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Friday 2004-02-13 - Groningen, the Netherlands
The big decision
I’m in Groningen this weekend to see my parents and have a belated new year’s dinner with them. Yesterday evening I brought up the subject of travel: last year they’d offered to pay for whatever trip I wanted to take but due to a load of different adverse circumstances I never got away. When the brochures for the new season started rolling in, my eye was caught by the special Marco Polo trip organized by Koning Aap this year: all the way across Asia, visiting many old Silk Road locations and other places where Marco Polo had been. More than two months to cross the continent West to East, from Damascus to Beijing … not just an exciting prospect by itself but it would also make up for the missed trip of last year.
When I asked Aap people about it at the vacation fair in January, they told me they’d already had quite a few inquiries specifically for this trip, so there was a good chance it would actually take place. So after my arrival this evening I broached the subject with my parents: a “double-length” trip, would they be prepared to pay for maybe half of this one, since I didn’t get to go last year? They’ll pay for all of this one!
Wow. I’m actually going to do this!
Wednesday 2004-02-18 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Booked!
So, the decision was taken: I’ll do the Marco Polo trip across Asia. Yesterday, I called Koning Aap and heard that for my preferred departure date (early May) the trip will very likely take place: there’s a minimum group size of 8 and there were 4 bookings already and 3 options (they’d turn the option into a booking if there are enough people) - so with me we’ve got 8! I sent off the form today which cheered me up enormously!
It will be really exciting to actually cross Asia all the way from West to East. And I’ve never traveled that long - it can be an advantage to be out of a job…
Can’t wait… but there’s still a lot of preparation to do!
