Six weeks until departure!

Finalized my flights and have the tickets in hand! In six weeks it will be a crazy cross world dash from Quebec City to Kuala Lumpur. And the bonus is, I was finally able to reduce my layovers in Japan and Toronto on the return trip, giving me two days in Tokyo. Not nearly enough time for sure, but two days is better than no days! :)

Added bonus, Narita airport has luggage storage lockers for like five bucks a day, good for use up to eight days, meaning I won't have to lug my big backpack around Japan with me. Since I'll only be spending one night in Tokyo, in a capsule hotel no less, I will only need the minimal amount of supplies in a smaller day pack. Exciting!

All that remains in finalizing my Singapore visit and all of the hostels I will need while abroad. And of course, plotting out my days in Kuala Lumpur and figuring out how to get to Ipoh, Penang and Selangar/Sekinchan. That's the easy stuff, now that the more difficult task is dealt with (the flights).

More to follow!

Its been awhile - time for some news...

I've been so swamped with work and many other activities that I've completely been neglecting posting my usual updates. I've come to realize that they are more for me than for others, lol, since most people I know get a little weary when I go on and on about my travels, past and upcoming. Can't fault anyone for that ... not everyone gets it in quite the same way. Travel for me is a religion, its my wife, it is quite simply my life...

That aside, been a lot of work done to get me off and away back to Asia for a time. Flights are sorted - leaving Quebec City and ending up in Kuala Lumpur, by way of Toronto and Tokyo. And the day after I get to KL, I will be hopping over to Singapore for two days, via Tiger Air - for the low price of $45 CDN, return airfare. :) Also managed to change my return flight around a bit, as there were two large layovers in Tokyo (10 hours) and Toronto (17 hours). I managed to get a return flight to Canada from Japan the next day, arriving in Toronto with time enough to spare to catch a flight to QC, getting into my apartment at around 10:30pm EST. So, thats roughly 34 hours that I will get to use to tour around Tokyo proper on day one in Japan and around Narita on day two, which is about 10 min taxi ride from the airport.

Three countries, two weeks, one massive adventure! October cannot come fast enough! :)

They're here!

Went and picked up my package from UPS today and now have a recipe book to sample some Malaysian cuisine with and my Lonely Planet so I can start planning out how best to tackle cramming in as much of my desired sights within the allotted time frame. Still months away, but Im just that guy - I know everything changes once where you end up but it builds my anticipation to plot it all out on a map and in my travel journal. Or you know, I might just end up playing Mass Effect all weekend since I also got all three of them today also. :p

Feeling weird this morning...

One of my friend's arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday and was talking about some of the day one adventures they had and it's really got me itchy. I so want to be away again, lol. Its the hardest thing sometimes, wanting to be an eternal traveler but knowing that at some point you need a place of comfort to come back to. Its a dichotomy. I don't want all of the material possessions that anchor me to my home so I can be free to just travel and enjoy everything our human civilization has to offer, but at the same time, knowing how long and how hard I've worked to get all of the creature comforts I take for granted every day. I have to face facts, I'm not getting any younger here and at some point, I will need all of this stuff when I can no longer strap on a backpack and just go...

But I digress. The reality is we have a 9 to 5 culture and breaking away from that entirely is impossible, no matter what anyone says to the contrary. At some point we simply need to stop. But that's not today. :)

So my friend is in Malaysia, actually two of them, and two more leaving next month - it's all work related, but still - it's away. And it's got me seriously pondering things...

Call it a force of habit...

As any good backpacker will tell you, its all about having a small measure of prep done being going somewhere that makes or breaks the adventure in the first few days. In this day and age where massive amounts of information can be found on the internet, this isn't such a difficult thing anymore, but there is certainly something to be said about getting out there and cutting yourself off from the information highway. And for more years than I can count, the best way to have your information without having access to millions of travel blogs was to own a Lonely Planet book dedicated to your destination country. And yesterday, I ordered my copy for Malaysia. Not that I absolutely need it, but it's kind of been a staple of mine where ever I may roam on the Blue Marble we call home. All the info I need is out there, circling the interwebs, but you know, I just like the idea of having it all in one place - but I can be honest and think I will only use it once or twice while away... oh the superstitions and conventions we have and find so difficult to change. LoL! Hell, in the end, I guess the only real purpose the book will have is to sit on my bookshelf after I return and remind me of all of the awesome times I am likely to have. And for $18, that's not such a bad thing...

... and really, who knows? I may end up needing it more than once in the next 12 months ;)

Almost looks like a plan...

It was a fairly short yet laborious task, but I've narrowed down the candidate sights to take in while overseas this year. Approximately 30 Malaysians wonders to take in, thankfully half of them located right in Kuala Lumpur. Still, very very doable at the typical Joer Amazing Race style of globe trotting - day trips out of the city and afternoons/evenings spent ticking off sights right in town. And even if I cannot get to them all, I will for sure knock off the best of the bunch!

Google Map representing the areas I want to see

If you are inclined, you can view the interactive map here: Malaysia 2014 Sights Map

With a base idea in place of what to see, now comes the task of plotting travel times, cost and average time needed at each location to ensure my camera needs to be emptied nightly! :) More to follow!

Malaysian Destination Research

It actually feels really good to be doing research again - too many central american trips in the last few years, retreading old trails and requiring zero research on my part for things to experience. For this overseas jaunt, I've already got a pages worth of things I'd like to do - with only two weeks to use, Im not sure I will get to do them all and every day brings a whole new previously unknown wonder to light.

Nothing is every easy :p

Still, the excitement of researching new places and the domino effect of one place leading to another, well, it's just awesome. I could only equate it to those feelings as a kid, waiting for Christmas. Autumn, as much as I love summer, cannot come fast enough.