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There's been a lot of stuff that's been going on since the last time I updated.
The most fun exciting one(s) are that I'll be doing quite a bit of traveling this year! There's a work conference in Honolulu, Hawaii in April that I'll be going to, which will be my first time to our 50th state (unless you're a birther, then it's known as a country called Kenya). The conference lasts a week, then I'll be taking vacation the next week to explore The Big Island to see some of the world's only active volcanoes and do some zip lining through the forest. Then back to Oahu to hang out on the North Shore. I'll definitely be doing some (bad) surfing and we're staying right on the beach. And of course Kara is coming too, as she'd likely murder me in my sleep if I went to Hawaii for two weeks by myself.
Then just today I booked tickets for a huge Asia adventure, hitting Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Tokyo in November! I'll be going with Kara and some other friends, sorta how my Italy trip panned out.
And the best part that thanks for that British Airways credit card offer a while back, it was (mostly) all free! They don't have it anymore, but if you spent $2,000, then you'd get 100k airline miles. Which is enough for both me and Kara to go somewhere round trip. And the great thing about BA miles is that they let you do extended layovers on your trip, so as long as the stop is on the route on of their OneWorld alliance partner's flies, then you can stop there as long as you want. So for instance we're flying Cathay Pacific from Chicago to Ho Chi Minh City, but it has a layover in Hong Kong. So we're staying 3 nights there.
Then we're traveling by bus up to Hanoi, and then flying Japan Airlines through Tokyo as a stop-over, spend a few nights there, and finally get back to the US at LAX. All-in-all having that card saved about $3,500 in airfare. Not a bad deal if I say so myself!
I think I'm most excited about Tokyo, since I've always wanted to go to Japan and realized that this was actually possible now (original plan was to fly back through Hong Kong again on the way out). This will be my first time in Asia, and it's a bit daunting since it's a completely different language system than in Europe. Even Kara is intimidated. But with being in a group and 8 months to practice my Vietnamese, I'm sure I can figure it out.
The other kind of bad thing is I don't really like Vietnamese food... (shhhhh). I do love my Japanese and Chinese food though!
Oh and the flight from Chicago to Hong Kong is 16 hours. Which is even longer than those New Zealand flights I took back in 2009!
I'm really excited for both trips, and it's nice to get to do some more long distance traveling again, since last year the furthest I went was Florida (though did do that 3 times due to work and weddings).
I was also in San Diego last week for quite literally a day because of a work customer meeting. It was actually one of the least fun trips I've ever taken, because it was just grueling and so quick. Had to get up early, get on a flight to PHX, then SAN. Got picked up, went immediately to the customer site, had an all day meeting, had dinner with the sales guys, and then flew back early the next morning (with a connection in Houston). Flying really did feel like work for once.
It wasn't all bad though. I got to see one of my really good friends from my Intel internship who's getting her PhD down there, and the flight back on Continental had DirectTV, so I was watching Top Gear and ESPN on the way home.
I still can't believe I haven't ever been on an airplane yet that had WiFi. I know they're rolling them out, and I don't fly all THAT much, but I would have thought by now I'd have hit at least one plane during some segment that had it. I'd definitely pay whatever they want for WiFi access. I can't wait!
Oh speaking of WiFi, the hotel in San Diego was the very first luxury (Hilton, Marriott, etc) hotel I've ever been in that didn't charge for Internet. Normally it's like $14 to $20 a day. That always offended me because if I'm (ie Freescale) is paying $200+ a night for a hotel room, they should be paying for Internet. It's like charging for the TV or the soap in the shower. Maybe my old rule that internet is free if the hotel is under $100 a night might finally be breaking...
I would have stayed in San Diego longer since I had never been there before, but that Friday marked me and Kara's 3rd anniversary of meeting! It was but 3 years ago I met the most wonderful person in the world in a piazza in Rome. How time does fly!
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