Change of Plans

The theme of “flexibility” has come up several times during my trip, and it’s staring me in the face once again.

After spending time in Africa, I planned to fly to Mumbai and then move onto Bangkok. But unfortunately, the US government has posted travel alerts for both locations in the last few weeks.  (When I first saw Thailand and India pop up on the list, there were only 4 destinations in the world that had been awarded this distinct honor.  If Ethiopia and the Kyrgyz Republic had been on my itinerary, I would’ve been 4 for 4.)

Typically, I’m not overly-cautious about things like this.  But since I’ve already dodged two major disasters (the earthquake in Santiago and the volcano that shut down Europe), I figure — why press my luck?

[Insert flashback to 1983-86 when “Press Your Luck” — the world’s GREATEST GAME SHOW — was airing weekday mornings.  No whammies, no whammies, no whammies…]

So, where should I go instead?  At first, I thought about putting it up for a Choose Your Own Adventure poll.  But unfortunately, the answer will be largely driven by Delta’s flight schedules and entry/exit requirements, so I can’t let you pick this one.

If it were completely up to me, I’d go to Vietnam.  I’ve heard amazing things about the country and its people, but you need a visa to get in.  Usually, this wouldn’t be a problem.  But you have to submit your passport in advance, and it’s hard to travel around the world when you don’t have your passport with you.

Korea, Japan and Hong Kong are out because I’ve already been there and would rather go somewhere new (apologies to my Korean peeps).  At some point I’d love to visit Russia, but since I’m going to Australia next, it’s a bit out of the way.  Flying to Indonesia or one of the outlying islands sounds like fun, but I’m guessing that requires a bunch of transfers — and I’m WAY over small plane travel.

So, it looks like PROCESS OF ELIMINATION + DELTA AVAILABILITY = Singapore.
Not my first choice, but I’m certainly not complaining.