Why are we doing this?

Syd,

This is a tough one to decide, no doubt about it. We are taking an unusually high but still small risk, in order to have an experience that may well turn out to be a lot more stressful than we have been anticipating. There’s no rational way to weigh the risks and rewards. I would add, however, that the calculation looks rather different at our age than it must to you and Geoff. We don’t expect to have many more chances to do big trips like this, nor does “having the rest of your life to look forward to” mean quite the same thing to us as it does to you. (Your mother thinks you will not want to hear this, but I think you are well able to hear it mindfully.)

Furthermore we can turn on a dime to plan Q (I’ve lost count). If we find out while in Israel that things have deteriorated a lot faster in SE Asia, we can cancel Siem Reap and Chiang Mai, and do Tel Aviv =>Amman=>Doha=>HongKong (2hrs in transit)=> Tokyo, and then either spend 10 days in Japan before going on to Kauai, or spend fewer days in Japan and advance the dates for Kauai and the rest of the trip

As of tonight, we are still inclined to go with Plan C (Siem Reap and Chiang Mai). However, we urge you and Geoff to join us ONLY if you can think of no better option FOR YOU. And one option you should consider is heading to Seattle after Bali, and joining us in LA from March 2 to 6.

Let’s try to do the WhatsApp dosey-doe tomorrow at breakfast our time.

⭕❌

PaPa