Making Plans

I spent much of yesterday making plans for the next few legs of my trip. As you all know, I promised myself that I would not make any plans for this trip and I would just allow myself to go where the wind blew me. This is quite a departure from my previous trips and I have to admit it has been really wonderful. So when I started putting money down on tours and confirming flights yesterday, I did feel a certain amount of anxiety. Fortunately there haven't been any panic attacks yet, but it is definitely weird. I think it's a good thing that I've managed to shed so much of the uptight, anal, by-the-book Heidi along the way.

This whole thing was prompted by me looking into some treks in Nepal. I came to realize that if I want to do anything this spring, I was going to have to book it now or not get a spot. After the Bhutan debacle I also wanted to make sure that I would have a positive experience. I visited the offices of Peregrine who had come highly recommended by several people that I'd met independently along my travels. They made me very comfortable and I trust that I'm going to get good service from them. (Please keep your fingers crossed for me that this all doesn't turn into Bhutan #2!!!)

I am leaving for Tasmania on Tuesday where I'll spend about a month. I have chosen a couple of treks to do there but will sort that all out when I get there. I'll head up to Sydney somewhere around the 20th of March to attend Paul's 40th birthday party. Friends of Paul and Nicole's who were also with us in Peru have offered to put me up there, so I'll get a chance to explore the city again. Then it's off to Melbourne to pick up the stuff that I left at Brian's, have a quick visit with him (assuming he's not up at the fires) and then fly to Bangkok.

I have a 15-day tour in Myanmar (Burma) beginning April 8th which I'm really looking forward to. I have heard such good things about the country despite the political situation. I'm back to Bangkok on the 22nd and then off to Nepal. I'll be doing a 23-day Everest Base Camp and Gokyo lakes trek beginning on April 27 and ending on May 19. I'm not sure what will happen after that - I may stay a bit longer in Nepal if it's anything like how I remember it. I would love to see the rhododendron forests in bloom and am not sure if there's any along the Everest trek (I'm getting conflicting reports). I may have to head back over to the Annapurna area (which I absolutely fell in love with in 2002) to see them there. The weather will be getting unbearably hot in SE Asia at that point and the monsoons will be starting so it will probably suit me to stay away from area for awhile.

I am enjoying my last weekend in Brisbane and we're furiously preparing for Paul and Nicole's housewarming party tonight. It should be a good time with lots of friends, food and karaoke. Sounds like we might have a drink or two too.