Day 1 – SeaTac Airport – Siri and I are at the airport with bags packed and plans to be in Thailand for seven weeks. We will return on Christmas Eve. This is the second big trip on our list (Camino was first) and the main purpose is to finally go volunteer at an elephant rescue center. So we have planned a week at two different ones. Our friends Tracy and Nathan have volunteered at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai for many years and got us interested in following in their footsteps. We finally plan to be there at the beginning of December for a week. Our first week starts in four days at the Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary near Sukhothai – one of Thailand’s old capitals.
It feels a bit surreal as we sit with our bags and start to get ready for the 20+ hour flight. Just last week we were in California for our Stanford reunion and visiting friends and family in Cannon Beach and Portland. Just yesterday Siri celebrated the passing of the school construction levy after lots of hard work knocking on doors and working with volunteers. We also had local, state and federal elections that have us extremely concerned about our ability to find common ground through civil deliberation.
When we return Siri will continue her work in this area of working with local communities to discuss important issues. I will be coming back to teach the next generation of local government professionals at the University of Washington Evans public administration school.
With all of this before and after, it is hard to focus on the present – that we really are headed off to our next adventure.
This is why I think one is meant to take time to arrive at your next destination. It gives you the time to stop, breathe, relax, and prepare to be in the moment when you do arrive. I remember this is why I liked the 12+ hour drive down to college – it gave a purposeful break between classes to a summer job or Christmas vacation and vice-versa. Now to be honest, it was a bit too long sometimes. I know when I hit the Oregon/California border I felt like I had relaxed enough and was ready to move on.
It may be same thing on this flight that leaves at 12:15 am on Thursday morning and after a transfer in Taiwan and then in Bangkok, and a taxi ride , we will be at our hotel by 6 pm Friday night.
Then I think it will feel like we have truly begun our journey.
We will at least have a nice bed with air conditioning – we hope. 🙂
Siri and David Adventures 