San Diego or Bust!

I am frugal…let’s just get that out there right away. So when I can choose to pay for a direct flight to San Diego at a reasonable time, of course I choose to use my miles instead. Even if that means that I have to fly out at 5:15 in the morning to then connect in Phoenix for a two hour layover and not arrive in San Diego until 11:45 am. And when I could either take a cab for around $40 to get to the airport or take the bus, of course I choose the bus. Even though the $2.25 that I spent to get to the airport meant staying up all night, going out to the bar until 2 so that I could wait out in the freezing cold to catch at 2:20am bus to Tukwila (which is scary enough) with a bunch of crazies, to wait in the cold again to catch my transfer at 3:00 and walk a couple blocks to the airport, getting there at 3:30! At the time I was definitely miserable, but looking back I still don’t regret saving that $37.75. Anyone who knows me (especially the ex’s, they all hate it haha) knows this about me. I look at it like this: the more I save on stupid things like transportation, the more I can spend on other fun things I want to do…like travel! Also, the experience is in the adventure…always!

Why am I telling you this?? Well, first of all because I am currently sitting in the Phoenix airport on my layover and second, because the experience I just had was much of what I spend my time doing when I travel. Traveling cheap and on a budget is not easy, but it is very necessary if you want to be able to travel for a long time and still come back with money in your pocket. It is easy to go to countries like Mexico, El Salvador…Thailand and see that everything is so cheap so you spend more and live like a king. I see lots of people around me doing it and I have heard lots of stories. A lot of people come back from vacation say in Oxaca, Mexico and speak of their lavish bungalow hotels on the beach with heated pools for just $30 a night….that is great, but $30 a night adds up. Especially when you can get a bed, and a shared kitchen in a hostel for $3.50 a night. This is when my frugalness and love of adventure comes in handy. You do the math.

There are a couple reasons why I don’t like to live by my American means when I travel. Mostly, that is not the point of my travels. When I travel, I like to live no better off than the average people in the country that I am visiting. Also, roughing it is the best part of the experience! 

Ok time to go enjoy San Diego! Write again soon..

The pain of being an adult!

As I am laying in bed shortly after having gum grafting surgery (ok so now it is four days later and I am just finishing up this post), my newest advice to everyone is to not wait until the last minute to get check ups before you leave for such a trip. I strolled by the dentist about two weeks ago, thinking "man I should really get my receding gum line taken care of before I leave for so long". Little did I know what was in store for me after not going to the dentist for 5 years. Needless to say, I am spending much of my last 2 months in Seattle at the dentist! And, I have spent the last four days mostly in bed, in and out of sleep drinking nothing but smoothies and soup. Having a deadline for me to take care of all of the things that have gone wrong in my body that I have put off for years is very painful. Things that I could space out so that they don't hurt so bad, I am having to get done one after the other. However, it must be done. I just turned 25, which means I only have one more year left on my moms insurance (I know...spoiled huh! My mom is a school teacher so, by default, I have insurance until I am 26! If only I had been utilizing it for the last 7 years! I could just kick myself now!). Realizing this, I have gotten my butt into gear to have everything I can taken care of before I leave. I feel like a real grown up now...taking care of my body, health, and well-being! Man, I never thought this day would come...Anyways, yes, advice to all- Never wait until the last minute to get your check up at the doctor or dentist just in case there are many things wrong that you haven't thought about. The body breaking down is part of getting older and I guess it is time for me to accept that I am getting older...eek I don't like the sound of that! You mean I am not superwoman and invincible!?! The whole in my wallet from all these appointments and surgeries sure answers that question for me!

Needless to say, I have not done too much more planning since the last time I have written. Whenever I tried, the meds would kick in and I would be asleep yet again each of the dogs cuddling my butt and Destroy (my cat) on my chest. They were all really good at taking care of me. :) However in this time, my living situation has, yet again, changed. This time I think it will remain the same until I leave. Maritza (my good friend and Friday, Saturday, Sunday roommate) just moved to a little two bedroom up in the Central District. She offered me to stay in the second "guest bedroom" until I leave. This will be perfect since I will be able to settle down and stay in one place, rather than hopping from house to house every week. I do feel aweful though since I was supposed to help her move and then ended up having to work all of the days that she did the moving. Unfortunately, there was a lot of miss-communication, but I think that everything is now resolved and just as I did with Kammy, I am going to try to be the best roommate I can. I know that it is not easy for people to give me a place to stay, and I really appreciate all of my friends and they have been amazing to me during all of this, but the last thing I want to do is have my 'couch hopping' ruin any of my friendships. I am still trying to find some way to make the whole not helping Maritza move thing up to her. She was so cute too, she even has a little bed set up in the room with sheets and everything!

