Planning and Preparation

HOW am I going to get through the next 4 weeks without jumping out of my skin with excitement??? Luckily I have plenty to do to keep myself busy - 2 more weeks at my final school placement, and then the last 2 weeks of uni.

If I can just keep myself away from Google I'll be fine.

Two years ago I got to go on a dive trip to Sipadan for 3 days. It was fantastic, but as it was just a quick side-trip from Singapore, I didn't get to see any of Borneo. A 4 day trip when I was 10 didn't add any to my cultural experience either, since me and my sisters spent the entire time in the hotel pool.

This trip has morphed many times but I have actually booked it now so Borneo it is. Here are the other iterations:

1) A trip to North Carolina to go to a Batmitzvah, but the budget blew out within the first week for that trip so it was shelved pretty quickly.

2) A return to Fiji, which I enjoyed in May, only this time to the Islands. Problem was, last time I just needed to chill out and do nothing. This time I want a bit of adventure!

3) A dive trip to Palau! Thwarted by an airline that, depending on who you listen to, either:
- bought the wrong plane
- has no money and is trying to sell
- leased a plane and didn't think to work out what to do when the lease expired, or
- hasn't got regulatory approval.

4) A dive trip to Indonesia with my Doppelschwester, a completely made-up pseudo German word that could mean "twin sister" in a bad online translator. I met her in Borneo last time and although it would have been great to catch up with her again, I was after more than a dive holiday.

5) Borneo - a mix of culture, nature and diving. Right on!!

So I have planned to go to the jungle, the orangutan sanctuary, muck diving on the islands around Sipadan, and diving from Gaya Island in Kota Kinabalu. There are many days with no official plan and I'm hoping to rent a car and drive up around Ranau in the hopes of finding a local who knows where a Rafflesia flower is in bloom.

One thing I am really looking forward to is an impromptu visit to a Malayan Sun Bear rehabilitation centre. It's not open to the public and I feel pretty lucky to be visiting!

Well there isn't likely to be much update for the next 4 weeks although, if it's between doing a uni assignment and writing a blog entry saying "I am taking 4 t-shirts, 2 pairs of pants..." then sorry but I choose option B.