I’m going on an Adventure!

My Peace Corps service ends in four months. It’s hard to believe that this journey is nearing an end. As many of my previous posts depict, it hasn’t been an easy two years of service; I’ve faced heartbreak, sadness, and tears, but I’ve survived it all! As a reward for myself, I’m going on an adventure—a little detour before I make my way to America aka home aka freedom! I’m heading west, traveling to three countries before I make the long journey home.

Originally, I wanted to do a Round the World trip, or a trip enabling me to travel to several countries, but for that to happen, I needed time, at least 6+ weeks. Well my COS (close of service) date is December 18^th. Peace Corps has a rule that allows PCVs to end their service up to 30 days early. I thought, “Great, I’ll leave Samoa around November 18^th, allowing me to do a Round the World trip, and be home in time for Christmas.” In order to leave PC service early, a PCV needs permission from their Country Director (CD). Unfortunately, my CD made it very clear that he will NOT be approving any COS dates in November because the schools are still in session and we made an obligation to complete the entire school year. So the first week in December is the earliest my CD will allow PCVs to leave Samoa. I was a bit upset that I’m not allowed to leave in November, but I understand my CDs reasoning. So, this puts a damper on my big trip. Instead of having 6 weeks to travel, I’ll have just three weeks. Sure, I could very easily travel through the holidays, but that would mean missing Christmas with my family and I don’t want to sacrifice family time during the holidays. My family means the world to me, so I’ll always choose them over anything else. Also, there’s the possibility of doing a Round the World trip after the holidays, but airfare from America to this side of the world is crazy expensive! Plus, I already have travel plans in the works for next year: A PCV reunion in Las Vegas and Coachella, and a trip to Europe. I’m planning on visiting a friend I met during my first year in Samoa. He lives in Europe and I hope to visit him early next year. So I’ve decided to put the Round the World trip on hold, and do a mini trip instead. I’m on the side of the world that has several counties I’ve always wanted to visit, so it would be foolish of me not to take advantage of the opportunity to see a few of them.

As of this week, all my major flights are booked! The countries I’ll be traveling to are: Fiji, Australia, and Thailand, spending about a week in each country. I’ve always wanted to travel to those countries. In fact, Fiji and Australia top my list at the #1 and #2 spot!

Who will be traveling with me?

Two fellow PCVs in my group, Millie and Michelle, will be traveling with me to Fiji. After that, we’ll part ways and each head to different locations. At this point I’ll venture off by myself, heading to Australia and then to Thailand. I’ve never traveled alone, and I must say that I’m looking forward to it. To have the freedom to come and go as I please, without having to cater to anyone but myself is…thrilling!

What are my travel plans?

For security reasons, I won’t go into detail about my trips until I’m in America. In fact, at this moment there isn’t much detail to report on anyway because all the planning is still in the works. And actually, in Australia and Thailand, I know the areas I’ll be traveling to, and a few things/places I want to see, but I probably won’t plan anything major and just go with the flow. Above I’ve mentioned that all my major flights have been booked. I need to make one more: Bangkok to the south of Thailand. I’ll arrive in Bangkok one night and don’t know if I should venture off into the city, or wait in the airport for several hours, until the flight leaves to the south. I’d LOVE to see Bangkok, but I must say that the thought of being in that city by myself is… intimidating! I’ve lived in Samoa for the last two years, where the population is 180,000. In Bangkok alone, the population is 10 MILLION! Ten million, people! Oh my goodness! I was thinking of looking up couch surfer hosts in the area who could show me around the city. Also, Thailand has PCVs, so that’s an option as well, although I’m not sure if they’re allowed in Bangkok. Anyway, if I decide to stay in Bangkok, I’ll leave for the south of Thailand the following evening. If I don’t, I’ll arrive in the south early the following morning. I don’t want/need a couch surfer host anywhere but Bangkok because the rest of my trip I’ll be in small touristy areas. I’m a social butterfly, so I don’t think making friends with my fellow travelers will be too difficult.

China

When I was looking for flights from Australia to America, I saw one route had a layover in Shanghai. I thought I’d make a trip of it, traveling north to the Great Wall of China and surrounding areas. I begin looking up other attractions, as well as visa information. Then it dawned on me: China is in the northern hemisphere, so it will be winter in December. I forgot that the rest of the world actually has seasons, unlike Samoa where it’s usually hotter than hell and beyond humid on a daily basis.

Well, I’ll be coming from Australia, where the hottest time of the year is in December. Going from that to straight winter will be a shock and not enjoyable. Yes, I realize that America’s winter is in December as well, and I know that I’ll freeze once I’m home, but I’ll worry about that when the time comes. Until then, I want to enjoy my trips in hot climates, where I won’t have to buy a new wardrobe to prevent hypothermia. So China’s winter was my main deciding factor. The other was my father. He’s always wanted to see the Great Wall of China, so I’ve decided that I’ll wait for China, so I could travel with him.

So that is when I started looking into other countries, and boom, Thailand became official! It is so cheap to fly from Australia to Thailand. Flying from Thailand to Albuquerque, New Mexico is not so cheap. But flying from Thailand to LAX is! So I booked a flight to LAX, and booked LAX to ABQ separately, saving me about $750USD. I recommend breaking up flights and coming up with your own routes, instead of letting a computer do it for you. The savings are HUGE! And on top of saving $750, I chose Southwest Airlines to fly from LAX to ABQ, which means I won’t have to pay baggage fees, compared to the other airline the automated computer wanted me to fly with. Also, flying from Australia to Thailand, then Thailand to LAX, and then LAX to ABQ is just a tad more expensive than flying from Australia to ABQ, so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t go to Thailand. I’ve really lucked out with flights this trip. My flights from Samoa to Fiji and then Fiji to Australia were dirt-cheap. Flying from America to these countries is outrageously priced, so (early) Merry Christmas to me! I’ve booked almost all my flights on www.cheapoair.com. I recommend them because they have amazing deals. I’ve used them once before, and didn’t have any issues, so check them out!

Luggage problems

I want to travel with just one backpack and one luggage at the most. Well I have two, so this a dilemma: Do I abandon one luggage, along with half of my belongings, or do I ship it home? I was in Apia last Friday and got price quotes from three companies, ranging from express shipping to sea freight. Any guesses on prices? If you guessed $1,800-$2,000WST ($780-$870USD) then you are correct! I understand that Samoa is in the middle of nowhere, but that’s just crazy prices. After discussing this with PC staff, I was given the idea of going to American Samoa and shipping from there. Because the country is American territory, shipping to America is domestic, and so much cheaper! So I think I’ll do that, flying in a few weeks during my term break.

Random facts

There are quite a bit of them, so I thought it would be fun to include in this posting.

In just three weeks, I will have flown in 10 planes, in 7 countries, and have gone through 9 different time zones… talk about jetlag! I have layovers in Indonesia and China (that’s where the 6^th and 7^th countries come from). If I had more time, I’d make a trip of those two countries, but that would be pushing it. Plus, China’s tourist visa is quite pricey and not worth just a few days of travel, and the reason why I’m holding off on China is mentioned above.

I love that I’m traveling east to go home, over the International Date Line because I’ll gain a day by experiencing December 23^rd twice, which will be beneficial to my long journey home.

As I’ve mentioned in the beginning of this post, my Peace Corps journey is coming to an end and I’ll be in America before I know it. Until then, I plan on going into a major beach coma over the next four months. Then on December 24^th, it will be back to the desert (and winter’s cold) for me.