It is now late at night and only a few hours of sleep before it’s time to go. The bikes are ready and we have packed so many times before so we can do it blindfolded by now. But still it is a big mess with stuff on the floor all over our apartment.

This makes me remember the night of March 12th 1987. It was a Thursday night and I was nervously packing my bags in order to one day later (Friday 13th…) fly to Thailand to spend a year as an exchange student. I got very few hours of sleep that night and I remember my mind was focusing on everything but packing those bags. I enjoyed my year in Banglen and all the people I got to know and I guess I never really left Thailand which I now reckon to be one of my two home countries.

Over the years Wej and I have done so many flights to Bangkok that we have completely lost count. I can’t say that going to Thailand for vacation makes me excited anymore, but tomorrow I am going again and this time it is different.

These last 2-3 days resemble very much the days preceding my departure in 1987. We have been working hard to prepare everything, but our minds have been elsewhere. It’s true that I am leaving for Bangkok tomorrow, but this time it won’t take 10-11 hours to go there. This time it is not reaching the destination and spend some time there that is the goal. This time it is the journey itself that is the goal and that makes me just as excited as I was back in 1987.