Sleeping Is Giving In

July 9, 2009

Hello family and friends,

Today is the day! After years of dreaming, months of preparation and days of packing, I am finally embarking on my year-long trip around the world. The idea to travel came to me in second year at U of T. Initially, the idea of taking an entire year off to gallivant around the world seemed exciting, but a little outlandish. But the more I thought about the possibility of traveling, the clearer it became that this was an opportunity that I simply could not pass up. For two-and-a-half years this has been my light at the end of the undergraduate tunnel, and now it is here.

One of the most difficult things about planning this trip was trying to choose where to go. Nearly every place that I considered seemed appealing for one reason or another. After making a lot of tough decisions I have decided on the following itinerary. Today, I am flying from Winnipeg to Singapore via Toronto and London. I have about 22 hours of flying time and 12 hours of layover time. This means that by the time I get to Singapore it will be 8am on July 11! In Singapore I will be reunited with the long lost Kevin Chubey. Chubey has been studying abroad in Sydney, Australia since January and is currently doing some solo travelling in China. I haven’t seen him since his going away party at the start of January and I can’t wait! He hasn’t cut his hair since January, so I think his locks should rival mine. Karen Chubey was less than impressed when she saw some pictures of Kev, but I’m sure that he will stick to his Winnipeg roots and avoid paying for the haircut the rest of the trip.

We will spend July 11th and 12th in Singapore before flying to Kota Kinabalu (KK), Malaysia on the evening of the 12th. KK is the largest city in the Sabah province of the North Borneo jungle. For nature lovers, the possibilities in Borneo are endless. Borneo is famous for its wildlife tours through the jungle and it boasts one of the world’s largest populations of Orang-utans. It is also a world-renowned scuba diving location. I hope to try scuba diving for the first time ever. Another main attraction is the 4000m Mount Kinabalu, a climb which Chubey and I are considering undertaking. We will spend a week in Borneo and then fly to Kuala Lampur on the 19th. After a few days in KL we will head to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of Angkor Wat and other Hindu-Buddhist temples. After seeing the temples of Angkor we will head to Cambodia’s biggest city, Phnom Penh. On July 28th we are flying from Phnom Penh to Chiang Rai, located in Northern Thailand. Northern Thailand is well known for its beautiful mountains and its hill tribe treks, on which local tribes take you on treks through the mountains and teach you about their customs and way of life. The hill-tribe treks are a must for us. We also plan to see the cities and towns of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Pai in Northern Thailand. After we get our fill of trekking we will head to Southern Thailand for some much needed beach time. We plan to go to Koh Phangan for the famous full moon party and also plan to spend some time on some quieter islands. Our next stop will be Bangkok and from Bangkok we will head to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We will head north through Vietnam until we reach Hanoi. From Hanoi, we will fly to Hong Kong, where Chubey flies back to Canada on August 22nd.

After doing Southeast Asia with Chubey, I will head north through China on my own. I am really looking forward to the challenge and adventure of travelling alone. The China section of the trip is less well defined at this point, but I hope to get to the Yunnan province, Guilin, Shanghai, Xian and Beijing. I am very excited to see China again to see how the country (and my perception of it) has changed since my family’s trip to China in 1999. My Dad and I are hoping to meet in Beijing (work permitting) and travel to Japan together for about 2 weeks. In Japan, we plan to visit Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo. In Tokyo we hope to stay with some of Dad’s close friends from work. I think this should be a good opportunity to get a more realistic taste of what life in Tokyo is like. One of our main goals for the trip is to conquer Mount Fuji. The climb is apparently quite difficult, so we are looking forward to the physical challenge.

On September 26th Dad will head home and I will fly from Tokyo to London. I will spend the rest of the fall in Europe and fly back to Canada on December 21st, just in time for Christmas. On September 26th I hope to meet Minju in London and then we will head back to Lyon, where she is studying at Jean-Moulin University for the fall. I plan to spend my first few weeks in France with Minju and then head to Eastern Europe. I know that my Grandpa Bushuk will be living vicariously for this portion of the trip. We have arranged for me to stay with friends of his in Poznan and Warsaw. After going through Poland, I will be meeting Grandpa’s cousin in Brest, Belarus. I am excited for the culture shock when I get to Belarus. The language barrier should be formidable and the way of life is very different from the western life I am accustomed to. The highlight of the Belarus trip should be a visit to the village where grandpa grew up, Yacovichi. His family emigrated when he was 10 years old, in 1939. I hope to see the house that he grew up in.

After Eastern Europe I will head to Venice to meet with Mom for a two week trip in Italy. We hope to do Venice, Cinque Terra, Florence, Naples and Rome. The rest of my Europe trip is undefined at the moment but I am most excited to see Greece and Spain. I would also love to get to Morocco, Portugal and Turkey. I do not want to plan too much for this portion of the trip because I am not sure yet what type of pace I will want to travel at. So that is the trip! More to come after Christmas…hopefully.

I’ll be posting again sometime shortly after Borneo, so check back in about a week.

I have set up the commenting feature on the blog so that anybody can comment, even if you don’t have a blogspot account. Please comment! I would love to see who is reading.

Thanks for reading,

Mitch