The Long & Winding Road

Well I'm starting to realize that the adventure ahead of me is nearing quite fast.  I am currently in Toronto anticipating the trip of a life time.  I have wanted to travel to Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand for a long time and can't believe that it is now only 8 weeks away.  This trip was kind of a spur of the moment decision for me as just 4 months ago I was buying a new car, sitting on my new furniture and hoping for that full time job to come up.  As it turns out, I am now selling that car, have sold my furniture, I'm getting vaccinations, buying travel insurance and wondering how this next phase of my life will turn out.  I almost did this trip last fall but backed out because of lack of funds, a new girlfriend and the pursuit of a full time job at CTV.  This year is a different story, I am single, have finished paying off my student loans and my credit card and have realized that there is more to life than the daily grind of work.  I am hoping I can return to CTV when i get home and being a freelancer I was never really guaranteed any permanent work anyway so I figure I might as well have some fun and hope they will still give me some hours when I return.  I have realized that the time is now to do this trip.  I can't really remember if it was one specific bad day or just the little voice inside my head telling me everyday to just book the damn flight already.  So I bought a one way ticket to Bangkok a couple months ago and now i sit typing the first entry into a travel journal that I hope will be an entertaing read for myself when I return to Canada and those of you patient enough to read along.  My plan right now is to not really have a plan, I'll be heading to Thailand with my friend Will where we will try to see as much of the country as possible in the 5 weeks he'll be with me, then when goes back to Canada, I'll either be on my own to tackle Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos or possibly meet up with a friend in Hanoi for two weeks in Dec.  I will be heading to Sydney, Australia after the money starts to run out where I'll be looking for work to support the trip up the east coast of Oz.  I have some friends living in Sydney right now that I met in California at Coachella 2007 through our mutual friend Fiona.  After that its over to New Zealand to hopefully meet up with my fellow co-worker Jon who is more than likely going to be there in July 2009 to snowboard and check out both islands.