About 5 years ago, I decided that I wanted to travel to Southeast Asia. The reason? Just to explore and expose myself to something totally new. It was important for me to do this in order intellectually and have a better understanding of other cultures as well as my own. So I started researching flight costs on the Internet. I checked out all the big websites like Orbitz.com and Expedia.com and specific airlines (just to get an idea on costs). I was surprised at how inexpensive it was. I was expecting to see tickets range from $2000-$5000 since it can cost close to $1100 just to travel from coast to coast in the US. Instead, I saw prices ranging from $700-$1800 . I All this time I’ve been putting off traveling and it was only $700 away? I felt I didn’t have any specific date in mind I played around with different dates/times of year and durations. I finally decided to go in the off-season of summer (it was going to be REALLY hot set a timeframe of 3 weeks. I had no further itinerary and I wanted to keep way. I like being able to take things as they come and modify my adventure according grabs me when I’m there.
I booked a flight about 3 months in advance for $716. Left a layover in Tokyo and then I had to transfer planes to Bangkok. The total trip 17 hours. I know it sounds bad, but it wasn’t at all! Japan airlines (JAL) had video screen in front of each seat with several movies to watch and games to play. I watched two a long nap and I was in Japan. My other plane wasn’t quite as plush. It airline, which seemed to be on an old plane, but the food was good and not so I could spread out onto three seats to sleep.
My time spent in Thailand was unforgettable hold these memories of the culture and people quite dear to me. I have an entirely new perspective of a world that I never really knew existed. It also helped me to become more appreciative of my own culture and of foreigners. It takes a lot of guts to travel outside your the effort is well worth it and in my opinion necessary to grow as an individual.