3 down 1 to go

I'm sitting in the Singapore airport right now, on a 5 hour layover. That would've been fine and all, but it's 2am here and nothing is open (which is too bad--there's a big mall, and they also offer tours of the city, which would have been cool.) Nothing open, except for this nice little cafe with free internet, so thought I would sign on and write you all a little entry.
I've survived the longest part of the journey to India--the 11 1/2 hour flight from LAX to Tokyo, 1 hour layover in Tokyo (I was quite amused by the toilet selections I had there, remind me to post those pictures later, haha), the 7 hour flight to Singapore, and am now sitting through the 5 hour layover here. Next and last is the 5 hour flight to Mumbai. Whew, I forgot how tiring traveling can be sometimes. It hasn't been so bad though, because Singapore Airlines is GREAT! Just a few reasons: hot towel greeting, on-demand movies & TV, free alcohol, Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream for dessert--this is how airlines should take care of you!
I've already watched two movies, some tv shows, finished reading one of my books, and slept for 7 hours, so I've accomplished quite a bit....
Speaking of books, I LOVED Twilight and am so bummed I don't have the sequel here with me to read. AHHH, it's going to drive me crazy having to wait two weeks before I can read and find out what happens. Anyone interested in a fun vampire-themed youth read, I would highly recommend it!
So, let me tell you how excited I am to be traveling again. People watching at the airport, going into the unknown and doing something new, having fresh and amazing experiences--I love it all, this is wonderful!!!
Okay, I think I might be rambling here, so...until next time...

Off I Go

I'm going off on my Indian adventure & wedding extravaganza, so just wanted to wish everyone a very happy and safe new years! Stay tuned for pictures and stories when I get back...

P.S. I've packed a roll of toilet paper. Hope that will be enough. Also, wish me luck with those squat toilets, it will be an interesting experience...

India Itenerary

For those who are curious about my itenerary while in India, here's what I'm up to:

12/30- Depart from LAX
01/01- Arrive in Mumbai
01/02- Train ride down to Ratnagiri
01/03-01/05- 3 days of wedding ceremonies for Reshama & Will in Ratnagiri
01/06-01/07- Goa
01/08-01/09- Jaipur
01/09-01/11- Agra
01/12-01/13- Delhi
01/13- Depart from Delhi

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I had a fun day over at Kat's place. It was nice having wine, food, and the family together. I was especially glad to see my aunt who lives in Switzerland (Long's mom), since the last time I saw her was when I was traveling through Europe in 2004. Everyone was busy taking a lot of family pictures, and it was cute when my dad and his 4 siblings sat with grandpa for a photo-all 5 of gramps' kids were there with him, which doesn't happen very often. Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and now 2008 is sneaking up on us!

Another amazing day

We had another successful and amazing whale watching day yesterday. It was a sunny and clear, with the island (Catalina, that is) in perfect view. For our first trip, there were reports of 4-5 whales blowing past some oil islands, so the captain headed straight out there. It took a while to get out there, then we didn't see a single thing for a very very long time. Where were those 4-5 whales? Possibly Grey's, long gone, continuing their trek south. At moments like these, you start to lose hope and feel a bit disappointed that you will have to send all those guests back without having seen anything. That's the chance everyone takes when going out on these trips though. Those chances are worth it when you see something awesome though, which we finally did--a blow in the distance! It turned out to be the small blue whale that we've seen a couple of times this week already. To top the trip off, we came across about one to two hundred common dolphins on our way back. The second whale watch of the day was even better than the first. We headed out and found a fin whale, and while we were waiting for it to surface again after a deep dive, a superpod of common dolphins surrounded the boat. There were over a thousand of them, swimming and jumping and circling us. After forgetting about the fin whale and hanging out with the dolphins for a while, we went in search of the blue we saw earlier. The sunset painted the sky in beautiful shades, which made an awesome backdrop to the view of the island and our blue whale sighting. We found the small blue (now nicknamed "Jr.") again, he gave us a great fluke-wave-goodbye, and then we headed back, ending another great whale watching day. My job rocks.

One Week

Wow, I fly out in exactly one week!
From now until then, my week will be:

-Work my 6th day in a row today, leading another whale watch trip.
-Tomorrow as my ONE day off to get all my stuff done and my butt in gear before the trip.
-Christmas with the family at Kat's place.
-Work Wednesday-Saturday.
-Begin my long trek to India on Sunday.

I'll be flying LA-Tokyo-Singapore-Mumbai, so you can imagine it will be a very long and tiring trip. Anitza gave me this neck pillow thing, so hopefully it will work and I'll actually be able to get some rest. I'm kind of sad that I'll only be in Tokyo for an hour. I'm pretty interested in visiting it, so I guess it will just have to be another trip at another time. And India is a big enough trip by itself.

Amazing

We are starting up daily whale watch trips at work and I went out on a trip to train today. When going on whale watches, people have to realize that they have to be prepared for anything--they may see nothing but the horizon and endless blue water, or they may see something absolutely amazing. Today was one of those amazing days. It was one of those days where you scream and jump up and down because you are so excited. Where your heart thumps and your breath is taken away. Five Orcas. Yes, FIVE ORCAS. As in Killer Whales. As in Shamu. FIVE! ORCAS! Off our coast! One of them was a cute little baby, and one was a beautiful big male (with a huge dorsal fin!) Oh, it was absolutely unbelievably amazing. And to top it off, we ended the trip with a Blue Whale sighting-blows and fluke and everything. *SIGH* Just another day at work...How can you beat stuff like this? It makes being poor and pursuing what you love worth it....

Dangerous Stuff

Television shows on DVD can be dangerous. There should be a warning: YOU MAY SPEND PART OF YOUR LIFE ATTACHED TO THE TELEVISION. On the two days I had off last week, I managed to watch the ENTIRE first season of Heroes. 23 episodes in 48 hours. Alicia and I rented just Disk 1 on Saturday night, which only has 2 episodes on it. After watching the first episode, we drove to Target to buy the DVD set....I never got pulled into the Heroes craze last year, but had become somewhat intrigued by it a couple of weeks ago, so finally decided to see what it was all about--and it was great! I just couldn't get enough...Season 2 is online right now, so I'll have to watch all of them and get caught up...oh, dangerous stuff, dangerous stuff...