How I Got Here Part 1: The Beginning

• By Jimmy Hoffman
• 15 July, 2013
• No Comments

If you told me 6 months ago that I would quit my job, have a tattoo and move to the other side of the world to pursue a lifetime goal and the woman I fell in love with I would have laughed at you.  After I was done laughing I would ask you what woman are you talking about?  I’m not the relationship type? Tattoo?.  Here I am though, currently on day 59 of my Singapore adventure.  So how did I get here?  Well let’s start at the beginning….

Day -139 (December 30, 2012).

I woke up that morning to another re-run of the movie Up in the Air on some premium television channel.  Or maybe it was my Blu-ray copy playing on my 52-inch 3D Television.  Nevertheless, that movie always gives me an itch to book a flight and later that afternoon I scratched that itch booking my round trip plane ticket from New Jersey’s Newark International Airport to Singapore (Departing on Feb. 5th – Returning on Feb. 17th).

Now I know what you are thinking.  Did this guy really just wake up one day out of nowhere and book a flight of this magnitude?  Well honestly, you bet I did!  And I will tell you why in 2 simple words… Carpe diem!  Now I do have to mention that prior to waking up on this given day I did have plans to travel somewhere in February as I had the 2 weeks off from work and some money set aside.  The only question was where?

Prior to December 30th I was planning on parading around Europe with my close friend Dan.  Unfortunately, he decided to bail on me as he thought I would end up making the trip too expensive with the itinerary I had planned (photo to the left).  He decided he was going to go biking in Spain instead. I had been to Spain a few months earlier and wanted to go somewhere new as my goal was not to travel somewhere I already visited.  After my pleas for him to reconsider went unanswered, I decided I would have to plan a different trip.

I have been to Europe before and I wanted to travel to a new continent.  This narrowed the possibilities down to Asia, Australia, South America and Antarctica.   I planned possible travel Itineraries to each continent (Yes, even Antarctica).  In the end, after considering pricing and location I decided Singapore would be a good location for my initial round trip ticket from NYC.  From Singapore I could hop to 1 or 2 other South East Asian countries depending on timing and how much money I actually saved up as the departure date neared.

Cost was a big issue when I booked this flight, as I didn’t have enough money in my checking account at the time to afford the ticket.  I was even concerned that this trip I was planning left me with very little “wiggle” room if anything went wrong.  I needed to figure out a way to increase my “wiggle” room to reach my monetary goal.  How do you increase your “wiggle” room you ask?  Well its actually rather simple.  Apply for a new credit card.

I love credit cards and I decided I would try for an elusive airline miles credit card offered by one of the numerous airlines.  Okay, maybe not so elusive to you, but for myself who had been denied every time I applied it was elusive!  I decided to try for the American Airlines credit card as they were offering the flight I wanted to choose (Via a oneworld partner airline) for my trip to Singapore.  I filled out the application as usual then hit submit… seconds seemed to turn into minutes… I clicked again…  “we are not able to give you a decision at this time blah blah blah”.  Damnit!  Again, denied by the airline miles credit card.  Oh well, It seemed I would have to wait until after the New Year for my cash deposit to go into my checking account until I could book the flight… Or would I?

If you can’t tell yet, I am rather impatient.  I continued searching for flights throughout the day.  I eventually found another comparable round trip ticket when searching Kayak.  This flight was through United Airlines.  I have had good experiences with United so I figured why not, lets proceed to booking and see the final cost.  It was still too high for my checking account.

And that’s when I saw it!  A little rectangular icon below the payment options.  Bill Me Later!  A godsend!  The “wiggle” room!  No interest no payments for 6 months!  All in one click and a minimal application form.  Approved!  My monetary goal was met!  I never felt a thing or saw a dent in my wallet (at least until 6 months later).

Now my flight was officially booked!  In a little over 1 month I would be on my way to Asia all by myself!  Where else should I go?  Thailand?  Malaysia?  Indonesia?  Vietnam?  Cambodia?  This question would be answered in the days to come…

 

Day -136 (January 2, 2013)

I returned home from work where a letter from American Airlines waited in my mailbox.  I said to myself “Wow, that was quick on the denial letter”. Quick considering I applied on a Sunday and the Tuesday was the New Years holiday.  Only two business days to generate the letter and get it to me.  It must be the generic denial letter I told myself.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the letter was that it was a bit more colorful then the usual denial letters I have received in the past…  Wait a second!   It wasn’t a denial letter.  I was approved!!!!  Yes, approved for the American Airlines credit card.  Finally, the elusive airline miles credit card!  Not only approved, but now officially in my hand.

Turns out that when I applied for the card and hit the submit button I hit it twice.  I only saw the response for the second click, which was the usual “we are not able to give you a decision at this time blah blah blah” (denied).  My first click yielded the results I wanted, approved, however I didn’t see it due to my double click of the submit button on the application.  That was okay in my book as the surprise and awe when I held the card in my hand was definitely worth it!  My goal of an airline credit card was now checked off!

An American Airlines credit card along with the fact that I had a round trip ticket already booked from EWR to SIN without having to spend a single penny.  Now I could think bigger in terms of where else I could go from Singapore.  Up until this day I basically limited my options down to Kuala Lumpur and either Phuket or Bangkok.  With all this extra money I had accrued via credit I wanted to add in something bigger.  An additional continent perhaps?

Of course another continent!  And since I would be in the area it my as well be Australia.  And just like that it was almost guaranteed I would go to Australia… The Land Down Under.