 Working two jobs and living in different peoples houses is actually harder than you might think. With your own house, you don't have to think about what you are doing and how you are treating everything. You don't have to worry about coming home late at night after work and throwing things around or not doing your dishes that night. Everything changes when you are a constant guest. By staying with other people I have to do a lot of considering others feelings and doing my best to not only not be a bother, but also doing nice things for those people who are putting me up. Sometimes even then, I can still make people mad, but I try my best not to. It is definitely a learning and growing opportunity and I feel really lucky to be able to go through this and be a better person in the end because of it.

What is this? Some planning is actually in the works!

The issue I left off with in my last blog is still left unsolved, but I am not as worried about it as I was at first. I figure that it will be pretty easy to either take a couple day trip and cross one of the boarders or possibly just pay the embassy so that they let me on the plane to Australia a day late (I'm staying 31 days in Thailand, but my visa is only for 30 days!). What I have found in my other travel experiences is that money can definitely talk! Although, taking a small trip across the boarder is pretty enticing. I looked up a few possible interesting places I could go in the neighboring countries and found a really cool route in Cambodia.



From Bangkok I could take the bus to the Cambodian boarder through Poipet. I would then take another bus to the city of Siem Reap, which is 6 hours by bus from Poipet. It is a cute little city with Chinese style architecture and a fun old market and old french quarter. This is also the best place to see performances of traditional Khmer dance. It sounds like a perfect little stop over! The name Siem Reap means "flat defeat of Siam"- today's Thailand. During that battle the prince of Thailand, Prince Ong, was shot dead on an elephants back! How crazy! This adorable little city is also very close to the ruins of Angkor, which are a definite must see in Cambodia. Angkor was the largest pre-industrial  city in the world and dates back to AD 802. The closest rival to it's size is Tikal, the old Mayan city in Guatamala, which is on my list of must sees during my next trip to central America.





Buddhist monks in front of Angkor

From here I can then return by boat and stop off in the "relaxing", as it is described, town of Battambang. The second largest town in the country, yet supposedly feels like one of the smallest and most easy going. It also has great colonial architecture.

I would say that if I do choose to make this journey, it would take about a week out of my Thailand travels. I am not worried, since I will be returning to the area at the end of my trip and can always go back and see anything I missed, but I do want to check with Dani and see if her and her friend would be down for this "mini trip".

If I do not do that, my other choice would be to just cross the boarder at the bottom of Thailand's peninsula into Malaysia. There are 6 different boarder stops to choose from down there, so it shouldn't be too difficult.We are planning to be down there anyway to explore the beaches, so this may turn out to be the better option of the two and I can always do Angkor on my Cambodian part of the trip.



For something so silly (Only I would forget to take into account 31 days of January) there are a lot of fun and exciting things that can come out of it!

First part of my trip booked! Connecticut- Thailand- Australia!

I did it! I booked my ticket yesterday and now there is absolutely NO turning back! I didn't even get the trip insurance lol. I know that I probably should have looked a bit more into the different options, but I did check several websites and I just couldn't wait any more!! My itinerary is below and the ticket only came out to  $1,539.63. For three flights and traveling so far, I am really impressed with the price.






Flight 1: Wednesday, January 4, 2012

JetBlue Airways 82 Economy  |  Airbus Industrie A320 (320) |  5hr 10min |  2406 miles

Depart:	9:15pm	Seattle, WA  Seattle/Tacoma Intl (SEA)
Arrive:	5:25am	New York, NY  New York John F Kennedy Intl (JFK)

   

This is an overnight flight.

Flight 2: Monday, January 16, 2012

American Airlines 6087 Economy  |  Boeing 777-300 (773) |  Refreshments |  16hr 10min |  8055 miles

Operated by: CATHAY PACIFIC -- CX 845. Please check in with the operating carrier.

Depart:	12:20am	New York, NY  New York John F Kennedy Intl (JFK)
Arrive:	5:30am	Hong Kong, Hong Kong Hong Kong Int'l (HKG)

   

Change planes. Time between flights: 3hr 40min

Cathay Pacific 713 Economy  |  Boeing 777-300 (773) |  2hr 55min |  1049 miles

Depart:	9:10am	Hong Kong, Hong Kong Hong Kong Int'l (HKG)
Arrive:	11:05am	Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK)

   

This is an overnight flight.

