Countdown to ... Asia!

I'm a sucker for good travel deals. And as it turns out, I came across a deal that I couldn't resist -- $760 roundtrip after tax from Toronto to Hong Kong. So naturally, what did I do? I coerced a few friends to join me on what is going to be an EPIC trip to Asia...for FIVE WEEKS.  I'll be flying out November 3rd and returning December 8th. 2 friends (including my best friend!) will be joining me for the entire 5 weeks, and 2-3 other friends will be joining us for 2-3 weeks.

We haven't planned out our itinerary yet, but the tentative plan is a 6-8 days per country, starting with Thailand for the Festival of Lights (Loi Krathong) and Yi Peng -- for the unitiated, think of the floating lantern scene from Tangled! From there, off to Cambodia, then to Vietnam. I'm torn between surfing in Bali or going to Japan. While Japan is definitely on my bucket list -- to tour and to snowboard! -- it warrants a much longer stay, and since I know I'll be going back anyways, I'm tempted to hit up a less expensive country..though Bali would hardly be much cheaper. Finally, we'll be wrapping up our trip in Hong Kong. Five weeks is both an incredibly long and short time to travel such vast countries, but I intend to make it worth my while!

This trip will be my longest trip abroad and the longest amount of time I've spent from home. I'm both anxious and excited and terrified and TOTALLY STOKED. I last went to Asia when I was 17 with my family. Due for a trip 10 years later? Sounds about right. I plan to knock off a few of my bucket list items while I'm there:

-Learn to surf (in Bali?!)
-Get my PADI in Thailand
-Jump off the Macau Tower (might need to revise this, as it is a bit pricier than I had anticipated)
-Great Wall of China (depends if I venture out of HK)

New York, New York!!

I'm finally going to New York City! Some of my cousins are flying up from Texas and California and we're all staying at another cousin's house in NYC. Girl's weekend in the Big Apple!

Statue of Liberty, Serendipity 3, Wicked on Broadway, Central Park, Soho, Greenwich Village...I'm so excited! Granted, I'll be wandering around New York for 3 whole days by myself since my cousin is working, and I'm arriving before the other two fly up, but no worries, I'm sure I'll have plenty to do. Counting down the days! =)

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -St. Augustine

I was recently asked if I had a timeline for my goals on my bucket list. To be honest, I don't yet. For the most part, it's simply because I don't have the financial means to accomplish some of the more extravagant things (travel the world) or I don't have the time to dedicate to achieving my goals (Ironman triathlon). Yes, I know that they're just excuses, and that if I realllly wanted to do them, I could. But I also realize I have priorities that simply trump my lifelong wishes (school, loans).

In the meantime, I suppose there's no harm in reflecting on some of the bucket list tasks that I had already checked off prior to putting together my official list. After all, I would have wanted to do it all before I die anyways!

First off, backpacking Europe. My half-assed blog details as much as I could while having infrequent access to a computer in the latter weeks of summer '09. I visited 6 cities in 5 countries in just under 3 weeks: Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; Rome, Italy; Venice, Italy; Prague, Czech Republic; Vienna, Austria. It was a wonderful trip, albeit stressful. Here are some of my favourite pictures.

Eiffel Tower right before it lit up.

The last leg of the Tour de France. It was INSANE. I had to sit on Nam's shoulders to even see anything! Most people just watched the screen.

Bullfighting ring in Barcelona, Spain. Had to adjust the lighting in the pic because we were standing in the shadows of the arena. The bulls were huge!

Sitting on the steps of the Colosseum in Rome. The picture at the very top of this blog is from the Colosseum as well. I would go back in a heartbeat. Definitely need to go again. I absolutely love the history there.

Watching the sun rise of the canal in Venice. The story of why I was standing there is much less glamorous -- after an unbelievably crappy overnight train ride from Rome, our train arrived in Venice at 5 am. I am not exaggerating when I tell you it was THE most uncomfortable night of my life. When we arrived, nothing was open, including our hostel. So what else to do but to watch the sun come up and sleep on creepy church benches next to pigeons?

Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. We didn't actually get to go because we didn't allot enough time while we were there =( Next time!

Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria