Cheryn Flanagan cheryn@destinationtbd.com- keep in touch - I escaped the cornfields and flat landscapes of the Midwest when I left Ohio 10 years ago to live in San Francisco. Since then, I've been building a design career and settling into a comfortable (read: routine) life. I go to work each day, where I sit at a desk and move a mouse around for 8 hours. My alarm has been set at the same waking hour for months, and I've committed my grocery list to memory. It's time to shake things up. I don't so much want to travel as much as I need to travel.  When it comes down to it, I'm traveling to take a break from the routine of my life. The world is a big place - I want to see more of it than my little corner in America. I've tried to find ways to make this statement a bit more poetic, so I came up with a simple haiku: I'm invisible - A strange world I seek to know is waiting for me

What is Destination TBD (To Be Decided)? - Destination TBD is the story of a couple of 30-something San Franciscans, Cheryn Flannigan and Benjamin Kolowich, who backpacked their way for 13 months through Asia to places like India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Indonesia. Here is their story from the beginning.  The Call of Adventure . In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors. --William Blake .True to Capricorn style, I'm an extremely practical person. My decisions are sensible and I'm always on time, to the minute. My bills are paid well before the due date and I can find 10 uses for a Ziploc bag that don't include food storage (that's actually a good skill for world travel by backpack). Making the decision to throw caution to the wind and leave everything I know - my home, my friends, a steady source of income, and my hair stylist (he's good) - goes against every sensible bone in my body. At first, it scared the shit out of me.   I agonized over things: 'What about my job?' 'What about the mail?' 'HOW is this possible?'  But, I've been dreaming of this trip for so long, my initial fears are a distant memory. In the beginning, it was a harmless fantasy that lived in the back of my mind. Taking more than 2 weeks vacation per year is lavish in terms of American standards. Several years ago I broke free. In a stroke of weird luck, I lost my job for a short period of time and I took the opportunity to travel. I was only gone for 5 weeks, and along with intestinal bugs and the occasional bed bug, I became host to the travel bug. While the others are long gone, the travel bug has made its home in my spirit, and it beckons for more adventure... the discovery of exotic locations and wondrous landscapes, an understanding of foreign cultures and their history, and the path that will lead me to a better understanding of myself.  I am going to follow my dream. In it, I am wandering the dusty streets of a small, tropical village. I am lost in a big city with nothing to rely on but my instincts. I am haggling the price of a souvenir in a foreign language. I am scared out of my wits on a crowded bus hurdling its way along curvy mountain passes. I'm eating food that I don't recognize, making friends to trade travel stories with over several rounds of beer, and living without ATMs, electricity or hot water at times.  I created this site to document the process of planning the big escape, to living it, and returning again to "normal" life. Not only to document my experiences, but also to help others figure out how to do it themselves - especially the practical ones like me who have a tendency to get bogged down by the details.  The name 'Destination TBD' is a natural, as my plans are to fly by the seat of my pants with my partner, Benjamin, without knowing where we will land...

Benjamin Kolowich  benjamin@destinationtbd.com - keep in touch - 20,000 Leauges under the sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and Jason and the Argonauts are just a few of the classic movies I was exposed to in my formative years along with many books and stories by such greats as Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, and Lewis Carroll. My Father regularly injected thoughts and ideas about such places as Chichen Itza, Angkor Wat, Uluru, Nepal, Machu Picchu, and Nazca. All these culminated into an undeniable wanderlust. Needless to say daydreaming was a reoccurring subject on a lot of my report cards. My technology background has left me in front of a monitor for entirely too long. Time to dust off the hiking boots and journal and make some of those dreams a reality.

Planning the Big Trip
.
 

Uncertainty and risk are fun, right? Uncertainty and risk make life interesting and give us good fodder for cocktail parties... right? This is what I tell myself every time I start thinking too much about saying good-bye to my life in San Francisco to travel for an unknown period of time, to unknown destinations, and back to an unknown life at home upon my return. In reality, I kind of know how long I'll be gone, and I kind of know where I want to go... and I can easily imagine what life will be like when I come back. In truth, it won't be much different than it is now. I can find a new apartment and I can find a new job. These are the kind of changes I have already made in my life numerous times. There is really no reason to worry about them now.

I've sorted out all of my fears for now, but I'm fairly certain that the anxieties of re-establishing my life after an extended period of travel will surface again, probably onboard the plane upon my departure and again while heading home. Fear is a natural emotion, I will tell myself, over and over and over again. And when I'm at my most frightened, I will remind myself that I'm in the midst of an adventure, and somehow, that always seems to make everything OK. Adventures are like fantasies, possessing the fantastic qualities of fiction and superheroes. 

There is a time in my life when fear of the unknown would have stopped me from pursuing my dream of traveling around the world. There were too many puzzle pieces to orchestrate. There were protocols and routines, commitments and responsibilities to be considered. It seemed impossible to take a long break from it all. It seemed as if it would all collapse into itself like a delicately balanced house of playing cards. 

But I've realized that anything is possible, because it is all within our own power. We can make our lives into anything we want them to be. After all, we are doing that already, with the careers we've chosen and the lifestyles we pursue, so why not add a twist to the plot? Extended travel need not be a risky digression from the path, but merely a step along the way.

The guiding principle behind my Master Plan is to keep it simple: pack the bag, make the flight, figure the rest out from there... Complicating things with anal to-do lists and a rigid schedule will only pave the way for a stressful and tedious journey. 

The Master Plan doesn't include a specified length of time, a list of reservation numbers, hotel arrangements, or any of the usual details surrounding a trip out of town. How could we possibly do that for travel that spans the better part of a year? Besides, often the adventure in travel is ending up in a place other than where you planned to go. 

All that said, we DO have some sense of how long we can afford to be gone and despite our best efforts to be spontaneous, we HAVE decided on a rough travel plan that will take us from India to Nepal, through China, and throughout SE Asia. All else is TBD.

Deciding Where to Go

There are all sorts of methods for choosing a destination. One night, some friends and I pulled the dusty globe off the shelf, closed our eyes, and pointed to a random place after a swift spin. A bit like spin the bottle, except our plan was to travel to whatever destination we landed on. And we were headed to Madagascar to hang out with the lemurs. The next morning, we awoke with hangovers and decided to put our plan on the back burner. In the sober hours of reality, I wasn't really all that interested in going to Madagascar. It's not like I have something against the place, I'm sure it's lovely, but there are just too many other places that I want to see first. And therein lies a problem - the desire to go everywhere. 

Originally, Benjamin and I were dead-set on breaking my rule to never go to the same place twice by returning to SE Asia. We thought about tacking on a New Zealand / Australia / Indonesia leg at the beginning or our trip, and an India / China leg to the end of it. Our list continued to grow. It seemed that once we were so far from home, it would be a huge waste not to see every square inch of the Eastern Hemisphere. 

We've finally settled on a rough plan that takes us from India to Nepal and China and then to SE Asia and Indonesia. We realized that we had to narrow our focus a little, or else plan to travel for several years solid! And unfortunately, we haven't won the lottery yet. We decided to start with India because we've never been there... and starting the trip in a completely unknown place seems far more interesting than starting in a place we've known, like SE Asia. In addition, starting in India allows us to move towards our final destination, a place chosen to rest our travel weary bones: Bali.

Determining Cost

Regarding travel to countries in SE Asia and India, I've heard that you can "get by" on $7 - 10.00 per day. But I believe this is most suitable for college students, who are used to barf-stained carpet and eating ramen noodles every meal. I remember my college days when milk cartons and a mattress picked up from a New York street gutter were sufficient articles of furniture. Anyhow... this form of travel, the cheapest, is not my idea of fun. It can easily become the biggest challenge or goal of travel (like a compulsive cleaning habit) and consume so much time and planning that you miss the experience of the place you are visiting in the first place. 

I've heard story after story of one obsessive budget traveler or another who have cheated themselves of some great cultural experiences and a little comfort in order to get the cheapest deal. It's not worth it, in my mind, to go to someplace so far away and experience it on the fringe. That said, I am also not looking for luxury or expecting all that much comfort. I am definitely what is termed, 'a budget traveler'.  Judging from my last trip to SE Asia in 2002, a budget of $20.00 (give or take 5 bucks here and there - especially if you like to drink beer - it's not cheap) per day is reasonable. This figure includes meals, budget accommodation, internet fees, and local transportation. Rail and plane tickets, visas, and souvenirs tack on more to this daily budget on occasion. To be on the safe side, I'm budgeting a little more than 'sounds right' according to guidebooks and the advice of friends.

