Hi Gram,
I haven’t written in a few weeks, but you know what I have been doing? A whole lotta nothin’, and loving it! As I told a friend recently, everyone needs some downtime, some “me” time, a chance to recharge the batteries. When you’re a nomad traveling all the time, it’s easy to forget to rest or to keep pushing it off ‘until after this one more thing’. So when it strikes, it’s okay to just sit around the apartment in some random city somewhere in the world, order some take-out, and read a book all day.

I spent a few weeks in Bangkok, intending to use it as a base to get out and see some sights, do some day trips. I walked around some markets, ate at local restaurants, did my morning walks and stair climbing, but mostly I just sat around, watched some Netflix, and read my book. Here are a few fun anecdotes from the past few weeks…

I rode the BTS (public train system) to the weekend market to walk around and do some people watching. The name of the stop right in front of the market is named “Mo Chit”, which is appropriate because people flock there to buy mo’ shit than they would ever need.

I went to the US Embassy to make sure I’d be able to vote. The wheels are set in motion, and I’ll let you know how it goes with actually voting from overseas, but it sounds like a straightforward process. This is when I remind everyone to make sure you’re registered to vote, find your polling place, and take action now (or very soon) to vote by email, absentee ballot, or whatever your local county or state allows if you’re not able to get to the polling place on November 5.

On one of my trips, I noticed this light had a small leak…

One of the malls had an entire floor dedicated to plants and flowers, arranged by color and variety.

Yesterday, I flew up to Chiang Mai with my friend Nattiya. It’s great having friends all over the world with whom I can go see cool things, taste delicious food, and share memories. I’m a little exhausted from packing and traveling yesterday, but I’ll keep you posted about our adventures here!