An Intoxicating Idea…

This is the last week of school.  Classes will be over next week.  And after exams, literally all my friends are leaving.  Most are going to Europe, some are going to the Mideast for backpacking trips.  I am the only one that is going to spend the rest of the summer here at home.  I could have gone but because of my financial situation at the moment, travelling is totally out of the question.

This became a real depressing thought for me.  I really feel like I need to get away for a while.  But then, this crazy idea came to mind and I have been intoxicated with it for the last two days straight.

I have made up my mind that exactly one year from now, I am going to embark on a backpacking trip for 32 days across six countries in Southeast Asia.   I don’t know how I am going to do it, but some way, some how I will do it.  The picture shown above is going to be my escape.

A friend of mine a couple of nights ago sat me down and went over his entire trip that he has planned on for the Middle East.  Like I said above, my biggest factor is cost.  I was actually shocked at how cheap it is to travel to some of the most beautiful and intriguing places in the entire world.  One can literally spend $20 dollars a day and be fully fed, relaxed in a decent place to sleep and experience this world that we live in…for $20 dollars a day.

So one year from now, I plan on going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines.  These locations contain among the most breath taking places in the entire world and it is quickly dawning on me that these places are not at all out of my reach.  All I need is a bit of strong dedication, will power and patience.  I am increasingly beginning to believe that this world is meant to be scene.  I want to see it, desperately.  And given the fact that I may be married in a couple of years from now with a job (Inshallah), it may not be possible to undertake such a trip at that point in my life.

The morning I came to this realisation, I immediately sat down and began to hash out a rough plan as to how I can make this Southeast Asia trip come to fruition.  After doing some rough calculations I figured that if I can somehow save $4000 dollars, I can make this new dream a reality.  I broke it down even further.  $4000 dollars over one year roughly translates into $333 dollars per month that I am going to have to put aside for 12 months.  I broke it down even further.  If I can put aside $11 dollars everyday for 365 days, I can literally be on the other side of the planet in one year.  Not bad…

The numbers seem small, and indeed they are.  But I am going to have to cut down on a lot of my spending from hereon in.  Ever since that day, thinking has already begun to change.  That Tim Horton’s large steep tea that I have on more than one occasion per day, can literally be my three meals for one day in Cambodia.  I am starting to realize that cutting down on these small things will literally make the difference between going and not going.

I wish I had come to this realisation a but later on because all my time is being spent on just the mere thought of actually being in the locations these pictures have been taken at.  Not good considering I have a presentation due in two days which I haven’t begun on doing.  Not good either because my exams are next week.

But I can’t help but be intoxicated with this idea, this very real notion that I could be backpacking in a far off land watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, watching the colour of the water change with every degree the sun moves where it finally dips below the edge of the Earth.  I am literally getting a rush of excitement in my stomach as I type this.

Please God…Please let it be.

Please let me be this very person with his feet in the water watching your sun set over your ocean…