PRE-TRIP COSTS - There are always "hidden" pre-trip costs to account for as well, such as storage, gearing up, vaccinations, and prescriptions. Following is how much I paid for these things: 
 

One Way Plane Ticket = $700.00
Travel Insurance (medical only, 9 months) = $600.00
Gear = $500.00
Guidebooks = $20.00/each 
Vaccinations = $1000.00
Prescriptions = $200.00

BUDGET PER PERSON - Updated on the road!
Following are approximate expenses for each country we've visited. 
  India = $700.00 per month/pp
China = $800.00 per month/pp
Vietnam = $700.00 per month/pp
Cambodia = $700.00 per month/pp
Indonesia = $600.00 per month/pp
Laos = $450.00 per month/pp
Myanmar = TBD
Thailand = TBD 

POST-TRIP...

With the high cost of living in San Francisco, I am saving almost as much money to get settled when I return as I am saving for the trip itself. And of all the things that must be done before taking off on this long-term sojourn, becoming financially prepared for return is the most daunting (and important). I figure that there will be a few months of unemployment while Benjamin and I look for new jobs so we need to save enough to live on... 

Getting Gear

Considering we'll be on the road for quite a while, why skimp on the backpack? We bought the Rolls Royce of backpacks, "The Ultimate Explorer" by Eagle Creek. REI.com is a great place to shop for travel gear, and after hours of research, comparing backpacks of all shapes and sizes, I felt comfortable spending $250.00 for my "home" while on the road. 

Aside from the pack, there are all sorts of other travel accoutrements to consider. It's easy to go overboard, but as with packing, restraint is the name of the game. Some of the items I consider necessary: first aid kit, waterproof bags, water purification tablets, and security devices, a super-absorbent travel towel, hiking shorts/pants, and an all weather jacket. All of this can be purchased at a travel specialty store – I'm a big fan of REI, and I'm not one to make corporate plugs. See "Packing the Bag" for a complete list of gear.

Today I got shot up with all sorts of toxic stuff - expensive toxic stuff. It's an investment, but in regards to health, any investment is a good one I suppose. My health insurance doesn't cover travel-related vaccinations and in total, I've spent nearly one grand. The nurse did talk me into the rather pricey rabies vaccination, but I figured I'd be pretty pissed at myself if I was too cheap now and foaming at the mouth later...

 Paring Down

What should we do with all of our stuff? The answer to this question seemed simple at first. We thought we'd put everything in storage. But after conversations with others who suggest we sell everything, things have gotten more complicated. At first, it was easy to glom onto this idea. It seemed adventurous in its own right. But after considering this option, which of course means replacing everything we own upon return, I've begun to wonder if it's not more expensive to refurbish a new home while looking for employment on a dwindling savings account. Over a few beers the other day, Benjamin suggested that we break out an IKEA catalog to get an idea of the cost. I'm pretty sure, without even looking at the kitchen accessories page, that it would ultimately cost more money than we'd like to spend upon our return. Not to mention that while purchasing some things from IKEA would be fine, I certainly wouldn't want to live in a place full of furniture that I have put together myself (I'm not very mechanically inclined).

After a quick estimation of my furniture's value, I've become convinced that it will be more economical to pay for storage. At about $75.00 - $100.00 per month for a small container, the truth is that we can probably only store the essentials, which remain undetermined. Just what will fit in that small space? And to make things further complicated, we have to combine the belongings of two people living in separate apartments. That small space suddenly shrank to half its size and I found myself back where I started... considering the option (or necessity) of selling the majority of my possessions... but yielding to my worries of the inevitable expense and inconvenience of replacing everything some day. It's a vicious circle. 

Then Benjamin laid another one on me: "Are we more likely to return on schedule if we have a load of things waiting for us? Or are we more likely to extend our travels [luck permitting] if we have nothing to come back to?"

He had me there. Although we plan to travel for at least 9 months, hopefully more if our savings allow it, we would both love to find some opportunity for work and become ex-pats for a while. Benjamin had a point. Perhaps we should get rid of everything and take our chances. Not only could we use the money from a massive garage sale to fund a few extra weeks (or months) on the road, but we could also use the money spent for storage. The truth is, it's impossible to get rid of everything. There are cherished books, photo albums, souvenirs from other trips... and I have a portfolio to contend with. This is stuff I absolutely need to keep - it's not replaceable. I have managed to fit all of this in about 8 small boxes, and in addition to a box with several items of clothing for the return, this is probably all that I will put into storage. As I've been selling, donating, or throwing out the 'unimportant' things (which seemed important at first), I really won't be left with much except several large pieces of furniture like a futon, desk, dresser, filing cabinet, and book shelf. I think I'll sell or donate these items when the time comes. With the fatigue that comes with sorting through your life, your memories, your belongings, it becomes easier to just say, "Oh, just get rid of it." And so I shall.

