March Forth!
A perfect day to progress in pursuit of passion.
Dear Friends,
Last month, thousands of you attempted to read the account of my kidnapping, only to find the subscription function disabled! Sadly, I’ve learned that Substack’s Customer service is severely lacking. It took more than a week for a human to simply respond to my queries, and leven onger for them to actually correct their glitch. Though the issue was finally corrected two weeks ago, I maintained my promise to send no more than one email per month. A full month having passed, I can finally announce that paid subscriptions are now enabled, and remind you that:
My first 100 paid subscribers are eligible to win a Delsey underseat suitcase.
As a FREE subscriber, you have access to Flan’s Plan, my template to optimize your time for greater health and efficiency.
Paid subscribers can join me this Friday and the 1st Friday of every month at 8a EST for The Forum, a live AMA via Google Meet.
I send this month’s flâneuse (Yes, we’ve had a rebrand. I’ve left the goods behind.) from Kuala Lumpur, in transit toward Sulawesi, Indonesia, #152 in my exploration of the world’s total 330 countries, colonies, territories and exclaves. I spent the first 6 weeks of 2025 in South America, visiting #147-151: Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Fernando de Noronha, a little known, remote, perfect island off the northern coast of Brazil.
My itinerary through July finds me completing all the major islands of Indonesia. After Sulawesi, I visit West Papua, Maluku and Sumatra. From there, I fly to The Philippines where I’ll spend a week in Palawan prior to my 4th 10 day Vipassana retreat outside of Manila. My first retreat in exotic Delaware began less than a year ago on May 1st, 2023, where I met Rosario, my Filipino assistant teacher who founded the center I’ll be visiting. This retreat will end on my birthday, April 27th, 4 days prior to the anniversary of my first experience of extended silence. I look forward to writing an essay about Vipassana for the May 6th issue of flâneuse.
From Manila, I fly to #157, Vietnam, where I’ve dedicated a month to train travel from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. I’ve decided to return to neighboring Laos for the first two weeks of May. My initial visit in 2008 was a mere 36 hours in the remote countryside border Thailand. Luang Prabang and Vientiane will be my destinations on this occasion.
A week on the island of Hainan, China’s southernmost province, a special economic zone, will mark #158. An 11 hour train will bring to me to Macau, #159, which I should’ve visited in 2012 when I was a short ferry ride away on Hong Kong, but I hadn’t adopted my current strategy at that time. I had intended to fly back to the states for a visit to family, friends and storage at this point, but July is the peak of Mongolia’s brief tourist season, so I’ll likely head north for #160, and cross the border for #161, Irkutsk Oblast, to visit Lake Baikal, Earth’s oldest and deepest freshwater lake in Eastern Siberia, as well. By then, it will be uncomfortably hot in #162, Jeju, South Korea, and Japan’s Ogasawara and Okinawa Islands, #163 & #164, so I’ll return to the States for a month and return in the fall…probably? Unless I remain in Asia or shift gears after the states.
#165…to be determined…will mark the halfway point on my bizarre mission to all 330. I had intended to visit Pakistan last week, but the E-Visa website wasn’t working, and the Embassy in Delhi required one week to accomplish the task. I hate to admit it, but I simply couldn’t bear the thought of another week waiting in dusty, dysfunctional Delhi, and the security concerns of Pakistan encouraged me to simply move forward to relative comfort of Southeast Asia, especially after the month of overland travel through the Guianas.
Of course, I’m continuing to work while wandering. The harsh reality of the inauguration triggered significant demand following a comparatively manageable holiday. I’m privileged to serve the Trans community, who represent the bulk of my recent sliding scale expatriation appointments. Our sessions have demanded creativity. With the federal government ordered to use the gender markers assigned at birth on their passports, I’ve advised trans folks to opt for expedited passport appointments in person in San Francisco, where there is simply a greater chance that an ally will process your paperwork. Don’t apply by mail. I can’t guarantee this strategy will work, but it’s all we’ve got for now. If you, dear reader, know any fellow resistors at the San Francisco Passport Agency, please tell them to contact me through SIGNAL at 917.740.8080.
Yes, I can help you expatriate, but I’m also available to plan other travels, be it business or pleasure, a weekend or a sabbatical, solo or family. My rate is simply 20% of your trip’s total value, following our initial planning appointment at my standard session rate. I’ve likely been where you’re going, or already have the itinerary preplanned in my mind. I’ll save you hours of research and frustration and offer elements you may not have imagined.
I’ll be 12-14 hours ahead of EST through July, so my general availability for self scheduling will be after my sunset, during your mornings and middays. Of course, if you must meet at an alternative time, I can make exceptions closer to the actual date when I have a firmer grip on my detailed itinerary. Simply email me and we’ll see what we can do at the time.
This letter grew longer than I intended, so I’ll sign off for now. Having managed the administrative difficulties and devised a sustainable strategy, I plan to post daily, and email monthly, on the first Tuesday.
I’d love to hear from you, in return. Like all those songs say, it’s lonely on the road.