the first leg of my flight is over (about 11 hours) and now I'm sitting in the Narita airport (near Tokyo, Japan) waiting for my flight to Bangkok. LAX was packed this morning. Tons of Texas Longhorn fans were heading back home after supporting their team at the Rose Bowl last night. I tried to congratulate every last one of them for beating USC. What a game. Vince Young of Texas was amazing. Being a UCLA fan, a loss by SC is always a good thing in my book. With the crowds, I needed every bit of the 2 hours from [View Full Entry]

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It's the evening before I leave for Bangkok. I'm looking right now at my backpack and marveling at how small it is considering it's carrying everything that I'm bringing with me for these next 9 weeks. There will be no checked baggage for me...I'm going carry on all the way. Granted, I can buy any other stuff I need as I go. But once I buy it, there's no more room to put it unless I leave something currently in my bag behind. This could be interesting. :) The adventure is about to begin. I leave for LAX around 8:00 tomorrow [View Full Entry]

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It’s Christmas Day, 2005. I am at my parents’ house in Colorado, sitting in front of my mom’s new computer. It’s been a busy week but the shopping somehow got done and the gifts have all been opened. Before I get too far along, however, let me back up. This entry should really begin with my arrival in Denver on Monday, December 19... On Monday morning I left LAX on a Frontier flight to Denver, Colorado. My destination was Littleton, a suburb on the south side of Denver where I lived during my high school years. Although my parents moved into [View Full Entry]

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It may be the middle of winter in the U.S., but for those in Southern California, it was a great day for the beach: around 70 degrees with partly cloudy skies...perfect! I headed to Malibu this morning for some beach volleyball. We knew we had at least 4 players, and as usual, that number swelled to double digits. Since 5 on 5 just doesn't work for the beach, a second court was set up to handle the overflow. That way there wasn't ever any more than 3 players on a side. I played 2's most of the time - the way [View Full Entry]

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Today was the day, the last day of work. After over 13 years with the company, I walked out the door with absolutely no regrets. None. I knew it was time. I absolutely knew it. I packed up my stuff, said my goodbyes, and off I went. Having said that, I am very thankful for all those years with the company. Lots of great memories...too many to even attempt to share. I have also made many great friendships with co-workers through the years. So you may be thinking...you're finished, freedom at least! Well, not exactly. I may be unemployed, yet, it [View Full Entry]

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It's Monday evening of my final week at work and it still hasn't really hit me. I have 3 more days left of work and yet all I can think about is all the stuff I need to do. I think it's going to take me awhile to unwind. I'm in the go, go, go mindset. It's crunch time at work as I try to wrap up some loose ends. Too much to do, too little time. Yes, I'm in America. We seem to always be in a hurry. Get me outta here! :) I went to Costco today to get [View Full Entry]

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November 28, 2005 was indeed the day for handing in my resignation letter. I didn't know what it would be like. I've been at this job for over 13 years. It's the only real job I've ever known. What was it like? I have to admit, it was kind of anti-climactic really. I got to the office a little after 7:00 this morning, and around 9:00, I walked into my boss' office with my resignation letter in hand, closed the door, and let him know that today was the day. Official notice had been given. I was moving on. Why anti-climactic? [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend I went up to the mountains outside of Los Angeles, specifically to Lake Arrowhead. I've been checking out the Sunday night church service at Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock recently. They had their young adults retreat this past weekend and I thought it would be a great opportunity to connect with other young adults at the church and spend some time with God. I had met a few people at the Sunday night services but didn't know anybody well. So off I went on Friday afternoon, carpooling with a couple of others. The retreat was held at a [View Full Entry]

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Although I'm not exactly sure when I'm leaving my job, it is becoming clearer by the day (December 8 really does sound good)... But, let's fill you in on what is known. My roundtrip ticket between Los Angeles and Bangkok has been booked. I used my frequent flyer miles with United to obtain a free economy class ticket. I leave LAX on January 5, 2006 and return from Bangkok on March 13, 2006. This gives me 9 weeks in SE Asia. I also have some other reservations... On January 9, 2006, I have a flight from Bangkok to Phuket. It was [View Full Entry]

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Ahhh...my first post here on TravelBlog. As you likely have already figured out, I will be doing some travelling. Where to? South East Asia. My itinerary includes the following countries: Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Maybe more? Maybe less? 9 weeks of travel. No biggie. Well, actually, fairly drastic if you ask me. I'm leaving my steady job of 13 years, heading off with only a backpack, exploring foreign lands on the other side of the globe, and doing it all on my own. But I've done it before. Ummm, wait, I haven't. Actually, I've never been on a vacation for mor [View Full Entry]

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