Thailand 3 Month Anniversary…So What’s Next?

Today marks the 3 month anniversary of Leslie and I moving from Korea to Koh Yao Noi, Thailand. And what better way to celebrate, than an afternoon at our favorite spot on the island, Had Yao Beach, followed by chilled wine in our hammocks as we blog. Hic!

I’ll post about Yao Noi again soon, as the number of days until we depart this fabulous island for India shrinks. Today, though, after being inspired by Applecore, a fabulous adventure blog I follow, I want to share with you our travel outline for the next year or two. Without really meaning it this way, it seems our plans have roughly broken down into tidy, convenient 3 month chunks. This is somewhat due to visa restrictions, partly down to our personal dreams, and partly down to ‘geckos in the toaster.’ Sorry, you’ll have to click to find out what I’m referring to.

After Korea, where I worked as an ESL teacher, we moved to Thailand. That was always a dream of mine, and after many shorter visits, I can finally say I’ve experienced ‘living’ in one of my favorite countries. Whilst here, we’ve penciled out an itinerary for the following 12-18 months, the second half of which is flexible, and dependent on one or more factors, possible. Here it is…

May 20th – Sept 9th, Koh Yao Noi, Thailand. (visa run to Cambodia in the middle)

Sept 9th – Oct 23rd, India, including mountains (me) and meditating (Leslie), temples and the Taj.

Oct 23rd – Jan 15th, Darwin, Australia. While I hang out with my brother, Leslie flies to California for some family time, and then comes to Oz, stuffed with Thanks Giving Turkey, on Dec 1st.

Jan 15th – Feb 1st, Bali, Indonesia. It’s my 40th birthday party…and I choose Bali as a perfect party spot for a few friends and family.

Feb 1st – May 1st, Paris, France. After fulfilling one of my dreams of living here in Thailand, it will be Leslie’s turn next year, as we head to Paris, the hangout of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. One day, hopefully people will add ‘Moore’ and ‘Patrick‘ to that list of celebrated writers that once lived in Paris.

May 1st – Aug 1st, San Francisco, California. Leslie is from the Bay area, and with a baby niece imminent, we plan to continue our respective writing careers state-side for 3 months while corrupting said niece into the wonderful world of travel.

Until here, plans are official…well, flights are booked at least. As we all know, life on the road will always throw up surprises. From now on, plans are in pencil…light pencil.

Aug 1st – Nov 1st, Central and South America. After the relative expense of living in the US, we plan to budget down, and backpack south for a few months, where I can immerse myself in Pre-Columbian culture, and Leslie can work on her novel set in French Guiana.

Nov 1st – Feb 1st, Maui, Hawaii. Another of my dreams is to live on beautiful Maui. After a couple of weeks there over the 2012 New Year, I knew I wanted to live there, so it’s in the plan.

And after that…

Its around that time that I may need to start thinking about getting a ‘real job’ again. Real job! What does that even mean? It’s a question for another post, but for now it means a job that pays money on a regular basis, so I can save up and once more take a year or two out to concentrate on writing.  ESL teaching is an option I can always fall back on, and besides, that could be done anywhere in the non-English speaking world.

So those are our plans, some concrete, others more tentative, and to say I’m excited just doesn’t cut the mustard as to how I feel about it all. One constant and REALLY exciting theme through all of these plans are our writing careers. As Leslie’s freelance journalism goes from strength to strength, my first novel is beginning to take shape. With a second edit almost finished, some publishing decisions will need to be made soon, as in the traditional, send manuscripts to prospective agents and publishing houses with a 1000/1 chance of success type decision. Or self publish, with 100% success rate of being published, but no guarantee of selling a single copy. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

So that’s us. How about you guys? What travel or writing plans do you have coming up, whether in the near future, or like us and the lovely couple at Applecore, way over the distant horizon? We’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Happy planning, and happy Thailand anniversary, Leslie x x

Coming soon…India!!

 

All images by the Nomad, except cute baby image, courtesy of:

http://www.groupestarpresse.com/famille/images/stories/2012Juillet/Noukie4_ok.jpg