So, I’m back quoting the Grateful Dead song, “Truckin”.  I really don’t know why, other than it comes to mind when I think of our trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Beijing, China.

I’ve written in the prior blogs about some of the experiences of the trip ending with my blasting critique of Beijing, China.  That was the 14th of March.  I’ve been “on my back” since then with an awful case of the “Traveler’s Flu”.  It is everything they say it is, incredibly horrible, you literally just want to curl up and die.  And a bonus tip from my doctor:  If you get it, don’t take ANY medications to stop the symptoms (Imodium, Pepto-bismal etc) as they keep the Monster in.  The more you flow, the faster it goes. (The last part is mine, kinda catchy).

Anyway, the trip was a huge logistic success!  So, how did we do it?  Was it hard to set up? NO.  I’ll spend the next few articles showing you how we did it and why it needed to be as stress-free as possible.  Most people see an international trip as just too big a project with too many details to work out and, there is that money thing too.  First though, let’s get some perspective here…

My World…                                      Not so Positives…sometimes

1.  Middle-aged me, terribly disorganized, cannot multi-task, high stress Financial Firm job, Five kids (all adults), normal housy bills, and I am married to the most beautiful woman in the world, who absolutely turns every head in the room that she glides in to (no insecurities here)…..and I have Parkinson’s Disease, which requires 9-10 pills a day so that I can attempt to function “normally”, whatever that means.  Stress and lack of sleep are brutal on me.  So reducing the first and preventing the second are crucial.

Positives…Stress Reducers…sometimes

2.  All of the above (especially the part about Lilly and the kids) can be wonderful (sometimes) and stress reducing, except the job thing, no way to reduce that stress (although my assistant does her very best to try).  The Parkinson’s sucks but that’s a part of Life and it is what it is.  I’ll open up like a pelican and take my meds’ like a big boy.

My Point…If you want to see the world and breathe new air, can you really give excuses for not doing it?  Some People have worse issues, I get that…but if you don’t…

What a fun post this has been!

Next post…How we started planning.