Magellan’s is a fabulous travel supply store that has its headquarters here in Santa Barbara. We generally hit the place a few times before a trip, and the good news is that they have a big sale about this time of year.

This year, thanks to my weight loss, I need new travel clothes, and so this convergence of events led me to a buying spree. I now have two new pairs of nifty travel pants, and a new travel shirt. All are lightweight and quick drying: perfect for light packing and on-the-road, in-the-sink laundry. And they have LOTS of pockets. I won’t argue that travellers need lots of pockets, but it’s the way I like to travel.

Also this year, both Harriet and I were intrigued by the new disposable underwear. Yes, as odd as it sounds, these thin cotton briefs take up much less space than regular underwear, don’t require cleaning, and disappear completely by the end of the trip. More room for souvenirs despite the questionable eco-friendliness. The manufacturer claims that since they are 100% cotton, they are biodegradable. We figure they are worth giving a try, so we bought a couple of packages. I’ll let you know.

We also picked up a new water bottle carrying doo-dad. It has a rubber washer that fits over the spout of a water bottle, and a clip that can attach to a belt buckle or the strap of a bag. Over the years, we’ve tried a lot of water bottle carrying devices, and have yet to find the ‘perfect’ one. It’s amazing how useful such a thing would be since bottled water is something we seem to always want to have around (and no, I do not carry my big, diet soda mug around with me while travelling).

We also picked up a new collapsable umbrella. Unfortunately it looks like we will be getting a lot of rain during our trip. So, we’ll be packing ponchos and umbrellas.

We now have our tickets for Malaysia!

We are flying United (oh well), leaving from Santa Barbara on Monday October 30 at 8:20 am. We go through San Francisco (70 minutes) to Tokyo’s Narita Airport (12 hours) where we switch planes for the final leg to Singapore (7.5 hours). We arrive at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, October 31 after crossing the International Date Line. We may spend a day or two in Singapore before we take a local flight to the island of Borneo and into Malaysia proper.

The map shows the route, although the leg between San Francisco and Japan will probably take us further north, closer to the pole. The polar route is actually a faster route, and in the past, with shorter haul airplanes, we would stop in Alaska on our way to Japan. Not stopping is a lot better.

Our return flight from Singapore starts at 7:30 am, Tuesday November 21. We take the same route back, going to Tokyo, then San Francisco, and finally arriving in Santa Barbara at 12:41 pm on the same Tuesday. Again, we pass over the International Date Line so the trip takes quite a bit longer than 5 hours.

We get back in plenty of time to host our Thanksgiving Dinner! Make plans to attend.

So, the trip is now real. We’ve bought our tickets (and Harriet got a real deal on them). Hey, four weeks of lead time is really good for us!

Well, we’ve finally selected the destination of our next trip: Malaysia. I’ve put up an image showing its location in the world, but it’s right in between Austrilia and China.

Currently, the plan is to be travelling during our usual timeline. That means flying out around Halloween and returning a couple of days before Thanksgiving. We haven’t set our flights yet. Hey, it’s us!

Here’s a closer view of Malaysia. The country has two parts. The western part is on the peninsula, south of Thailand and north of Singapore. The eastern part shares the island of Borneo with Indonesia and Brunei. We’re pretty interested in Borneo because it has a lot of wildlife (ex. the orangutan), some interesting sites (ex. the city of Kuching, also known as the ‘Cat City’), and the food sounds fantastic (again, it’s us!).

I’ll keep posting about our plans, and I hope to be posting here during the trip.