Day 0 - Night Before Departure - 🌏 MWT 2017

Sunday August 27th, 2017
Hiked 3.9 miles

10:09 pm

My itinerary was easy to understand and helped document
my journey on two pieces of paper. Kiwi.com

Well I am laying in my bed with my new bluetooth keyboard connected to my phone. For ease and lightweight travel I am opting to leave my laptop home and use my phone only this trip.

I decided it is wise to wait until I return home before I post anything on this trip. If only to pay attention to the moment, lest I get distracted and post something foolishly offending people when I only want to show respect. I need to understand. I am not as interested in seeing the sites as the people. I want to see people around the world. Really that is all I expect. I expect to see people just as us, similarities, and differences. It will be enlightening. I am excited to travel alone as it exposes me to interact with people. I expect I will just make short notes on here. I am not going in secret, or surprise, just not advertised. Most Americans I know have little experience with this, and I dread their opinion. Only those close to me know of it so they may be on the lookout for my return. It is kind of hard to sleep before a long journey. I doubt the wisdom in the planning of the trip. Planning that I did so quickly I can not remember if it was thorough.

So I HAVE to trust myself. Tomorrow I will be at the Castro Valley Bart before 10am to be guaranteed a spot. I have no plans for the evening. I will check into the hostel and enjoy a tasty beverage of sorts. Then I will have something very American before I go. Tues I will wake up and make my way to the airport via the BART. I will get on a, what appears now to be a 14hr leg. I will land in Wuhan China. It is new to allowing visitors, as new as 2015, and I will only be there a short time on a layover on the way to Bangkok Thailand. I reserved, in Bangkok, a three star hotel for the night after my arrival. My plane is going to land in the early morning so I don't want to reserve a hotel for the arrival of my trip.

We will see how that works out. My trip to Hawaii in July was tiring after 10 days. By twelve days, I was so happy to go back home, I felt like it was a new vacation. The return trip from Hawaii was brutal and I was beaten emotionally and physically from delays and missed connections that I am kind of surprised I am going to do this. In fact it will mark the end of my retirement and when I return I will be out of money and in need of a new job. I have seen some emails regarding available jobs from head hunters in my inbox, but am too distracted running this trip over in my head to worry about that until I get back.

So early tomorrow morning I will drive to San Francisco to visit one of our very own famous metropolis before heading out overseas. My plane to China leaves the next day.

Tonight I need to scan copies of my passport to Google drive, as well as my Drivers License and Bank Card in case they go missing. Earlier I printed out a hard copy of my ticket information in case my phone gets destroyed, goes missing, or the battery dies writing about my trip. I keep taking a break to Google things last minute to make sure I am good to go. Things like Visa requirements for all the countries I plan to visit and whether I am going to get Shanghaied in Hong Kong because Moscow won't let me pass through. I could have easily avoided Moscow, but I want to see our far eastern or western friends in the "Red" state, if only for a short while.

My bag is packed, checked, and double checked. Most important inventory is wallet/phone and passport. Everything else can be replaced along the way. I took out my sweater, rolled it up nice, and stuck it in my backpack so I could easily put it on, relieving pressure on my bag, if does not fit under some seats. I am going to try and keep my bag with me at all times.