South East Asia on a Hamstring

Hong Kong Airport – January 14, 2000

As I settled down to a coffee and muffin in Hong Kong’s new airport, the nearby stationery kiosk went blurry and I realized that I was really out of it.

My New York to Hong Kong leg of my flight took 20 hours, including the hour spent waiting in Vancouver. I did sleep some on the plane but “Screaming Baby Express,” aka Cathay Pacific, was not my nominee for “Best Airline for a Snooze.” The squalling infant next to me was vaguely cute at first but rapidly became a living, screeching reminder of the joys of a childless lifestyle.

Another benefit of perpetual bacholerette-hood/arrested post-adolescence/post-feminist lack of assigned lifestyle etc. is that I get to take a lot of vacations. 1999 was the year of Death Valley, Japan, Guatemala, Belize, and sailing down the Nile. 2000 promises to be equally exciting as I am enroute to Bali, the start of a 2-month long overland trip through SE Asia with Intrepid travel.

Intrepid is an Australian agency specializing in small-group, local transport, budget-backpacking trips. The brochure promises that trips have a maximum of 12 people and one guide. My particular trip is a series of different Intrepid trips that I have strung together to last over two months. I am apprehensive about the group – but the alternative is a lot of nights eating dinner with my book or the eternal dinners with other travelers, comparing notes and reciting the same questions over and over again.

I have been on various group and independent trips before, but this is my first trip to South East Asia. At home, I freelance constantly as a colorist for Marvel Comics, so I don’t get out much. It is not just a shock to my system to go from the cold New York winter to the warmth of Bali – it is shock enough that I am not constantly working. And at home, I work and live alone, so the 24-hours with a group thing is bound to bring out the worst in me.

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