Giving Notice at Work

've already given notice, a full 6 months before our trip. Luckily, as a designer, I can find freelance work, rather than having a full time job, until we leave. Benjamin will ask for a leave of absence, but it's doubtful his employer will hold his job for 9 months. Heck, we might not even come back. So he'll quit his job and I will stop taking work. We'll keep our fingers crossed that we can both easily find jobs upon return. A lot of people are lucky enough to get sabbaticals from work. If I'd liked my job better, perhaps I would have taken this route although it's probably a tough sell: "How about holding my job for 9 months while I go gallivanting around the world?" I can see the look of shock and irriation (and a spot of jealousy) on my ex-manager's face. "Good one," he'd have said, "Is it April Fool's Day?"

Packing

The first rule of packing is to pack the bag, and then get rid of half of what you plan to bring. At least that's what I've read. The first rule, according to my book, is restraint. When going away for a weekend, I might be inclined to pack "what ifs": what if we go to a fancy restaurant, or what if I'm not in the mood to wear this? However, since I'll be carrying everything on my back, option paralysis is not a luxury easily afforded. I'm packing 4 days worth of clothes. Most of the contents of my backpack will actually be things other than apparel: a 'medicine cabinet', miscellaneous acoutrements, and electronics.

Following is my packing list:

The Medicine Cabinet Doxycyclene (malaria meds),Cipro and Levaquin (antibiotics),Neosporin, Tums, Kleenex, Blister Kit, First Aid Kit, Advil, Imodium, Airborne (for plane and train travel), Oscillococcinum (for Flu), Benadryl Allergy and Cold, Antibacterial towelettes, Body Glide (for chaffing), Dramamine (for bus and boat rides), Not pictured:Tampons, Monistat, a digital thermometer.

Miscellaneous Acoutrements Waterproof bags (to protect electronics and important papers, passport), sewing kit, calculator, flashlight, ear plugs, money belt (I've never used one and may not start now, but better to have it in case it becomes necessary), emergency blanket, pedometer, travel alarm clock, Deet, luggage locks, potable water tablets, cable lock for luggage, sunscreen, toiletries, travel towel.

Clothing Hiking shoes/sandals, rain slicker, 1 lightwieght jacket, 1 long sleeved shirt, 4 t-shirts, 3 pairs of shorts or capris, 1 pair of pants, several bandanas, protective sun hat, bathing suit, sarong Not pictured: undergarments (5 days), flip flops.

ON THE ROAD - Our Itinerary

February 9, 2005 India: The Itinerary

We'll kick-start our trip in Kolkata and head in all directions on the compass. We'll take tea in Darjeeling, stand on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, relax in Kerala, hang with the hippies on the beaches of Goa, get a taste of Indian night life in Bombay, visit the blue city of Jodhpur, check out the Taj Mahal on our way to Delhi and make our way into the mountains of Dharamsala, where the Dali Lama has made his home.
  And Away We Go....

Arrival in Kolkata 

We arrived last night after almost 30 hours of travel and are easing our way into India (and our adventure as a whole, for that matter). When I say 'ease', I mean that we actually had a room reserved and even transport from the airport arranged. Stepping from the shabby airport into the muggy Kolkata night, we were greeted by a friendly face and placard displaying our name. 

The air is thick here. Thick with the smell of diesel, plumes of smoke, pollution, and mosquitos. we had to wade through them to get to the car. Benjamin, who was non-commital about taking anti-malaria pills before arriving, has changed his mind.

The ride to our hotel, an eccentric place called the Fairlawn, was an adventure to say the least. The streets are clogged with vehicles of all sorts, from wooden carts drawn by bicycle to rickshaws, ancient cars, new cars, and busses packed from seam to seam. The 'signage' painted onto the back of the busses say everything that needs to be said about the traffic here: "Danger" and "Honk Your Horn". There seem to be few other rules, except that when traffic comes to a dead halt, turn the vehicle off and wait patiently. These sort of stops happen often and can last a few minutes to an hour or more from what I've read. Luckily, the longest we had to wait was less than 10 minutes.

Today, our first full day, we did some walking, visted a cemetary (the only place to find tranquility in this city is with the dead), and spent much of the day napping --probably a mistake to comply with the fatigue that comes with jet lag. I hope we are able to sleep tonight after that 5 hour nap! Tomorrow we shall find a new guesthouse (one that is much cheaper than the Fairlawn) and look into train tickets to Darjeeling.
.