Goodbye 2012: My Year in Travel

I've been reading a lot of really great year-in-review travel posts over the past few weeks so I've been inspired to write one of my own. While I haven't logged even a fraction of the distance traveled, hours on trains and buses, time in airports and in the air, or number of cities and countries visited by others, I'm still pretty excited about that fact I got to travel this year and about all of the great things I got to see and experience, so I felt like it would be fun to take a look back. Here we go!

By the numbers

4000 Islands, Laos

• Number of countries visited: 5
• Number of airports involved: 11
• Hostel, hotel or guesthouse beds slept in: 20
• Longest flight: 16 hours, Toronto to Tokyo
• Shortest flight: 45 minutes, Phuket to Bangkok
• Longest train ride: 7 and half hours, Ayutthaya to Khon Kaen
• Worst travel moment: Going from Kratie to Phnom Penh in a bursting-at-the-seams mini bus with a travel partner who had food poisoning.
• Best travel moment: There are two. Lounging by the Mekong in lazy but lovely 4000 Islands, Laos and deciding on a whim to make Cambodia part of our travels.
• Travel regret: Not getting to the north of either Laos or Thailand, which meant missing Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang.
• Place I would absolutely go back to: Cambodia
• Weirdest travel moment: Being on a hike in Laos and having locals want to get their picture taken with us.

The route

Bayon temple, Angkor Thom

Bangkok -- Ayutthaya -- Khon Kaen -- Nong Khai -- Vientiane -- Tha Kek -- Pakse -- 4000 Islands-- Kratie -- Phnom Penh -- Siem Reap -- Bangkok -- Phuket -- Ko Phi Phi -- Ko Lanta -- Khao Lak -- Khao Sok National Park -- Bangkok -- Toronto

We left for Bangkok February 3rd and after a few layover in Tokyo arrived in Bangkok around 10 p.m. and started our two month adventure. We stayed in Bangkok for five days, the first three of which involved a lot of mental breakdown due to jet lag. There were tears, there were fights and then once the jet lag wore off, we were normal people again. We moved every three to five days and packed a ton of travel into two months but every bus, train, plane or ferry ride was worth it. 

A few other 2012 travels

I also had the chance to get some sun this fall and spend four days on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos in early October and then another four days on Curacao in early November. One of my travel goals to is to visit as many islands in the Caribbean as possible and so far I'm up to seven.

2013 travel
We are planning another two month trip this winter, to Singapore and Malaysia, with a potential visit to Indonesia. No flights are booked yet, but we're aiming to leave the first week of February! I'll keep you posted on the plans.

What was your year in travel like? Where are you going next?

Notes on Travel Regret

No trip taken is ever something to regret. Even if you didn't love (or even like) where you went, you still likely learned something about yourself along the way. But, I think you can still lament over paths not taken and locations overlooked. Case in point: when we were in Thailand we didn't go to Chiang Mai. Yes, you read that right; we were in Thailand and skipped over everyone's favourite spot. Sigh.

Choices (or, you can't see everything)

Nong Khai, Thailand

Originally, we were going to head north after Bangkok, spend a chunk of time in Chiang Mai and then go into Laos. On our second day in Ayutthaya, my boyfriend and I decided to switch up the plan and instead head northeast, towards Nong Khai and then into Laos, with every intention of still going to Chiang Mai, just not right then.

A (bigger) change of plans
After five days in Nong Khai (a nice little chilled out town I really liked) we again started talking about our travel plans. Do we do the Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang route and then back into the north of Thailand? That was the original idea, but I wasn't really keen on Vang Vieng. I'm sure it has its merits, but being 32 I wasn't into the idea of drunken tubing or partying with 19-year olds (no offense to 19-year olds). The boyfriend felt similarly and had yet to get really "excited" about going to Laos at all. We then met another couple  who told us their favourite spot in Laos was the 4000 Islands. This was the straw that shifted the camel's plans (er, you get the idea).

The new plan

The next day (after poached eggs at a cute British cafe I can't remember the name of), we walked along the waterfront, gazing at Laos in the distance and drafted a new plan. We would not go north, but instead head south after Vientiane, into Tha Khaek (dusty town with lots of stray dogs you need to watch out for), Pakse (go to hike the gorgeous Bolivan Plateau. So beautiful) and then to the 4000 Islands (SO amazing). And then... into CAMBODIA, which was never part of the travel plan at all. So in essence, we sacrificed Chiang Mai for a chance to see Cambodia.

Vientiane, Laos

Going with your gut
Plans are great -- to a point. They can also trip you up and lead you away from the path you are better off being on. My gut said, "let's do this; let's head south instead and squeeze in Cambodia." My brain said, "but, but, but..." and then my boyfriend sealed the deal with the deciding vote to head south. I fell madly in love with the 4000 Islands and with Cambodia. Cambodia is a special place that really swept me off my feet and I wouldn't have got to have that experience if we had stuck with "the plan".

Feelings now
Well. now that we're back I do get random pangs of wishing we'd made it to Chaing Mai. I regret not seeing the north of Thailand while we were there and that kind of smarts now that we're back from the trip. As much as I love the trip we ended up taking (which I know is the point), I still think of the "what ifs" and the "should haves". I've read so many great things about Chiang Mai -- it's cheap, it's easy to get around, there are so many temples, it's a haven for vegetarians....and on and an. I hate to think I was so close, but never quite got there. Next time!

How do you deal with travel regret?