Travel Blog Part 2 - Getting Going

All great endeavors start at the beginning, and this one is no different. The mundane details - what to pack, how to get to the airport (port, camel assembly area or what-have-you) and how to optimize time. I'm restricting myself to some guidelines on this trip mostly because I can, and trying to be a real minimalist. No checked luggage which I freely admit has more to do with a lack of faith in airline baggage delivery systems than a desire to carry my own stuff. Also use of publicly available transport options just because I want the freedom of imagining I could in fact get there under my own power.

What does one bring to Palau ? I've selected my bag carefully amongst a range of options. As a frequent business traveller I have an assortment of luggage options, but few of there lend any credibility to the 'wanderer' mystique I'm aiming for. I knew it had to be carry-on, so have settled upon a 30L day-pack, one of my favorites and one I've previously carried to the top of the southern hemisphere. I know it works. It's small, but then I don't want to carry much. Just the other day, I elected to leave the razor at home - it's one more thing to break/lose or carry. Go light - ultralight.

Now, I am going diving, so I have 5 pieces of dive kit with me, stuff I'd rather have of my own that I know works. This includes a wetsuit (you can't imagine how small the thing squishes up!), a mask, snorkel and inflatable safety device. I also just acquired a wrist-watch style dive computer to tell me important stuff like the square root of Pi at 80 feet under. It actually does more than that, but I won't get all "dive-guy and his equipment monotonous" on you.

Transport wise, I've elected to walk/bus to the airport where I live. Yes, it'll take a few hours rather than 45 minutes, but I'll also be $100 to the good. Minimalist. That's the mantra. A few years back I came up with the trusim that a young person has no money, and all the time in the world. Accordingly, they'd spend any amount of time to make money. As a mature person, money isn't (always) the issue, rather a lack of time is, and so they spend lots of money to have the perception of more time in their lives. My minimalist mantra is no doubt derivative of these thoughts, and I want to be lavish with my approach to time, spending it as I wish. In this sense, taking a bus is a luxury.

Or perhaps I'm just odd. While I do admit to a love of airplanes, I can't say the same about busses.

The destination is the airport, or more precisely, Lufthansa at the airport that will carry my body to Japan. And do it in style, through the use of the world's longest, and the world's largest aircraft. More on that later.

I did want to answer a question though, one that I had to come to terms with in the planning phase. Why Palau ? Isn't it a heck of a long way for a short duration ?

Of course, yes it is. But, think about how you plan to relax on this long weekend (sorry Americans!). Feet up, having a cold one, or perhaps golfing, walking, or gardening. Hopefully for you, it's something you like. Truth is I don't mind flying, never have. It is relaxing for me, someone else drives, I sit back have a glass of something bubbly and catch a movie or read a book I've been meaning to. Along the way, I get to browse some cultures that are fascinating and see places I either haven't before, or haven't been to in a long time. I'm going off the beaten path, and that in itself is worth pursuing, if only to know that the world is a different place with varying perspectives and ways to approach their days. Our world is becoming culturally beige, and we can exist in a Marriott/Starbucks bubble without acknowledging the real culture around us if we want. This trip, isn't that.