My flight to Mongolia was booked on December 28th, 2017. Exactly one week later I was on a plane to a country I’ve never been to nor considered visiting for vacation. The day before jumping on a plane, I still didn’t know where I would be residing. I only knew that two people from my firm would pick me up at the airport and I knew each of their names. Essentially, I was headed into the complete unknown.
Upon my asking what address I should give customs/immigration, my new colleagues told me to use the the firm’s office address (Blue Sky Tower on Peace Avenue). This was a bit concerning to me. You should understand that I am an organized traveller. I book all my accomodation and almost all my transportation in advance. My honeymoon to Italy, for example, was planned to the nth degree, right down to each train connection between the cities and towns we visted (and there were more than 4). If you don’t want to take my word for it, please ask my husband about my travelling tendencies. He has experienced it first hand more times than I can count.
In my mind, knowing the details and having the certainty of where we will be day-to-day is part and parcel of the travelling itself. When I leave home for 1-2 weeks at a time, I cross all my t’s and dot my i’s with a complete travel itinerary in hand. Some people like the spontenaity that can come with travelling–booking a one way ticket or only booking the round trip ticket and seeing where the wind takes them while in a foreign land. I, on the other hand, like to know where I will be sleeping at night–every night I am not at home.
So this was a first. No specific destination. No family to greet me on arrival. No itinerary. In other words, this really was the start of an ‘adventure’ in the truest sense of the word.