I liken my 43-day/42-night travel odyssey to Southeast Asia –Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia - to running a marathon road race. The official marathon distance is 42.15 KM (26.2 miles), which coincidentally matches the total number of nights of my trip.

Believe me, I know what I’m talking about having completed six marathons over the years. Like running a marathon, I started out a bit fast out of the gate – during my first 5 nights in Bangkok, I was ripping and running. Leaving Thailand’s hectic capital city, I found a nice running rhythm as I continued to Northern Thailand.

As usual, I had to negotiate some rather steep hills and obstacles along the way, but I persevered and got through them relatively unscathed. However the reality of changing hotels 15 times in 42 nights eventually caught up with me.

By the time I completed 75% of my trip on Day 32 (comparable to reaching the 19 mile mark in the marathon), I hit the proverbial wall. On that day, I transferred by ferry from Penang in Malaysia to the popular beach resort of Langkawi.

Hitting the beach, I was totally fatigued and I dozed off, but I had to dig down deep inside to get ready for the next day’s return journey to Thailand. From Langkawi, I traveled with 30 other tourists on an oversized speedboat to Koh Lipe, a distance of 30 maritime kilometers. The journey took about 75 minutes.

As I near the tail end of my arduous travel odyssey, I have finally found my 2nd wind in Koh Lipe, a rather small, relatively obscure island in Southern Thailand’s Satun Province. During my remaining days on the island (through December 27), I will be preparing travel stories, anecdotes and insights for publication in Calypso Island Chronicles.

Returning to Bangkok on December 27th for my final three nights in Thailand, I am geared up for a furious kick to the finish line. Yes my friends, the end is in sight and after all is said and done, the whole trip/race will have been worth it!

In retrospect, running an actual Marathon is a lot easier than this Travel Marathon