Total duration: 22hr 45min | Total miles: 9104 miles

Flight 3: Thursday, February 16, 2012

Malaysia Airlines 789 Economy  |  Boeing 737-800 Passenger (738) |  2hr 10min |  754 miles

Depart:	2:15pm	Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK)
Arrive:	5:25pm	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Int'l (KUL)

   

Change planes. Time between flights: 4hr 25min

Malaysia Airlines 149 Economy  |  Airbus Industrie A330-300 (333) |  8hr 15min |  3938 miles

Depart:	9:50pm	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Int'l (KUL)
Arrive:	9:05am	Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL)

   

This is an overnight flight.

This trip starts and ends at different airports.

Total duration: 14hr 50min | Total miles: 4692 miles

After the excitement set in I started really thinking about the trip and I got a little nervous that I did not think about whether or not I would need an exit ticket to get a visa for Australia. I often do this to myself. I don't always think things through as much as a should and sometimes I am really awful at doing all of the research that is needed. I am definitely a 'fly by the seat of my pants' kind of person and sometimes that can be my biggest downfall. When I started thinking about this possible problem, I already had my ticket and I was already at work so I couldn't do anything to even look into whether or not I needed a return ticket for a visa. 

Today I went to the Australian Embassy website and was very relieved when I saw that I could just apply for my visa online. All I needed was a valid passport and I can stay in Australia for up to 3 months as a tourist. No return ticket necessary!! This was perfect. All necessary information given and 20 Australian dollars, and 20 seconds later I have an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to go to Australia for up to 3 months. I could actually stay for up to 12 months in 3 month increments if I really wanted to! And the best part about this is that everything is done electronically so all I have to do is go to the airport and they will see that I have gotten the OK right there on their computer screen! How easy is that!


So with that problem solved, I now have to look into my next (and really 1st issue). As a  US citizen, I can stay in Thailand for up to 30 days without a visa. I, without thinking and kicking myself now, booked my flight 31 days apart!!! I will get back to you about what I will do with this issue...UGH! Sometimes I never cease to amaze myself!


*For future travelers:


I am getting all of this information from this great website:
 http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_4965.html#T
they brake everything down by country and then you can just click entry/exit requirements for US citizens. I definitely suggest checking this out BEFORE you book any flights! :)

Two months and counting!

Almost a month has gone by since I have been "couch hopping" and I think that, so far, things are going really well. I can't believe how fast October has flown by! I have been really happy staying at Kammy's. We don't see each other much since we both have very crazy schedules and she spends most nights at her girlfriend's house. However, when we are able to catch each other it has been really nice. We spent the other night drinking wine, smoking hookah, watching shows, and catching up. I actually really like having her as a roommate and although it is great feeling like I have a studio apartment to myself, I definitely wish that she was around more often. But, alas, it is the 26th of October, which means it is past time for me to have figured out a plan for my living situation for next month. Kammy has offered me her place on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. This way she will also be able to have her alone time in her own apartment, yet still help me out. Tuesday nights (since I usually go to the rose for taco Tuesday after work) I am hoping to be able to stay with my friend Jay on capitol hill (I still need to let her in on my plan). That leaves Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, which I am hoping to stay downtown with Maritza (I also have to still talk to her about this plan). This way we can test it out and see if she will be ok with having me around before she commits to a full month in December. In writing this, I am realizing that I should probably talk to them both about this tonight before it is too late and it's November already!

I have not done anymore preparing for my trip than the last time that I wrote, besides looking into buying a ticket. I want to buy my ticket by this weekend so that it can all be set in stone with no option to turn back. At first when I looked up a ticket to go from Thailand to Australia. The cheapest ticket I could find was 600 dollars! This put a definite damper on my plans and I questioned whether or not I wanted to put in that extra cost just to be able to see my Australian friends. My answer was immediately "yes". However, I wanted to check out other options to getting there before committing to the price. Since I have to also travel to Connecticut, I decided looking up a multi-city ticket would be a smart thing to do. When I did this, I was over joyed with what I found.

I found a multi-city ticket:

Seattle to New York/ New York to Bangkok/ Bangkok to Melbourne  for $1700!  

This price was through kayak.com Then I checked cheapflights.com and found the same flight for $1550!
It took everything in me to not purchase the ticket right away! But, I stopped myself so that I could keep looking and see if I can find anything better. So far, it is the best I can find and by this weekend if it still is the cheapest, I am purchasing it. I can't wait to have a physical ticket to make my trip that is just a "dream" as of now become a reality! It is crazy to think that in just two short months I will be getting off a plane in Thailand and beginning a journey that will change my life forever!!

slightly behind schedule

It is now the beginning of the third week of October and according to my "schedule" I should be planning my third country. I know myself, and I knew that that would never be the case, since I am so last minute. However, I am not only a little behind. I am still planning my route! It is not totally my love of procrastination at fault here.



