I have this one friend (the one who I went to visit in Hawaii), whose life I covet. I mean, I love my life, but she’s really got it down when it comes to traveling. She studied abroad in Europe in college, moved to Hawaii when she graduated and did tons of traveling around there, went to South America last year and now, she’s quit her Hawaiian job and is taking 6 months to travel around Asia, which will culminate in a month-long volunteer job in Vietnam where she will be working at a hospital teaching the PTs there (she’s a physical therapist) about the methods and techniques she’s learned in her years working at the hospital in Hawaii.

Not too shabby!

At our recent meet-up during her week home before she returns to Hawaii before she and her travel buddy jet-set off to Asia, she gave me her (relative) itinerary so that I could pick and chose a place and time to meet up with her, should I feel so inclined (the answer is yes, friends, I do feel so inclined). Here’s what it looks like:

Japan for 1 week
Vietnam for a few days
Cambodia for 1 month
Nepal for a little over a month
India for 1 month
Thailand for 2 weeks
Vietnam again (where she will be volunteering) for her final month

I asked her how her family felt about all her traveling around, especially after having lived in Hawaii for the past little-more-than-2-years. She sort-of laughed. “They’re wondering when I’ll be done,” she said.

I don’t know if one ever feels totally “done” when it comes to traveling, but maybe things just tend to die down in scale? I know recently I’ve felt a travel itch to up and move from Manhattan, take to the road or air or sea, see wherever I land and start new.

I probably won’t do it, though. My friend will. That’s the difference.

So I envy her, but for now, the least I can do is watch and live vicariously through her (and beg her to send me updates of her travels every few days so I can post them here).

Oh, and the other thing I can do is visit. With London and Rome in May and Oktoberfest in September, I’m not so sure how feasible it will be, but my friend promises me that they are traveling on the cheap, and that once I’m there, even if I stay for a week, I can expect to spend not much more than $100.

Really?!

That I could do. I’m thinking Thailand might be the perfect place and time for me to visit her. Plus, there’s no Visa requirement. I’ll have to look into it.

Although she did also leave me with a note of all the shots I’ll need to travel there— Hep A,B and C, tetanus, Malaria and Typhoid. Oh my.

Which place would you hop on in that itinerary?

Bis bald, my friends!