Up in the Air

If you follow Drop Me Anywhere on social media (links to all of DMA social media appear at the bottom of this article) you’ll know that I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately. These aren’t me interviewing someone else, but other people interviewing me about this unique project. Apparently many are finding the uniqueness and the writing fun and informative, and some are finding my story of taking a huge leap, as well as being a woman traveling solo, inspiring (either this or it’s simply like a train-wreck and, as much as they want to, they can’t look away). Regardless of the reasons for the interest, one of the questions which keeps coming up is, “Do you ever secretly wish for a certain location to win?” Well yes, of course I do. But, traveling with other people means compromise and, well, since I’m traveling with my Virtual Travel Buddies, that’s a decision I’ve left up to you. I trust you. (Unless you’re one of the ones following simply to watch the train wreck, in which case I hear your mother whispering under her breath, “That’s not how I raised you.”)

So here I am to announce the winner of this vote – Vietnam. And I am now admitting that it wouldn’t have been my first choice. Still, it’s yours and I trust you. I’ll fly to Vietnam within about two-weeks and, along the way, I’ll make my way to the Ba Na Cable car, outside of Danang.

Some cool info: Ba Na Cable Car holds four Guinness World Records. It’s the longest single-wire cable car system (5,771.61 meters; 18,936 feet), highest difference between departure and arrival terminals (1,368.93 meters; 4,491 feet ), longest non-stop cable (11,587 meters; 38,015 feet) and the heaviest cable roll (141.24 metric tons; 311,380 pounds). While I’ll be thinking about that “heaviest” world record while I’m up there, I’ve learned to trust in fate a bit. And the cable car was designed by the Austrian company Doppelmayer (not to be confused with Doppelganger as they look very much alike), which somehow makes me feel better (it seems that those Austrians should know how to build cable cars and ski-lifts and such.

So now, I’ll continue hiding out in the Lombock, Indonesian Island of Gili Air for just a little bit longer before, most likely, flying to Kuala Lumpur for a week or so as I have a round trip ticket and my Indonesian visa will expire soon.

While this wasn’t my first choice of destination, I’m sure it will be amazing. (Did I mention that I trust you?) And don’t worry, we’re going to explore a bit of Vietnam from the ground as well as from the air.

Be sure to follow Drop Me Anywhere on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Google+ for great updates and photos on the Gili Islands of Lombok, Indonesia. Thanks so much for voting and following Drop Me Anywhere (unless, of course, you’re a stalker then, quit following me).

Oh and if you’d like to read some of the recent articles written about Drop me anywhere, here are the links:

Chris Guillebeau

The Independent Traveler

Travel Pulse

The Detroit Jewish News (appeared in print version and on subscriber site)

When on Earth

The Yucatan Times

Examiner.com