Postcards from the Trail

We did it! We booked our air tickets to Borneo today. Making the first reservation is always the hardest part of traveling for me.

Back in November, we were looking for a place to visit in January or February. I started to follow the airfare to Rome but it just didn't excite us. I took a look at the airfare to Australia - still up around 1500-2000. What about New Zealand? Even higher - 2000-2500.

G suggested looking at Southeast Asia. Bangkok was more reasonable, 850-900. Possible. We love to trave; to places where there are plants or gardens that interest us. We have been seeing Rafflessia - the largest flower in the world. We also have a collection of nepenthes, carnivorous pitcher plants. Both of these plants grow on the island of Borneo. I even bought G a book on the "Pitcher Plants of Borneo" when I visited Singapore in 2000. People have also told us about Mount Kinabalu in Borneo. I'm not in any shape to climb this 13,000ft peak but I wouldn't mind doing some day hikes along the trail to the top.

I checked out the flights to Kota Kinabalu (KK) and discovered that Asiana airlines flies to KK from Seattle via Seoul. And the airfare wasn't bad. Less than $1,000 US! It was much easier to go via Seoul than going via Los Angeles to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Coming back is not going to be great since we have a 12 hour layover in Seoul but we hope to do a half day tour from the airport.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been pouring over every guidebook on Borneo we could get from the library. I searched the forums and googled different destinations. We worked up a potential itinerary, discussed dates and decided to go for it.

I also sent off a reservation request to the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. Several people have recommended this lodge on Fodors and it sounds like a great place to see wildlife in the wild instead of rehabilitation center.

Now to work on accommodations.