Packed and Ready!

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Only 3 hours of sleep and full of energy!!!! Stayed up as late as I could last night so I would be exhausted enough to not freak out too much on the plane - you all know me and my 'love' of flying. Not really looking forward to the 22 hours it will take us to get there, but it will most definitely be worth it. We get only one layover on the way, in Taipei, Taiwan. I guess we'll at least get to stretch a bit between flights. We will finally arrive in Bangkok at 1am Christmas morning.

I'll be traveling with my friend Christine - originally from New York, but moved out here to California the same time I did. We were each other's first friends here and have planned many eventful outings together - Thanksgiving on Catalina Island (barely remember that one 😊, our infamous weekend booze crooze to Mexico, and our latest, Christine's garlic themed Halloween party (boy we stunk at work the next day!). Now on to bigger and better things, all the way on the other side of the world.

I must admit, I am a bit nervous and it's not only because of the airplane. There is always a fear of the unknown no matter what you have experienced and where you have been. I have been many places and have encountered people from all over the world, so even I didn't expect that I would have a few butterflies in my stomach. But yes, although I have done everything I could imagine to prepare, reading, internet, talk to some of my students from Thailand, those little buggers are flying around in there right now. It didn't start until early this morning - a combo of excitement and nerves - I guess this amazing opportunity has finally become real to me.

Well, time to take my last shower for a few days and make sure I have everything I will need. I have the news on right now and it looks like holiday traffic is already nasty and the airport is already packed. I hope we planned enough time to get to LAX, check-in, etc. OK, bon voyage to me and next stop - Thailand!!!!!!!!

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