Return to Laos

Mekong Riverview Hotel

Getting there may or may not be "half the fun," but planning a trip almost always is.  Most of my travel is thus planned long in advance, with various aspects of my trip meticulously considered, and bookings arranged early on.  Not that I don't value spontaneity -- I just like to tackle early those details of the trip that are necessarily non-spontaneous.

Rarely do I decide to take a major trip a mere six weeks in advance.  But when advised that my sister and my nephew were going to Laos next month, visiting with family members for a couple of weeks, what could I do?  I said sure, me too, I wanna go, when will you be there?

Maury celebrates fifth birthday with

Luang Prabang classmates in 2004.

My six-year-old great niece and her mom have returned to Luang Prabang, after an extended stay in the Bay Area. Maury's mom is writing travel articles for Southeast Asia publications.  Maury, my great niece, originally began first grade in Luang Prabang in the fall of 2004, but then switched to a Sonoma county school last fall.  Now she's back in Luang Prabang, at an international school where most of her classes are taught in English, but some in Lao.

So yesterday I decided to go.  No time to ponder schedules for weeks, as is my wont.  Within an  hour I had booked round trip flights from Seattle to Bangkok, via Seoul (surprisingly inexpensive), and round trip flights on a local airline (not quite so cheap) between Bangkok and Luang Prabang.  I also booked six nights at the Riverview Hotel, overlooking the Mekong river -- the hotel where I stayed with delight on my prior visit to Luang Prabang in October 2014 -- and a single night between flights at the airport hotel in Bangkok.

My parents would have gone downtown and engaged in lengthy discussions with a travel agent, with a number of subsequent phone calls confirming various aspects of the trip.  Through the magic of the internet, I can do the entire thing myself with minimal fuss.  That sounds totally natural to most of my readers, but to me -- who began his travels in an earlier world -- it still instills awe.

All one needs now is enough available credit on your Visa card, and the world is your oyster.  Hopefully, you will have reached a nation that has no extradition treaty with the United States before your Visa bill arrives.

Just a little light travel humor.

So I leave Seattle on March 20, spend six nights in Luang Prabang, and return home on March 29.  A whirlwind trip, but travel causes time dilation, as Einstein well knew.  My time in Laos will seem lengthy and full of event -- but once I get home, I'll marvel at how quickly the time flew. 

Such is the sad way the world works -- and that our lives pass!