Setting out to adventure!

I am off to travel Asia and dive Asia…Thailand and the Mergui Archipelago is my destination in March 2014! I will be posting about each leg of my trip, and I look forward to sharing it with you!  

It is February 28, 420p in Tokyo, Japan, but my body seems to know that for me, it is 130am in the morning.  I just finished a 12 or 13 hour flight from Dallas to Tokyo, and another 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok awaits.  I will start walking to the gate from the Admiral’s Club (American Airlines) in one hour. I hope writing will keep me awake!  I arrive Bangkok at 1115pm, have to go through customs and immigration, then catch a shuttle to my hotel.  Yes, I know it is a long trip, but don’t feel too sorry for me, I’m traveling first class and business class.  I get 8 hours to sleep, then I leave Bangkok for Phuket.  Then I will have more than 24 hours before the next leg of the trip…7 days in the Andaman Sea!

For the first time ever, I set off gongs going through TSA cleared security. Never could figure it out….but had two body searches in Dallas, then two more when I got to Tokyo!  In Tokyo they also found my dive knife (and scissors, for cutting line), and now I have no dive knife.  I did not have my thinking cap on when I packed it in carry on.

So, here is why I wanted to write a blog…I have so many women friends who tell me how “brave” I am to travel alone, but I really do not understand that.  I would rather be traveling with my husband…but he is still recovering from a double lung transplant last September ( I know, crazy right?)…so if I want to travel, I travel solo.  Of course, I have traveled alone many, many times. I’ve never really thought it was a big deal until I traveled to Africa in 2012 by myself, and did volunteer work for 3 1/2 weeks.  Now that was a journey!  Randy joined me afterwards, and we did a fabulous safari through Tanzania.  I felt empowered by the fact that I managed perfectly well by myself.  Well, with mishaps.  But that is always the case.

The last thing I would have ever expected would be that Randy, of all people, would become seriously ill so young.  Yes, young, at 56.  Midlife was kind of thrown for a loop when he began to get ill, and we spent 2013 canceling almost all of our trips.  Then he became critical, quickly.  This has been a very challenging time for my family…and you know, we all have to adapt to circumstances.  I am fortunate that my adaptations have not included financial hardship…we have been very lucky in our life together.  So what to do with all of those midlife adventures we talked about?  Well, some of them I will just have to do on my own.  I don’t know if Randy will ever scuba dive again, but I truthfully doubt it.  That is a blow for us because it is an activity we have always enjoyed doing together.  Randy likes to dive, but I am passionately crazily in love with diving. So here I am, on my way to the Mergui Archipelago to dive on a liveaboard.  I’m sure Randy and I will enjoy snorkeling together in the future.

So why am I considered brave by other women for taking trips on my own? Really, we are all capable of going and doing and accomplishing whatever we want to. What is it about traveling alone that seems to alarm so many women?  I am asking this question:  why not travel solo?  If you really want to do something or go somewhere, and there is no one to accompany you, why would you let that stop you?  Talk to me!  I really want to know, and I think it is a great discussion to have!  Why do you travel solo?  Or why won’t you travel on your own?

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Tam Warner

Award Winning Travel Journalist and Blogger, writing about Eclectic Travels in the Empty Nest! From scuba to luxury cruises to kayaking to expeditions, Tam is ready to go! Contact me at travelswithtam@gmail.com

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Tam Warner

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