The Route

Already enjoying vicarious travels--thanks Sarah!

I look again at the list of places where you will travel and BE, and I am rendered (almost) speechless, and a bit dizzy, as well as a little (a lot?) jealous--but because it's you getting to travel, happy too. I am thinking of you today as you begin and hope that you will manage the long flight without any chapstick or hair products of your own to carry with you.

Maybe you can host an episode of one of those cable TV travel shows. WHat might it be called? Travelling in lands under martial law: Dos and Donts Coup d'etat: war or commotion?

News stories about the coup going down in Thailand have me worried about your time there in November, Sarah. British nationals who live and vacation there are being enjoined to avoid demonstrations, though not to leave. According to Asia Pacific News, Asian governments are urging their citizens to postpone travel plans. According to allsafetravels.com (which looks like a pretty thorough resource for travel advisories), Canadians are being told to stay away from the Sanam Luang area of Bangkok, where many government offices are located, and to monitor developments closely. Sorry to sound alarmist--maybe it is the era of bullshit homeland security color-coded alerts that has me thinking in this vein. Perhaps I've succumbed to the Culture of Fear. But be careful, Sarah!

Barb! Thanks so much for looking after me. I'm touched. And yeah, your worries are my worries. I'm sure the blogosphere is abuzz. And thanks for the heads-up about particular areas of Bangkok -- like I'm going to know when I'm there: Oops! Just crossed an invisible line into a neighborhood that has a lot of men with guns. Maybe I shouldn't be here? I'm on the American Embassy email list from Bangkok and have been getting regular updates. They're just telling us to "consider carefully" our plans to visit, right now, and to monitor the news closely. But I'm all about it. When I hear "tanks," I hear "change-of-plans." I've also been reading my travel insurance policy to see if there's any hope of getting reimbursed for that segment of my trip, if I have to cancel it. Well, I'm definitely NOT covered if I have to change plans because a war has been declared, but I AM covered if I have to change my plans owing to a "civil commotion." Whatever that is. (I hate those uncivil commotions. They're usually called classes.) I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, as Ted Kennedy said. And I'm cautious by nature, too, when it comes to traveling to countries I've never been to that are currently under martial law. I know, I know, I'm so overreacting. Keep the news coming, seriously.