"2 days tops. what do you have in mind?"
"why don't you take 19th and 20th? 18th is a holiday."
"definitely considering that but haven't decided where to go. maybe koh samui or yogya?"
then she sent a link to things to do in yogyakarta.
"i'm in if you wanna travel between 16th to 22nd."
"yeah? cool. let's do 18th to 22nd?"
"18th to 22nd it is."
i sent a snapshot of flight options from skyscanner.
"ok let's buy it."
and just like that, perhaps under an hour, we suddenly had a grand birthday trip planned out. it was easy for us to just jump right in and book stuff because we already know that planning this trip would be a breeze.
a few years ago, jasmine asked if i wanted to go to cameron highlands over the weekend. this was our first trip together and she planned everything. when she informed me of her proposal, i didn't have anything to change. stay at a decent-priced inn. drinking on the overnight bus (people were looking around to check where the whiskey smell was coming from). strawberry-picking (and we brought a bottle of bubbly). tea-plantation visit. and then fill the rest of the time with eating. it was perfect.
it's awesome to have a friend who is as spontaneous and assured as you are and also enjoy the same shit. with jasmine, this is what i get. when she randomly asks me out on a dinner date and she picks a place, it's usually a good spot. otherwise, if i'm the one planning something, she'd always have a good input. she's open about what she wants so she lays everything down, so i know exactly what to work with. she's easily agreeable if things had to be changed due to circumstances, but she also challenges suggestions because she's courageous. for instance, i wasn't really sure that we would be ready for an overnight hike to mt. merapi, but she said she knew someone who did it with a guide. what she really meant was, if this person can do it, we can definitely do it too. i guess we will find out when we get there, but i love that conviction!
since my greenland blogging was over, i've got a lot of time to start planning for this yogyakarta trip. there's hiking involved, and as i've already learned my lesson, i got myself new hiking shoes. we are planning to break them in and go hiking around singapore within september to get ourselves ready. one day, those shoes are going to reach the summit of kota kinabalu. at least, that's what i plan to accomplish at some point.
it must be the project manager in me but i love planning and i love spreadsheets and i love options / having a plan B. i'm also big on research to find out what to do, where to stay, what people are saying about places, what to be careful of, etc. i once went out with a guy who thinks that a real traveler is one who always takes the road less traveled and just dives right in to a new place without knowing anything. to me, that's not necessarily being a traveler, that's just being lazy - and sometimes - stupid. being armed with information about where you are going so you know how to navigate around, not get conned or miss the last transportation option out of town, is a smart thing to do. besides, who's to decide what a real traveler is like?
anyway, after days of research i finally have a detailed plan, for a trip that is two months away. hah! overly excited? maybe. or just such a giant control-freak. LOL.
i shared it with her, and easily got a stamp of approval.
now all we have to do is wait for my birthday!
oh, and did the title confuse you? that's because i'm cinderella and she's jasmine. we're the popular disney princesses :-D
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