Jet-lagged reflections stateside

After my 36 hours of traveling I have made it home safe and sound to San Francisco. The travel was uneventful, and the quantity of steps actually helped to break it up and made it slightly less painful. I got a lot of reading done and napped quite comfortably in the Tokyo airport.

Before I embark on reflections on my little adventure, I'll recap the last few days in Thailand. Ko Phi Phi ( pronounced Pee Pee) is a small island off the south west coast of Thailand. It's known as the location where the Leo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" was filmed. I read the book on the trip, but still haven't seen the movie. Must do that. There's a central touristy area where the pier is where most people stay. Charlotte and I needed some time away from that, and opted to stay on "Long Beach" - a boat taxi ride away on a different side of the island. The locale consisted of 3 resorts with their own bungalows, a beautiful beach, massage beds, probably 50 people, and NOTHING else. It was perfect for a few days of relaxing and unwinding. The beach was our own for most of the time. Low season was quite the blessing. I indulged in 2 seaside thai massages that may have put me in the most relaxed state I'd ever been in. Being massaged outdoors with a sea breeze skimming your skin while listening to nothing but the sound of waves may be unbeatable :)

Needless to say, after that ending I'm feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and prepared to embark on my next adventure at school.

I've now been up for 48 hrs (plus a bit of napping in Tokyo) so I'm not sure how coherent this will be, but feel like I should offer some reflections on this adventure. Could be more eloquent, but if I wait I know I'll get wrapped up in preparing for school and never get to this :)

• Solo travel - I highly recommend it. It was refreshing to sometimes spend a day alone with my thoughts, doing whatever I wanted to do. There are always friends to be made anywhere, and I found myself meeting people who I never would have talked with had I been traveling with people I knew. I made some friends for sure that I will keep in touch with, but more than that, chatted with people for a day or just a few minutes who taught me something.
• Uncharted (or less charted) territory - go there. Laos and Cambodia are both developing into tourist destinations but the people aren't yet jaded by tourism as I found to be the case in Vietnam and Thailand. The Laoatians and Cambodians were warm, friendly, and genuinely happy that I was there. It's also nice to see not only people who are a) tourists b) tourism industry workers, but people who live in the area you're visiting. It's not quite as comfortable to be there as things aren't always adapted to Western preferences, but the sacrifice is well worth it.
• Trip duration - is all relative and is what you make of it. Everyone in the US thought 40 days was SO LONG to be traveling. Most people I met in Asia were traveling for 6 months or more! (note that very few were Americans) and thought that my trip was so short. For me, 6 weeks was just the right amount of time to spend alone and away from home. Had I been planning for a 3 month trip, though, I may have felt the same way. It's all about what you get from the trip, however, not how long you spend in any certain place.
• Americans need to get out more - I had many conversations with Aussies and Europeans about this. In the US, people just don't take extended vacations. Theories on why this is are varied but include the following (among others) a) We don't get as much vacation time as other countries b) We have so much to see in the US c) We're really narrow-minded and don't care to see the rest of the world d) "Getting ahead" or making money at work is too important to most people to dedicate time to traveling. Whatever it is, I think we're personally and as a country doing ourselves a disservice by not exploring the rest of the world.
  
• I am really fortunate.
  
• Kids at my school in Oakland have never even taken the train to San Francisco, much less been halfway across the world to sit on a white sand beach like I was able to, just because I wanted to.
• I was born in a country that speaks English! English is the universal language as far as I can tell. All tourist interactions were in English. If you're a German or Israeli who wants to visit Asia, it's not enough to have the money and time to go, you need to learn another language, too. Thanks for speaking English to me as a baby Mom and Dad.
• Not only was I able to go to Asia, but I had the confidence and ability to do it on my own. I chalk that up to nothing that I've done for myself, but the experiences I've had and people that have made me the confident person I am.
• I can choose my own path in life and day to day. So many of the native Asians I met had very little choice about who to marry, how to make a living, where to live, and how to spend their time. The amount of personal freedom I have is unparalleled.
  
• I can swim. I definitely took this one for granted. I met more than one Brit who was well-educated and well-off but missing out on the trip because he/she was never taught to swim. Once again, thanks Mom and Dad.
• I have toilet paper and can flush it - no trash can required. Enough said.
• I have friends and family who supported me and stayed in touch with me throughout the trip :)

I'm hoping that everything I've learned from this will make me stronger as I embark on my next journey (starting tomorrow!!!) at Stanford. Seriously, how crazy is my life that one day I'm sitting on an isolated island on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and a week later I'll be in a classroom filled with some of the most talented, intelligent people in the world. Talk about a good life.

Till next time...
Steph

P.S. - Couple more photo links still to come :)