To Travel Different Roads
Walter Mitty : To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.
To Travel Different Roads
I can honestly say that watching the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is the reason I decided I needed to get on the road and see the world.
To watch this man basically being forced by his circumstances to travel to exotic locations and see his eyes open up to the world because if it was an event for me.
I realized I was this man.
Watching him skateboard down an endlessly long road surrounded by green grass and snow in Iceland just blew me away. I felt that I knew at least the basics of geography and history and lands and watching the movie and seeing just how different Iceland was to what I imagined, I realized that I knew next to nothing about the world.
This silly movie was the point in time when I decided I would travel the world now, rather than wait for some undetermined time in the future when I would most likely be an old man.
And so, I travel and it has been the best thing I ever did.
Travel Philosphy – While in Thailand I happend to have conversation with a lady at a beach cafe on two different days. These little chats were eye opening to me. We of course traded mostly travel stories. I noticed that hers always involved many more places and activities than mine.
On the second day, I told her that the week I spent in Prague was amazing and that I wanted to return for a much longer stay and explore the city and country further. I told her that I was considering a month or longer. This seemed to really confused her. She asked me “why would you want to go back to a place you have already been?”.
Now was my turn to be confused as I thought the answer was obvious. I told her because there was so much more to see and do and I really just want to spend time in a place I enjoyed so much. She thought that and that I should visit new countries.
After our chat was finished, I realized that this woman seemed to have every day filled with as many activities as possible and that she was jumping around the world from one place to the next at a very quick pace, never spending too long in any one place. It was almost as if she need to check things off a list. There was an almost manic need to do the most possible. I prefer to find a few places I like and spend more time in places I enjoy.
She and I would never be successful traveling together. Her rush to go to as many places as possible and have as many experiences as possible would clash with my desire to go slow and enjoy the experiences longer. If you are going to travel with someone, it seems to me that you need to be very careful in picking who that person is, otherwise you may end up trapped in a very unpleasant trip,
• Beaches
• Cities
• Islands
• Historic Sites
• Churches and Cathedrals
• Museums
• Health and Insurance
• Hotels I stayed In
• Best Pictures Free Use
It is a joy to buy heath insurance in Thailand as an expat. Good health insurance in America is too expensive and also have deductibles that are far to high. In fact I will go so far as to say that health insurance in America is a ridiculous scam. I am 60 years old and pay $110 USD / month and have world class health care in Thailand and the deductible is $0. - Whatever your age, you are likely to find excellent health care for a price you will think is silly cheap. Did you know that I get a discount on my premiums if I do not use the health care in the year? This is unheard of in America, where health care costs do nothing but go up.
Bangkok and areas north to include Chang Mai have horrible air pollution during the months of January and February. This air pollution drifts down south to Pattaya also. - The Health effects of the poor air quality during these 2 months is huge. The air quality becomes so poor that it can cause severe health issues even in healthy people. Avoid January and February and possible even March. - Farmers burning their fields, vehicle emissions, and the fact that during the summer the heat rises and the wind goes away, all mean that air pollution stays and builds up. - Do not bring your kids here until after the air clears up.
When you visit Pattaya and look out from the beach, you will see an island not far off. This island is Koh Larn. It is easy to not take the time to go there. That would be a mistake. Koh Larn is a beautiful island with great beaches. If night life and bars are your thing then stay in Pattaya. If you love beaches, then definitely take the time to spend the day at Koh Larn. You will love it. There are three main beaches and it is the third one you really want to go to. Tiennara Beach is the pretties, the quietest and most relaxed beach. Jump on a Baht Bus, pay either 30 or 40 Baht and ride out to the last beach on their route. This last stop is Tiernnara Beach.
Jomtien Beach, the quieter part of Pattaya Thailand. Before my first trip to Thailand I always got confused as to whether Jomtien was in Pattaya or a separate city. This confusion is caused by the fact that people interchange the words freely and sometimes it is called Jomtien, sometimes Jomtien Beach, sometimes Jomthien (with a H) and sometimes Jomtien Pattaya. I would put it simply like this. Jomtien is the part of Pattaya you want to live in and enjoy more relaxed days and nights. From Jomtien you can visit the wilder parts of Pattaya but you do not have to live in that craziness. You will sleep better in Jomtien.
The ongoing quest to visit interesting places and meet new people. To pull myself out of my comfort zone and see what the world has to offer.