Apologies for lack of posts in past month or two. We just returned home from a three-week trip to Asia that saw us visit five countries and eight cities (we’ve done more in less time but sometimes it’s better to relax a little bit!) — Seoul, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Hanoi, Halong Bai, Taipei, and Tokyo. In the days that follow, we will be posting a series of articles with travel information based on certain sites and cities and help you learn more about places you may want to travel.
We also have some contests and book reviews coming shortly, as well, so stay tuned for that. (Thanks to Raincoast Books and The Gate Hotel Asakusa Kaminarimon by Hulic in Tokyo for working with us.)
♣ Follow us on Instagram for some snapshots from our travels – see mister_roberto and trang368.
Our recent trip to Asia (well, Southeast Asia primarily) was eye-opening, relaxing and at the same time a whirlwind adventure full of late nights and early mornings, and brought the two of us closer together. Trang and I got engaged early on in Bangkok which made the rest of the trip extra special and made every shared experience that much more real and meaningful. Travel is a beautiful thing. The experiences (both good and bad), shared with a special person or people (or even, of course, yourself and the world around you), can bring joy, adventure, and long-lasting memories that strengthen one’s perspective on life and your relationship with others, yourself, and the world you live in. From the get-go, planning a trip is liberating, a technically burdensome and exhausting task that is, at the same time, entirely freeing and full of idealism and utter joy in the anticipation of the adventures to come. And when the trip is over and we return home (back to work or school or whatever it is we call life), all the little adventures and misadventures, both the tiny pleasures and the huge missteps, come together to tell a story of an experience that can’t be forgotten. From beginning to end, travel is beautiful. It is freeing, immersive, planned yet spontaneous. The most difficult part of travelling is coming back and returning to our regular daily lives. That’s why after a trip I find myself immediately informally start pre-planning the next one. As good as life can be sometimes, we still want to get away, to that freedom of planning a trip, experiencing the ins and outs of a new place, a new city, a new culture, and the moments – big and small – that make the journey so fun. So until the next trip, let’s get away.
♠ Rob, www.letsgetaway.ca