling?"
not sure, work-wise. I was throwing around the idea of grad school, but I think I'll miss the first semester with my travel schedule. I think I might just want to get on with it and find a job at a non-profit that won't piss me off as much as the union did. I'm 90% sure I'm going straight back to NYC with Michael -- he's looking into transferring to the NYC branch of his office, and anyway, we have a wedding to plan :)

"you're getting married? no way."
hey you'd get over your commitment phobia too if you met the man of your dreams. may 22, 2009, NYC (probably in queens, if you want a tiny hint for the venue)

"aren't you scared? your parents must be freaking out."
even though I've done a good amount of solo travel, this is kind of scary but not in a getting robbed/murdered/kidnapped kind of way . I don't do too well with loneliness so that's going to be the biggest issue for me, but that's also one of the things I really wanted to face on this trip. learning how to sit in bad spaces and be totally self-reliant. but maybe I'm wussying out by getting cell phones wherever I am. and yes, my parents are freaking out.

"are you bringing, like, everything you own with you?"
no, I have 5 ugly shirts that redeem themselves by being really good for hot weather, 2 pairs of khakis, 2 skirts, mosquito net/hostel sheets, rain stuff, tevas that I am reluctant to wear since I will be pegged as a dirty backpacker wherever I go, running shoes, and a rather impressive array of medical equipment that includes everything from cipro to syringes. a giant package of baby wipes for all the diarrhea I'm going to get. and I'm splurging by bringing a bottle of mouthwash, you know, since I'm american and I'm clearly obsessed with my teeth. etc.

"well . . .don't die."
I'll try not to.