Laos on the List!

Over Cinco de Mayo celebrations this weekend, Laos officially made "The List". Keeping with my motto of "all good things come in threes," Laos has been mentioned three times in the last two weeks, therefore making it worthy of a visit. Here's how Laos got on my travel list: 

• On a flight from SFO to Newark, I sat next to a "talker", who in addition to telling me I needed to go to Laos, also schooled me on the bio-agriculture movement, probiotic studies done on rats, friends in LA that studied metaphysics, mind-boggling, new age modalities that somehow involve lying in the buff on a massage table (what?!?) and his latest psychedelic folk album (that was before he became a venture capitalist). Whew!
• While enjoying cocktails at my friend Siobhan's new swanky pad, my friend Angie mentioned she had heard good things about Laos.
• At a friend's Cinco de Mayo party, I was told if I go anywhere in Southeast Asia, I must go to Laos. I was treated to stories about elephant rides, friendly locals and tubing down the Mekong, where supposedly you can stop by huts for a drink as you ride along....

Something about riding down a river sounds simply sublime. And an elephant ride that moves deliberately and slowly, so unlike our every day lives, is something my soul could use. Friendly locals are an added bonus. Hope they are friendly to photographers.

And so Laos is on the List as an excursion from Vietnam in November. I already have a feeling it will be a place I'll never want to leave...

Synchronicity and the Mysterious Case of the Travel Guides

Lately I feel like I’ve been swimming against the tide with my trip. Things just haven’t been falling in place like I’d like them to. My idea of renting an apartment in Saigon was nixed after I discovered the cost of a short-term rental was more than my monthly mortgage. I found out I’ll be in London for the Olympics, which may be a good or bad thing. Reading a history book on Budapest has left me less than inspired. And while an African safari would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I’m wondering if it’s really worth a third of my travel budget.

And then I noticed something strange occurring. Like clockwork, every Monday someone has been leaving travel books on top of the public trash can at the corner of Guerrero Street by my house. First, it was The Rough Guide to Paris. The next week, it was Lonely Planet’s Guide to Croatia. Yesterday, it was Enjoying India: The Essential Handbook.  Best of all, these are current guidebooks, all updated within the past 2 years. Yes, I will admit to being a bag lady and swiping them all.

So with these small synchronicities, the course of my travel has shifted: India over Southeast Asia; Paris versus London; sailing down the coast of Croatia instead of soaking in the baths in Budapest. I can hardly wait to see what guidebook gets left next Monday, but have decided to continue to go with the flow instead of against it…

Update on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 8:21PM by carrie breinholt

After a period of silence, my "book benefactor" is back! Perhaps they've been on vacation, collecting more travel guides to donate. Maybe they were giving me time to finish the books I've already collected. Or perhaps it's someone I know that's playing a practical joke on me and secretly laughing. 

Either way, over the past two weeks, the following books have been left on the street corner near my house: 

An Italian architectural design book, in Italiano. Perfecto! And a book about wandering souls, something I can relate to.

Okay, nice sense of humor. I could probably do without this one, but my goodness how this person knows me. If additional self-help books start appearing, I'll be concerned...

Last Friday, I hit the jackpot with this find:

An entire year's subscription (2011) to Travel+Leisure. Seriously. How could a girl get any luckier?

Which made me think, could we always be this lucky and just not take notice? What if I had been too busy texting or not paying attention or said, "Ugh, no thanks, who knows where these books have been?" What happens when we ask for help, but don't pay attention to what we're offered, even if it doesn't look like we think it should? 

Over the past weeks, I've felt anxious that I haven't made my hotel reservations, nor have I lined up any participants. However, I trust that it will work itself out. Perhaps not all at once, but like my travel books, piece-by-piece, in a manner I can digest.

One of the reasons I'm taking this trip is to learn to value trust as much as I value logic. What I'm learning in the process is to slow down and pay attention. Knowledge and guidance seem to find us when we are open to receiving it, but many times we're so caught up in ourselves that we fail to recognize it.  

And while these books and magazines have lost their use to the person donating them, to me they are tiny treasures that are shaping my trip and providing an extra boost of faith...

I'd love to hear your experiences with synchronicity. Please feel free to comment.