What you see above is 4 different itineraries. I began by finding out the best times to travel to which places (this took three rough drafts). When I did this, I came up with the perfect itinerary! I began in Thailand in January to meet my friend Dani from work. Then after that I was going to head backwards to India then travel east, spending a month in every country until I reached Australia in October. I was then going to stay in Australia with "my Aussies" for the whole month of October and the first week of November so that I could spend my birthday (November 3rd) partying it up with people I knew and in an area I know that I can be myself in. (By this I do mean an area that I can be gay in and spend time with the queer community-which I really feel I am going to have difficulty with for most of the time I will be traveling). In this plan, I would be in every country in the best months to visit and would miss all of the bad weather patterns...I was set!

Then I emailed my friends in Australia (Warren and Dave) and told them my plans. They also have traveling spirits like mine and they told me that they are only going to be in Australia from January until the end of March and then they are traveling throughout Europe. This changes all of my plans, but it will be worth it. There is no sense in knowing people in different countries if they are not going to be there when you visit! So that brings me to my latest plan. It's a bit of a skip around and it is going to be a bit more expensive, but it is going to be totally worth it. So, in the past 2 weeks I have at least come up with an itinerary that I think is at least going to be close to the final draft:

January- Thailand (Dani)
February- Australia (Warren and Dave)
March- New Zealand
April- New Zealand (they say that you need at least 2 months in this most amazing country to see even the smallest bit of it)
May- Philippians
June- Indonesia
July- Malaysia
August- Vietnam
September-India (will have to fast forward then backtrack to avoid bad weather)
October- Myanmar
November- Cambodia
December- Laos

Move to San Diego in January!

So this is the rough plan. I am sure that it is going to change depending on places that I like a lot and want to stay longer and places I run into bad weather. At the very least, I have the first two to three months planned and will know people for the first two months of traveling and that sets me at ease.

I also have a lot of personal and in the moment things that I would love to also talk about, but I am tired and working a double tomorrow so I will leave that all for another day...goodnight!

Getting Settled

It is my third day staying at Kammy's place and things are going great! At least I think so. The first couple of days she still had her friend staying with her, which made things pretty cramped (2 cats, 2 dogs, 3 humans, and 2 pieces of luggage). During this time I just mostly stayed out of the house and just came here to sleep and Kam did the same. After Nakoma left yesterday morning, I got to work cleaning and putting my things away. Although this was a lot of help to my sanity, I was mostly doing it for Kammy's sake. I know that coming into her space and bringing my two cats is not going to be easy, so I am really determined to do my best to make it as smooth as possible. After everything (what little things I have kept) found a place and the house was vacuumed and swept, it looked great!

Kam has really been so amazing to me, I am so grateful. Throughout this whole thing she has never expressed any emotion except excitement and I have felt so welcome. She has even cleaned out a drawer for me! Honestly, I have a really good feeling about all of this. I know that the ex-girlfriend factor has the potential to make things difficult, but I really want to do everything I can to not let it be any kind of issue. We did already have one awkward moment when I came home and her and the girl she is currently seeing were here. This wouldn't be awkward if I had not already made a bit of a fool of myself when I met her for the first time at the bar about a month ago (after maybe one too many). So I definitely need to work on breaking down the wall of awkwardness that I have created. I am glad to see Kammy happy and I definitely don't want to ruin anything for her by being in the way.

And the animal...they are SO CUTE! I was a little afraid that it would be a little like a zoo in here, but the animals are all so chill and they get along! It is like they have always lived together (they did live together for a year and a half, but it has been 4 years since then). It is also so nice to wake up in the morning and walk the dogs. They get me up around 8 and I thought I might be annoyed, but it's a great way to start my day and then I have so much more time to get things done.

                             I mean who wouldn't want to come home to these cute dogs!

The way I really know that I am happy is that I want and love my cats to be all around me. Towards the end of my moving process, I found myself getting so annoyed with Search and Destroy. It was out of stress and anxiety about the future and the huge changes I was beginning to make. I am still making a lot of changes, but I am much more relaxed and happy and now I am able to better take care of the animals and I absolutely love having them around.

I hope things continue in this positive direction! Now, as for my homework assignment...the first country I am going to research and prepare for is Thailand. This is where I think I am going to start my journey. My coworker and friend Dani and her friend are leaving for Thailand in November, so they will already be there (as long as they haven't run out of money yet) and I am planning on meeting them where ever they are at the time. Tomorrow I will post with some new and interesting information on my findings of Thailand. Stay tuned :)