World Travel

A few days ago my husband headed out on a grand adventure. The first leg of his journey was Dulles to LAX. Departing at 6:20 pm he arrived at LAX at 9 pm there (Midnight here). He killed a few hours and boarded another plane. This one to Auckland, New Zealand. His flight from LAX to New Zealand departed at 12 midnight and arrived in Auckland a day later (or two days later if you are in New Zealand) 13 hours later. All in all he left our house at 3pm Wednesday and landed in New Zealand at 4pm Thursday. About 24 hours in transit. By the time he got there it was already Friday in New Zealand. I am so confused. I had to add an international time zone clock to my iphone to keep up.

Though I am very excited and supportive of his trip, it was a little disconcerting to have him completely uncontactable for 16 hours (Midnight last night until about 4pm today when he confirmed he was alive and well and on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD). It is surely the furthest we've ever been apart in almost 20 years. Surely the furthest he's ever traveled since leaving Vietnam as a 3 year old and coming to the United States. He doesn't remember that journey but he certainly will remember this one.

This trip began as just a crazy thought. We have two friends currently taking leave of the working world and exploring the world. Between them their journeys are taking them from the US to Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and various parts of the U.K.

While Hung and I have both taken trips without each other and without our kids (hey it keeps us sane) this is by far the most ambitious undertaking. It is so much less expensive to fly 1 person and split expenses three ways than it would be to either 1) fly all 4 of us and cover all expenses or 2) find someone to take care of our kids for 10-12 days!

That and they are doing all kinds of things that I KNOW he will enjoy just as much (if not more) without me. Kayaking, caving, swimming with glowworms! I know there are people in the world who don't like to spend any time away from their significant other, and though we TRULY do like each other and love each other, we are so not those people. In all honesty, he probably is a little more that person than I am and it took a little push for him to get on board. He definitely did not lobby for this trip. He didn't resist too much, but I could tell that he would have never asked for it or pushed it.

I also know that it may seem a bit tit for tat that he'll be on this leg and I'll be on the Spain/Portugal leg. Truth be told that portion was planned first. I also know it may seem as if I pushed him to go out of a sense of guilt. I assure you I did not.

I pushed him to go because I know we each need adventure in our lives. We each need time to sit and listen to nothing but the thoughts in our heads. To look out at the wonders of the world and breathe deeply and close our eyes and just take it all in through all of our senses. We are parents, we are partners, but we are people too. Individuals. We deserve this. He deserves this and I am happy to pick up the slack, do the bus duty and TKD practices and figure out dinner and baths and bedtimes for a while, so that he can breathe it in, relax, experience and enjoy something he never in his wildest dreams even thought would come to pass.

He is selfless and giving and supportive of me and my every whim (including my yearly trips to St. John). He goes with the flow and lets me be me. He never asks for a thing in return.

Happy travels, honey. I hope you have the time of your life (well 2nd to that day in May 1999 when you said I do).