June 25, 2006

Hello (for the last time from Australia)

That is right; in less than two days I will be flying to Vietnam and will be in Asia for the next month. Over the last few days I have finished my exams, on Wednesday, and have been either packing and preparing to leave or saying goodbye to friends. Since I am coming back to Sydney for two days after my trip through Asia I don’t have to say goodbye to my friends at St. John’s yet and I get to leave my suitcases here.

The rest of this update will be information regarding my travels, times and information about contacting me.

I fly out of Sydney at 9:00pm on Tuesday June 27, my time. For everyone on the east coast that is 7:00am on Tuesday June 27. From then on I should be considered out of daily contact. I will be checking my e-mail as often as I can, but most likely will be every few days. And even when I do check my e-mail I might not have time to reply to e-mails. However, I still would very much like to get e-mails from everyone with news from home or even no news just anything. Since I do not know how long I will have to check e-mail I plan on always sending a general safety e-mail as the first thing I do. This will just say that I am safe, healthy, my location and maybe any other quick important information. If anyone would like to be added to the list of people to get this e-mail it is no problem for me to add anyone on and I would be happy to do so. And obviously I will not be able to be reached by phone, so e-mail is your only hopes.

As for my itinerary it is as follows:

June 27-28 – Flying Sydney to Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City

June 28-29 – In Ho Chi Minh City exploring on my own

June 29-July 1 – Traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia with tour.

July 1-2 – In Phnom Penh, Cambodia

July 3-5 – In Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

July 6-7 – Driving from Siem Reap to Bangkok

July 7-9 – Tour ends. In Bangkok on my own.

July 9 – Flying from Bangkok to Shanghai, China.

July 9-10 – In Shanghai on my own.

July 10-12 – Second tour starts. In Shanghai.

July 12-14 – In Nanjing, a city 4 hours to the east of Shanghai.

July 14-15 – Going from Nanjing to Xi’an, a city 14 hours east of Nanjing

July 16-19 – From Xi’an to the Yangzi River at Three Gorges

July 20-23 – Flying from Yichang to Beijing. Tour ends in Beijing.

July 23-24 – In Beijing on my own

July 24-25 – Flying from Beijing to Sydney

July 25-27 – In Sydney

July 27-29 – Honolulu

July 29-30 – Honolulu to Los Angles to Boston (4:30pm Arrival)

July 30-August 13 – Maine

August 13 – Hamden, CT!

If you are interested in what any of these places are or a more in depth version of my itinerary you may go to www.intrepidtravel.com, and you can look up the two tours that I am taking through this website. My first tour is called The Road to Angkor (Westbound) and the code for it is KSC. My second tour is called Best of China and the code for it is CSC.

When I come back to Sydney on July 25 (11:00 AM Sydney time; 9:00 PM EST) I will be back in regular e-mail, instant messenger and phone contact. As well, by the time I land in Honolulu on July 27 at 8:30 AM Hawaii time my old U.S. cell phone should be working. That is 203-500-4658 and since I will finally be back in the U.S. where cell phone plans are much, much better I will be able to get and make calls to anywhere in the U.S. for free.

I also want to attempt to explain the time difference for where I will be, just in case. If it is 9:00 PM on Saturday in New York then it is:

11:00 AM on Sunday in Sydney (14 Hours Ahead)

8:00 AM on Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (11 Hours Ahead)

8:00 AM on Sunday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (11 Hours Ahead)

8:00 AM on Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand (11 Hours Ahead)

9:00 AM on Sunday in Shanghai, China (12 Hours Ahead)

9:00 AM on Sunday in Beijing, China (12 Hours Ahead)

3:00 PM on Saturday in Honolulu (6 Hours Behind)

If you are still confused a good site to show you the time difference is http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

I think that I have covered just about everything. If anyone wants to know more or as any questions please let me know. This will be my last update for at least a few weeks if not until I get back to the U.S. in August. I have really appreciated everyone reading my updates and writing me so many e-mails, it was great to hear from everyone. If anyone has any requests of me, i.e. postcards, souvenirs, pictures, from Asia, Australia, or Hawaii please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Well I have a lot of things to do in the short two days that I have until I fly to Vietnam so I will save my reflections on my time in Australia until I get back to the U.S. Though I can already tell you that it has been an amazing experience that I am very happy I had the opportunity to experience.

Please stay in touch while I am traveling and I will try to do the same. I hope that his finds everyone enjoying their summer and healthy.

Love

Jon

Schaefer@gwu.edu