I Ain't Goin to the Beaver Store

After months of hesitation, contemplation, and a few moments of hyper-ventilation, I finally bought my ticket to Asia. The itinerary is insane. I'm not sure what I was thinking. The only thing I know is that I may be a crazy person and when I get back I might be homeless on the street begging for change in the Tenderloin and screaming drunken obscenities at random professionals in suits outside Lees Vietnamese Sandwich shop--a place I used to frequent when I wasn't a crack-head. I also might have to start stripping at the Garden of Eden to pay rent, where you can "come in and take a bite of forbidden fruit." Or what if I turn out like the crazy old hippie I met in Washington Square Park the other night. He kept on talking about snapping his fingers and transporting himself back to the 60s. (I'm pretty sure he never stopped doing acid) and then said incredibly intelligent things like, "don't use wooden nickels, because they ain't worth a damn. Unless you are going to the beaver store." So profound. Ok, maybe I'm being a bit overdramatic; This trip is not gonna make me turn out like crazy old hippie, or crazy crack-head in the Loin, or a stripper wearing a loin cloth, holding an apple. While hanging out with a friend the other day, he said something that helped me curb my freak out--that this was the best type of debt I could ever be in and it would be totally worth it, life changing really. I believe him and I believe in this trip. But still, was I high and or drunk when I planned this itinerary? Possibly.

I fly into Ho Chih Minh where I meet Denny. From there we backpack around South East Asia for two months including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. From Singapore we fly to Tokyo where I will revisit my favorite city and one-time home. From Tokyo we fly to Delhi and backpack our way down to Bombay. Then from Bombay we fly to Hong Kong and Hong Kong home ... four months later. I'm exhausted already. Just telling people about the trip makes me want to cry with fear and also pee my pants with excitement. I can't wait. There's so much to do still. Here's a tentative list of things I still need to do in less than two months.

1)Save up four thousand dollars. Yikes. This is the most important, and the hardest.
2)Get all my visas in order
3)Find a subletter for my apartment
4)Move all my crap from my apartment
5)Get shots so I don't get yellow fever, the plague, malaria etc.
6)Get travel insurance
7)Buy random things I need for my trip
8) I can't think of anything else right now, but I know there should be something else here.

Wow. I think I may be having an anxiety attack again.