The bag is packed and sitting ready. Once again, it is a single 40 litre backpack, my trusty Deuter, with even less stuff in it this time. Lessons learned, methods changed. I am so ready to be gone.
This is really just a test post to convince myself that it is now time to get the littlest bit excited, and be ready to roll with it. In a few days, it will be noodles for breakfast in Bangkok, and then it will all seem real.
The funny thing is that people ask me about the difficulty of the departure, which is the easy thing. Pack the bag, point in a general direction, and, "Poof"; gone, Baby, gone. No, the trick is not in the departure, the trick is returning. Tolkien was right when he has Bilbo say "Its a dangerous thing Frodo, going out your door. You step into the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."
Its a funny thing. People ask me about the business of departing, as if that is the hard part. The hard bit is not leaving; pack a bag, aim in a general direction and "Poof!" Gone, Baby, gone. No, the tricky bit is returning. I am coming to believe that one can only push one's luck so far with the returning. Eventually, comes the time when there is no door to return to, either because one is swept past it, forgets where is was, or forgets to remember.
No matter. Returning is just a prelude to departing again, until one finally stops doing one or the other.
Happy trail to you, until we meet again!
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