As you look upon the numerous country or regional tags on this website’s menu, it is apparent that we have been many places. And yet, I feel that there is much yet to be explored. First of all, Borneo and Thailand weren’t our destinations until a few days before heading to the airport. We had pushed our original plan of an Africa trip to a later time. That Africa trip would have included other previously unseen sights and countries that we are still eager to see. We had wanted to go to Norway and Svalbard back in 2020 and have yet to go there. We were tentatively planning a trip to Israel/Palestine years ago as well. Needless to say, changes in weather, geopolitical situations, and pandemics have altered the landscape of where and when we would or could go somewhere.
When one starts mentioning places that few have heard of like Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo . . . others get the sense that we must be running out of new destinations or places to see. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. As Malaysia, Brunei, and Thailand entered our roster of countries visited, both of us are now cresting 80 countries each. Whilst munching on Pret-a-Manger in the Hong Kong airport, we discussed whether or not reaching the nice round number of 100 countries was even all that likely or desirable. After all, while an increase in the country tally is always fun, it’s not the end goal. Within a matter of seconds of this discussion transpiring, however, we easily rattled off a list of countries that we have yet to explore that would take us over 100.
After landing in Thailand, Nicole referred to a so-called “bucket list” of travel that she had created in April of 2008. At that time, Bricole, everyone’s favorite celebrity couple, was not even a thing. It would be almost another eight years before I even had travel benefits from the airlines. And yet, young Nicole sitting alone in her graduate housing after evicting her nun roommate, contemplated a future in travel. 14 destinations were on that modest list — Thailand was the last holdout. This hand-written note to herself included such not-so-easy to see places as Bora Bora, the Galapagos, and Egypt. And in the span of a few years, we have seen them all . . . and about 65 others give or take.
While in the past, I have taken to these posts to encourage people to travel more, I have come to accept that a lot of people simply don’t want to or are looking for excuses to say no. The U.S. government took to its usual hyperbole of being overly cautious and telling people not to go anywhere, which is a shame. This type of rhetoric leads to oversimplifications of international relations. ALL MUSLIMS HATE ALL AMERICANS, was the implied message. Putting every single person of a single background or religion into one category is not only dangerous, it’s incredibly ignorant. We were in Muslim-majority countries until we reached Thailand on this trip. Not once did we feel in danger. In fact, I found people to be quite friendly to us. If anything, it was our differences that proved to be the most insightful moments of the trip.
When one of the rangers at the orangutan park was volun-told to drive us back to central Kuching, he talked nonstop for about 35 minutes straight. He was fascinated by us which in turn revealed things about him. His family life, his career, his learning of English through Netflix, and his feelings about Indonesians were all revealed through the car ride. You can’t learn all of this through CNN, Fox News, or the rhetoric of your favorite politician.
While riding a boat upriver to an isolated national park on Borneo, or hiking through jungle to see orangutans may seem outwardly very exotic, it was actually quite easy to set it all up. Southeast Asia’s rideshare company, Grab, was not only incredibly reliable, but also dirt cheap. Its drivers also tended to be much safer on the road than say our Uber driver who took us to LAX at 80mph down Lincoln Boulevard while passing a cop. Based on his driving over the course of a short five minutes, surely he must be dead now. So let’s take a moment to remember Bijon and his inexplicable 4.9 rating.
Ultimately, nothing we did posed any major challenges. Getting around was easy, food was easy to find with margherita pizzas available in all shapes and sizes, and nearly everyone spoke some degree of English. I get the sense that because we went to “exotic” Borneo, people must think that we’re traveling off the beaten path just to say we’re doing something unusual. Yet the truth of the matter is that our most recent trip was logistically easier and more relaxing than a trip to western Europe. So, we may not often travel someplace that is perceived as “normal” like Cancun or Switzerland, but just because Americans aren’t traveling somewhere in droves doesn’t mean it isn’t safe, easy, or welcoming.
What I am trying to say is that I had a grand time in Borneo. And let’s not forget that my camera died while away. That could have put a quick damper on things. And I was definitely a bit blue about the situation, but Brunei came through with a nonalcoholic cocktail of sports and games. As I continue to nurse my old sporting injuries, I have had ample time to reflect on the trip. We didn’t come to Borneo to check off more countries. We came to see primates in their natural environment. The proboscis monkey is endemic only to the island of Borneo. We continued on to Brunei for the obvious reasons — like an 8-lane bowling alley. And Koh Samui on Thailand is a bit less popular than its neighbor in Phuket, but all the more enjoyable because of it.
So our next trip may add to our country count and it may not. It’s rare for us to plan something months out and have it actually transpire. But we won’t be confined by any bucket lists, or a race to hit 100 countries, or constrained by what people think is a “normal” and “safe” destination. At the end of the day, we will go where we legitimately want to go. If we hadn’t followed that guidance, I think Nicole would still have a lot of unchecked places on her piece of paper.
passports & pepto bismol 