 

Days -135 through -125 (first half of January 2013)

Over these 10 days I ironed out the rest of my plan on where to go after arriving in Singapore on 2/7 at 1AM local time.  I would spend 2/7 and most of 2/8 in Singapore and then fly the evening of 2/8 from SIN to Kuala Lumpur.  I would be in KL for 3 nights and then fly from KL to Sydney on 2/11 (arriving in Sydney on the morning of 2/12 local time).  I would spend 3 nights in Sydney and fly back to SIN (via KL) on 2/15 where I would spend my last 2 nights before flying back to the USA.  Whew, that’s a lot of traveling over such a short period of time.  I am sorry if that was confusing.

Why Singapore, KL and Sydney?  Good question…  In brief and using my mentality:

1. My New Year’s Resolution for 2013 is to travel to more countries then attend New York Yankee Games.
2. It was my goal to cross as many continents off my list as possible.
3. Singapore is a great hub to hop around from and round trip flights from NYC to SIN are reasonably priced.  It was also cheaper to book the 2 round trip flights (one from EWR to SIN and one from KUL to SYD) then to book 1 round trip flight from NYC to SYD.  In addition the one-way flights from SIN to KUL and vice versa were very cheap.
4. All 3 locations have been on my list of places to visit.  Singapore, because I heard great things about the food and diversity of cultures.  KL, ever since seeing the movie Entrapment featuring the Petronas Towers.  Sydney, because I have friends from there who have talked so highly of the beaches that I had to go.

Of course numbers 3 and 4 are the most logical reason for choosing these locations, but for me numbers 1 and 2 were the convincers.

 

Day -108 (January 30, 2013)

January flew by!  It was the last Wednesday before my travels and I was with a couple of friends enjoying some homemade pizza and someinternational brew.  It was our weekly Wolf Pack Wednesday meeting, as we liked to call it.  We, being myself, Dan and my other good friend Alicia.  Dan was just one day away from embarking on his trip to Spain and I was less then a week away from my trip.

Dan and I talked about our trips for hours.  He would be traveling with his friend from college and I would be traveling by myself.  We would both be crossing off new destinations on the map, which was our goal.  Alicia was a bit jealous of our plans.  She wanted to go with us.  She thought I was crazy for traveling alone such a distance to places unknown to me.  It was a nice evening.  The calm before the storm.

 

Day -105 (February 2, 2013)

It was Saturday and although I didn’t fly out of EWR until the 5^th I had the next two weeks off from work.  My vacation had officially started.  I was so excited for my trip that I couldn’t think of much else.  I wanted to leave now and not in 3 days.  This anxiety led me to make a phone call to United Airlines.

20 minutes later I had moved my flight up 2 days and would be flying out the very next day.  My mom agreed to take me to the airport after a few minutes of scolding for the last minute change.  She originally planned to bring me to the airport, but not the next day as she had plans.  My mom is a saint though and canceled her plans to see me off on my adventure.  Now that I took care of that it was time to pack, book 2 more night’s hotel in Singapore and try to get some rest before the 20+ hour journey to Singapore.

 

Day -104 (February 3^rd, 2013)

After a restless 4 hours of sleep it was finally D-Day (Departure Day).  Super Bowl Sunday for everyone else in the US.  It would be at least 30 hours before I arrived in Singapore, which also meant it would probably be at least 30 hours until I slept as I do not sleep well in transit.  I was so excited I could barely think.  I was going through my checklist.  Phone, phone charger, passport, camera, camera charger, toothbrush, deodorant, razor, cologne, comb, wallet and clothes.  The essentials were all accounted for, but wait.  I was forgetting something.  My foreign currency!  Singapore Dollars, Malaysian Ringgit and Australian Dollars.  All of which I ordered a week in advance and had stashed in my dresser drawer.  I went and grabbed them and split the money up between my wallet, suitcase, backpack and $100 USD in my sock in case I lost everything.  Sometimes I am very precautious and traveling with lots of money is one of these times.  Now that I had everything it was time to head to the airport.

The two hour drive from my hometown in Upstate New York to Newark International Airport was nice.  My mom and I had a good talk, which was mostly about my trip, as I could not stop foaming from the mouth about it.  I was also able to listen to some good music, which really put me in the right mindset for this goal accomplishing trip.  We arrived at the airport, said our goodbyes and then I walked into terminal C.

Suddenly I was all alone In a place bustling with hundreds of travelers. I am a seasoned traveler and I still get that same feeling every time I walk into the airport alone.  A sense of fear and elation all at the same time.  I live for that feeling!

After getting my boarding pass at the check-in counter it was time to go through the TSA screening process.  I did not check any bags for this trip so I was carrying one small rolling suitcase and a backpack.  I try not to check bags if at all possible as this can slow you down when you arrive at your destination.  After having no issues through security I walked to my gate and realized I still had 2 hours before takeoff.  I went to the nearest bar and sat down for a couple gin and tonics.

The bar was a small quant place overlooking the runway.  The bartender, Mike, was a nice man in his mid 40’s.  It was pretty empty at the time so we chatted about my trip and about his daughter who I reminded him of.  Unlike most of my friends who thought I was crazy for going on such a trip Mike thought it was great.  It reminded him of the time he went to Puerto Rico on a last minute trip with a few of his close buddy’s several years ago.  Before I knew it I was boarding the plane.

I had an aisle seat for this trip.  My preference was a window seat, but they were all booked when I made the flight change a day earlier.  I wasn’t too upset as my first flight was 16 hours to Hong Kong so I figured this way it would be easy to go to the bathroom and also a little more room to try and sleep.  After 20 minutes of waiting while everyone else boarded the plane it was finally time to push back from the gate.  We taxied for an additional 15 minutes and then it was time for take-off.

While most American’s would be spending their night watching the Super Bowl, drinking beer and eating food with friends, I would be spending it 30,000 feet in the air.  Over cities and towns across multiple countries and continents.  If you ask me, I was right where I belong!