Travel Plans!

In the previous post, I talked a lot about the reasons why people travel, those deeper reasons that are connected with your beliefs and philosophy. Now, I wish to share a little more about my specific travel plans. Everybody keeps asking "ok, so you're going to Asia... why not Europe? What are you going to to there?". Well, the answers for "Why Asia?" are quite clear:

a) I wanted an experience in a place with a very different culture from home, some place where I could really challenge my worldview.

b) Asia is a part of the world which is very rich in adventure-like experiences that won't be easy to take once I'm older, have a family and obligations, making it perfect for my current purpose. Europe? Meh, I can take the kids in a tour there when I'm 40...

c) It's SO FREAKING CHEAP, comparatively. The money I'll spend for the current 8-month travel plans would give me maybe a month in Europe.

d) Last, but not least: when deciding where the hell to go, I've run into this excellent travel blog (Holiday in Cambodia) kept by my friend João Paulo Biscaro, who spent a year living and working in Cambodia, and travelling around. Seriously - read any random post and try not to fall in love.

As for my objectives, the whole adventure is divided into two very distinct moments:

Volunteer Work:

As some of you know, for 3 tears I've been part of AIESEC, a student organization that promotes professional exchanges abroad as one of its primary activities. In 2007 I was VP Exchanges at AIESEC in USP, and as such I directed the preparation, matching, expecations alignment, evaluation and reception activities of dozens of young Brazilians taking internships in all continents, as well as foreigners coming to work in São Paulo. I think the most persistent sensation of the whole period was "damn, I wish it was me". Indeed, I enrolled in AIESEC's exchange programme by the end of college in 2010, but ended uo giving up this dream to take an opportuity to work with sustainability at Unilever. However, now that I decided to leave my career-building in Brazil on stand-by, such a plan now makes sense once more.

Long story short, there are two kinds of professional internships promoted by AIESEC: the corporate one (GIP - GLobal Internship Programme) and the social-impact one (GCDP - Global Community Development Programme). In the first one, there is a wide range of opportunities from giant muiltinational companies (I've sent people to Electrolux, Alcatel-Lucent, DHL, Coca-cola and Microsoft, to name a few) in a whole bunch of countires, to positions in small and medium companies - there are opoortunities for all tastes and learning objectives. In the second one, there is every imaginable form of cultural, social and environmental activity, usually in developing countries, for those who want a different kind of working experience.

I have always thought I would go on a GIP, but at the moment a GCDP is what really makes sense to me. Since I've decided this trip is going to work as a sabbatical year out of my career, I don't want "traditional" work experiences (no ties, offices or air-conditioner, please). At the same time, having a positive impact on society out of my work was always of paramount importance to me (did I hear someone whispering "sustainability freak" around?). Finally, despite the fact that the idea of backpacking around is irresistible to me, I want the experience of staying put ina place for a few months and really live a cultural immersion, build relations and create bonds, live through cultural shock and achieve something. Volunteering for some months before wandering around Asia seemed to me like the ideal plan.

That said, I will stay in Calcutta, India (yeah, the city of Mother Teresa, all right). During that time, other AIESEC interns and I will work in Project Footprints, a national initiative in India focused on creating a positive inpact for poor children and their families, with cultural and educational activities. I'm also thinking about some fantastic stuff to implement there while in this project, but this is a subject for another post. Soon!

Vagabonding:

There are three kinds of travellers: tourists, those with flower shirts, travelling in all-inclusive excursions, who don't really mix with the locals and love to find their bathtubs and king-size beds at the hotel by the end of the day; backpackers, independent and fearless, hostel-dwelling travellers, are constantly in a hurry to execute every detail of their cramped and meticulous travel plans; and vagabonders. Vagabonding is a style of travelling that involves taking out an extended period of time (6 weeks or more, usually) to explore the world in your own terms. The term usually refers to a more relaxed kind of travelling, without too many time pressures or rigid schedules. So you liked this little countryside village in Vietnam? Let's stay another week! A group of Norwegian friends is going to climb a nearby mountain? Let's tag along! So you found out that it's possible to take a boat down the Mekong River instead of the bus? Why not? It seems to me like the closest you can get to supreme freedom.

So, after my three months in Calcutta, I'll start my vagabonding season throughout Asia. The plan is to spend antoher month around India, in a circular loop ending in New Delhi, fom where I'll take trains and buses up to Kathmandu, Nepal. From there, I'll take a flight o Bangkok, Thailand, which is the transportation hub for most of the region, and will serve as my "base" for taking up Myanmar and Cambodia, and south Thailand will be my door to the more southern countries of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. From Singapore I should take a flight to Ho Chi Minh, in south Vietnam, from where I'll take the ground route north, visit Laos, and end up in Ha Noi, in the north of Vietnam. There, I'll apply for the 30-day Chinese visa, and visit a number of destinations on south and southeast China, reaching up to Hong Kong, where I'll apply for a new visa (Hong Kong works like out of China for visa purposes) that will allow me to go on my business through the rest of China, finally ending in Beijing. From there, I plan to take trains to Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia. In that country I want to visit the Gobi desert and the nomadic peoples living there. From now on, the route is a little hazy - if my money is out, I'll take the most convenient flight back to London, from where I'll have my flight home booked. However, if I DO have some money left, I'll take a train north into Russia, and take the famous Trans-Siberian Railway through all of the country, ending up in Moscow and at the eastern door of Europe. The extent to which this current plan will be realized is something only Fate knows.

What I DO know is that I can hardly wait to hit the road, and few feelings in life are more exciting than this.

P.S.: have you ever been to any of the places in my route? Do you know somebody who did? I gladly accept recommendations, tips, suggestions and every bit of useful information available. I pay well, though only in beer! =)