STICK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN

When we first started seriously planning the Round The World adventure, I said that I didn't want to stay in any city/town/village for less than 3 weeks. People would often say things like “Krakow is a lovely city but you don't need more than a week there.” Or “Christchurch is great, just a few days will do.” But in my heart I just knew that moving around any more often than every 3 weeks would be hard on us and since we were looking at a full year of being on the road, we needed to make things as “easy” as possible. Besides, how could you get a “real feel” for a place if you just flew in and flew out? We planned almost all of Europe on the “3 week plan” but then we started coming across places that we wanted to go but feared that 3 weeks would just be too much. We deviated from the plan, one week here, one week there...

One week works out great – in cities like Nong Khai, Thailand where there is almost nothing to do! But if there are places to go, things to see, people to talk to, one week is a nightmare! You pull into town and the pressure is on – go here, go there, do this, do that, until you wake up one morning and you're just too tired to do anything else. A rest day is thrust upon you whether you like it or not. A one week stop is like you are on vacation, you know, the kind you need a vacation from when you return back home. Three weeks is more like a short term stay where you have ample time to see and do things, but also, plenty of “down time”. There is time for domestic activities (food shopping, cooking, laundry) and time for work (blogs, editing pictures, emails, journaling, travel research).

Writing this blog on one of those “forced” rest days in the middle of one of those one week stays, I recall that initial planning thought of required 3 week stays and am reminded that sometimes, it's a good idea to listen to your gut feelings.