Thursday, August 06, 2009

Contemplating the Future

"Once in a while you find yourself in an odd situation. You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but, when you are right in the midst of it, you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came about."

This is the opening passage from Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl's book about crossing the Pacific by raft. And I love it. The Talking Heads say this well too, of course, in Once in a Lifetime. But this is so much more apt as most odd situations don't seem so odd until you're in the thick of them. Opening theme parks in the desert near Iraq, for example, or fleeing an angry hippo by the Nile, or even something as innocuous as boarding a freighter for Australia.

I'm thinking about this a lot right now. 2011 is the ten-year anniversary of MariesWorldTour.com, when I went around the world for a year by public transportation. I've been determined to stay home. But I've been here almost two years now. The terrific malaise I suffered initially is completely gone now. The gulf of depression that opened up when the workaholic in mom jeans told me I had never mattered is a distant memory and symptom of his problems, not mine. I'm done. I spring back when touched, perfectly baked now and ready to take on the world.

Should I go backwards this time? I want to go to West Africa. Why stop there? I've been meaning to take on India again, wanting to stop a while in Bali, and I've been curious about Borneo and Madagascar. And there's that not-so-small matter of Brazil that needs checking out.

But I have a frequent flyer round-the-world ticket. How arbitrary would it be to take ships this time out when the plane is free? What would YOU do?

I wonder too, how long I'll have to plan before I have said it out loud so many times that I'm compelled to make the jump. Back. Back out there, into the marvelous, exhausting, inconvenient unknown.

"Please don't die," said a certain comic book writer. That's a factor too. I push it, I know. I don't feel that I do anything unusually crazy, but there is the occasional close call.

Let's rephrase the question. What would YOU do isn't quite how it should be asked.

What do YOU think I should do?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I say go for it by land again. A lot of people could do the trip by plane, and the most interesting things are far away from the airports.

Marie Javins said...

It is a more interesting story... but ships would be about $6-8,000 versus a free airplane ticket.

Susan D-L said...

Using the ticket would free up funds to use elsewhere on the journey.

Could save ships for MWT, part 3! Or 4, 5..

Don said...

Paul Theroux hates planes and avoids them whenever possible in his writings. For him, it appears that the journey itself is not half the "fun", but all of it. He doesn't seem to be a destinations guy, or history, or ruins. But rather, he focuses on characters and word painting of scenes. He describes life's ills as a keen observer with little hand wringing on his part.
Ed Ward appears to thrive on the minutia of daily life and by doing so creates wonderful little vignettes for us to savour.
That said, the plane is merely the means to an end. The journey part can commence as soon as you leave the airport with the flying part merely forming uninteresting interuptions along the way.
In my case, the history and ruins part would be a big deal. Also, since I subscribe to the idea that overpopulation is the one big problem everyone hides from, politics, environmental issues, global warming, et al are of lesser interest to me.
Maybe the thing to do is think about what part of the experience is most important for you and seek to achieve that.

Marie Javins said...

If I were a stranger reading MariesWorldTour.com for the first time, along with Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik and the travel tales from this here blog, I would conclude that Marie Javins thrives on quirky inconveniences and absurd challenges, and is only moderately interested in ruins and culture. She's just in it for the yuks. The funnier the better.

And actually being Marie Javins, I'd have to agree with me.

I'll probably end up flying across oceans because I've written about everything I can think of about sitting on ships for weeks on end, and the cost is a killer. I heartily recommend sea travel; I just don't want to pay for it.

But I might end up being unable to resist.

Of course it goes without saying that there will be no flying overland, just over oceans.

Ed Ward said...

Here's my question: assuming you use the ticket -- and, given that it's free, it'd be silly not to -- how long do you have once you take that first flight until it's no longer good?

Answer that, and notice that very likely not all destinations are open to you, given that it's done on one group of airlines, and you'll have the start of an answer.

I mean, I know what I'd do, but first I'd need those questions -- time and destinations -- answered.

Anonymous said...

I am very pleased for you that you are taking off again. I have noticed since reading your blog (old and new) that the ones that involve any sort of travel are long and detailed, while the ones that focus on "at home" are much more brief. You so obviously come alive when you are out of what might be called "your element" (USA?)! Being a thrifty sort myself, I support the free plane trip, which of course can be supplemented by whatever sort of transportation you come across where ever you end up.

Bon voyage!

Sue said...

It's better to regret something you did than to regret something you didn't do. Go!

Miriam Nadel said...

Oe thing to consider is what the rules of the round the world ticket are. Some of the places you mention are hard to get to within the allowable routings for most of the alliances, though there are flights from, say, Rio to Jo'burg. West Africa is very tricky. If I recall correctly, you're not a Star Alliance flyer, so you can't do the South African Air NY or DC to Dakar route (and then overland to, say, Accra or Cotonou and fly to Europe.

So maybe air for NY to Brazil, a flight from Brazil to Europe, roundrip by sea / land between Europe and West Africa, fly to India, then back to U.S. via somewhere further east in Asia?

And, by the way, I understand the feeling, as it's been about 11 years since I took 9 months off for overlanding Africa (and going by sea from Capetown to the U.K. I do recommend the RMS St. Helena for a month's sea voyage.) I'm figuring on another extended trip when I retire (in 4 years) and doing as much as I can in 2-4 week trips in the meantime.

Marie Javins said...

Oh, West Africa is all gonna be by land. In fact, only major oceans will involve airplanes. The same places I'd normally go by ship.

Plane routes would be, for example, NYC to London, Johannesburg to India (probably via Dubai), India to SE Asia, SE Asia to Oz, Oz to Chile. I'd probably have to pay for JNB to Madagascar and Santiago to Easter Island.

And I have no intention of using the bit back to NYC if I can avoid it without the airlines getting really pissed. I've long wanted to try out that sailboat from Cartagena to Panama. From there on, it's easy. I guess if I have to abide by the back-to-starting-point-rule, I could fly from Mexico City or Dallas.

I would like to go on the St. Helena ship one of these days.

A minor bit of news. My miles are on Continental which is moving from Skyteam to Star Alliance. I preferred Skyteam as it had some options I liked, but whatever, free is free!

Marie Javins said...

You know, I'm starting to think Jeff is right about going by ship. (The first comment.)

We'll see.

Kevie Metal said...

My feeling is this: Don't be afraid of expediting your trip because you think it will mean that you're getting stodgy and conservative. A free ticket is a free ticket.

Matt Hollingsworth said...

Madagascar!