It’s Been 9 Months Already…

…and I’m proud to announce:

IT’S A BLOG!

Nine months, 10 countries and endless requests later, my blog baby is born. My travel-blog baby, that is.

During these months, I’ve satisfied odd food cravings for fried crickets, bird’s nest soup, pig intestines, duck embryos, kangaroo meat, BBQ stingray, beef cheeks, snake. I had squid eyeballs by accident once. And I’ve eaten more snails than I can count. I once even devoured four dozen oysters in one sitting. Washed down with four glasses of champagne. Baby liked that.

I’ve also had some discomforts and awkward nights’ rests. Like any mommy-to-be, I’ve struggled to sleep on loud buses, in tents, at airports, in hostels, on a farm, aboard boats, on a desert ground, on a couch next to an endangered species, even once in a police car.

And don’t even get me started on the aches and pains. These months have been ridden with hundreds (no exaggeration – hundreds) of insect bites, a throat infection and a trip to the emergency room with a very bloody head injury, complete with stitches and a black eye.

But none of this has stopped me from adventuring with my baby daddy, Wanderlust. Wanderlust has taken me skydiving, bungee jumping, white water rafting, elephant riding, zip-lining, glacier hiking. We’ve done high tea at the Sydney Opera House, visited the Taj Mahal, trekked the Tongariro Crossing, explored the temples of Angkor Wat, dived the Great Barrier Reef, and base-jumped off the tallest free-standing structure in the southern hemisphere.

It’s not all fun and games though. Wanderlust and I took time to enrich our minds and souls. We studied Buddhism and meditation with a Tibetan monk, trained in Muay Thai Boxing, became certified PADI scuba divers, spent time with orphans in Nepal and Vietnam, taught English at a Cambodian children’s school and volunteered our time with rescue animals.

Last but not least, these months have brought me closer to my roots. I spent Christmas with newly discovered relatives in Sydney. I journeyed to the deserted island that my parents landed on after escaping from Vietnam by boat in 1978. And I am currently sitting on the couch of my extended family in Saigon, learning to speak Vietnamese all over again.

These nine months have been life-changing indeed! Now that blog baby is born though – and has killed my life savings in the process – Wanderlust and I are taking some time to consider what options we have for continuing our journey around the world. We expected to be in Europe by now, but we just don’t have the money.

Do we have to find a job in Asia? CAN we find a job here? Shall I break up with Wanderlust and find myself a sugar daddy? Must I turn a trick?

Or do I *gasp* go back home to Olympia, Washington to re-start my life in the comfort of mom and dad’s welcoming arms?

Stay tuned…

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Image Source: Fine Art America