Thailand trip postponed until May 11, 2009 :(

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It seems my plans of going to Thailand crumbled about a week before my initial Sept. 4 departure date. A ticketing debacle with Delta delivered the crushing blow that caused me to postpone my trip. After I made the decision to pull back my departure date, I published a ‘note’ on Facebook so everyone in my network could see what happened and why a majority of them would be surprised to see me when I should’ve been overseas.

Hello everyone,

Many of you know I was scheduled to leave the country on September 4 to move to Thailand, where I was to teach English. However, in light of certain, sudden, almost-insurmountable events, I’ve decided to postpone my trip at least one more year.

I’m more focused and dedicated to traveling and teaching abroad for a long-term duration than ever, but all the obstacles that have recently presented themselves made me realize that more time is needed to find a better opportunity.

The few people I’ve already told this to are definitely surprised and some are even a little angry, but while their support is really appreciated, I’m definitely not whimping out or canceling my plans altogether. This is purely a postponement of my plans.

As far as where I’ll spend the interim, I’m not really sure. There’s a chance I may come back to Jacksonville for a few reasons, but there’s also a chance I’ll stay here in Orlando, or I may move somewhere else for the meantime. When I figure that out, I’ll let you all know.

Take Care!

I realized after receiving confused/angry/questioning feedback that I wasn’t specific enough in my explanation…

I guess I should have been more specific when I published the last note about why I was postponing my trip.

Basically, I’ve been experiencing a ton of problems and some severe misscommunication between myself and the company I was going to teach for. They failed to provide some critical documents I needed to process my work permit through the embassy here. I found out a few days ago that I would have had to make a few border runs to get the situation resolved, which would have been okay, but I would have been training and working while doing that… in a foreign country… that I’ve never been to… where I don’t understand the language… It would have been doable, but a HUGE headache. That was one factor.

The second, and most critical, was due to a problem with my plane ticket. My ticket was purchased using my sister’s frequent flier miles. When we got the ticket (back in May), I never established a return date because they couldn’t schedule out to April of 2009, which was when I was coming back for brother’s wedding. Since there was no actual monetary value associated with the ticket (because of the FF miles), and because there was no return date established, the Delta computer program that arranges the ticket formatting “assumed” my ticket was for one way and formatted it that way. I found out two days ago that not only could I not change it back (they’re booked through July 09), but that I would have had to have bought a one-way ticket back to the United States from Thailand just to get inside the country. Basically, I would have had to have blown my entire savings for the trip just so I could get past the airport. That’s why I didn’t just go there and travel around a bit like some people have suggested.

So now I’m just going to take a little time off to better plan and prepare and to save some more money before trying again. So no, I didn’t “puss out” Kris. This trip called for a significant commitment and change in lifestyle and when those problems were discovered, it just makes more sense to back off and re-strategize. I have all the time in the world and like I said before, I’m more committed and focused than ever to go and make this dream happen.

Well, that still didn’t assuage some of the more persistent critics who thought I just cancelled because of nerves… so I wrote another note explaining that I’d rescheduled my trip:

May 11th, 2009 is when I cash in my rain check for the training program in Phuket, Thailand, which I recently had to postpone because of some critical mistakes I made in the planning process.

Surprisingly, quite a few people thought my predicaments and subsequent postponement of my trip was a thinly veiled ‘punk out.’

However, the moment I knew I wasn’t going this time around, I immediately began to make plans for the next go-around, which I confirmed this morning will be May 11th of next year.

I have to take responsibility for all the problems I encountered the first time though. My buddy Kris pointed out that I’d be on a plane in a few days with no worries if I’d have stayed on top of the situation, which I obviously didn’t do.

Now I have until May to make sure I have all the logistics figured out. I’ve already paid for the TESOL certification program so it’s game on once again. And this time, I can’t afford to make any mistakes.

Thanks to everyone who sent messages and posts about concerns or questions about this situation. It’s nice to know you guys are concerned, interested and supportive of my endeavors. It means a lot.

So now everything is right in the universe with my plans to travel and teach abroad. It got hairy there for a minute, but it’s actually much better in the grand scheme of things that I postponed my trip. The most important is that I’ll have more time and energy to focus on my brother’s wedding, which is scheduled April 25, 2009. Before I postponed my trip, I was to fly back from Thailand for the wedding, then fly back afterward, which would have been pretty aggressive travel and no doubt grueling. Now I get better plan some Bachelor adventures and I’ll be able to enjoy the wedding much more now that it won’t be fresh off a round-the-world flight.

So in the mean time, I’m thinking about catching a job at a national park or at a ski resort or ranch or something… to that end, I’m currently browsing the CoolWorks.com Web site. Check it out or let me know some suggestions for some cool jobs I could take before May of next year!

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