8/7: Sabbatical introduction

I have been obsessed with travel all of my adult life. On two separate occasions, I have taken one and a half years off to travel around the world, almost exclusively in Asia (though the last one was a long time ago in 1984-5). I have also taken three summer trips, two to Indonesia and one, most recently, to Kerala and Goa on the west coast of India. I am the Global Studies coordinator at the Evergreen School, overseeing and organizing three and a half week trips to Asia for my 8th grade students, which is the culmination of an intensive, year long academic program for my students. Over the last 22 years of working at Evergreen School, I have led 10 Global Studies trips (4 to Vietnam, 2 to Indonesia, 2 to Thailand, and 2 to China). With my younger son heading to high school and my older son between high school and college, I finally have the luxury to do some extensive traveling again. My favorite way to travel is without a plan, open to all the possibilities. Thus, in 10 days, I will head out again on another adventure. This time I will start the trip with my older son. He has 4 months before Winter quarter at University. We bought one-way tickets, leaving for Hong Kong on 8/17, then Bangkok on 8/22. After that we do not know. We might head east to Cambodia and Laos, west to India and Nepal, or south to Malaysia and Indonesia. That is it for now.