>>> orlando, days 1 & 2

Can this be true? Tell me, can this be real? I'm actually BLOGGING??!

Yes, it's true. Greetings from Orlando! It's about 4AM over here and I'm still pretty much on Seattle/Pacific Standard Time, so I'm trying to take advantage of the quiet hours and catch up on some stuff. First off, I uploaded all of the pictures I have so far (from NWFASA Conference to lunch on the Ave to Orlando), then a video from yesterday, and now I'm at the next natural step, which is to update my travel blog. I also have a sort of vlog for yesterday, but I have to wake up in about 5 hours so I don't have time to work on that quite yet. Maybe on Sunday. :)

And yes, I know, I know, I never finished my entry about Forks. It'll come soon enough and I will send you (Sheree) a link to the post once it's done. Deal? Okay.

Let me start at the beginning of this lovely trip: 10pm Wednesday evening, Seatac airport. Wednesday had been a pretty terrible day: I woke up 3.5 hours late for work, I embarrassed myself horribly at work, I dumped a whole lot of freezing water all over myself at home, and then discovered while drying myself that the jeans I'd worn all that day had a giant hole in the crotch/thigh area. So when I got to the airport a couple of hours before my 11:55PM flight, I have to admit that I was expecting the worst to happen. It would've fit.

Luckily, the only bad thing to really happen at the airport was that our first aircraft was deemed "out of order" and they had to switch us to another aircraft a few gates down, and then we took off a little late because people were super slow putting their luggage in the overhead compartments. But by 12:20AM we were on our way to Houston, and I was seated next to a lovely older couple who gave me gum to combat inner ear pressure (or at least, I think that's what it was for... haha). I was able to sleep for 3 hours, and then I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Houston airport is pretty damn nice.

Then came the bad news: my layover was more than 3 hours long. I somehow overlooked that when booking the ticket because I was confused by the time differences and how they were reflected in the schedule. Whatever. I bought some beef jerky and took a nap in one of those uncomfortable airport chairs.

By the time I had boarded the second flight from Houston to Orlando, I discovered that the flight was full of high school cheerleaders on their way to a cheer competition at DisneyWorld. This would not have been so bad except one cheerleader's little brother sat behind me and was kicking the back of my seat for most of the flight. No sleep.

Anyway, the moment I stepped out of the Orlando airport I was greeting by the muggy 83F degree weather. Whew. Quite a leap from cool, rainy Seattle.. My parents picked me up (they were in Daytona for a few days before that for my mom's work) and we headed off to the hotel.

The hotel is nice; it's new and they did a lot of work to make it seem fancy like putting Sleep Number beds and flatscreen TVs in every room... The internet is free :) but the connection is terrible. Oh well, I have to make do with what I've got. We got here with a few hours to spare before going to my cousin's wedding rehearsal dinner, so while my parents napped, I worked out in the room and watched Ellen. And then after we got all dressed up, we headed out to Epcot to meet up with the family and the bridal party and friends.

My cousin Edith (or "Ditas"), the one who is getting married, grew up in San Diego but all of her first cousins grew up in Calgary (they're the Calgary cousins I've mentioned many times before). She moved to Orlando for her residency and ended up joining a medical practice here, so most of the wedding guests are from all over the place (in addition to the guests from Seattle and Calgary, there are guests from California, New Jersey, Minnesota, Virginia...). This meant that all of the out-of-towners got lost trying to find Epcot, then got lost finding parking, and then got lost trying to find the Guest Relations Center. So instead of going into the park at 6:30PM as planned, we didn't get in til after 7 and by then everyone was all sweaty because no one was used to this kind of weather but still happy to see one another. I, of course, was extremely psyched to see my Calgary cousins. Ah, good times.

We had a nice dinner in The Living Seas, and then afterwards we all trekked from the restaurant to Germany. If you haven't been to Epcot before, let me explain: a large portion of the park is called the World Showcase which is comprised of 11 pavilions that represent different countries of the world by displaying their architecture, food, music, crafts, etc. They have Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure (haha wtf), Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. Anyway, the groom's brother reserved a patio in Germany for us to watch the nightly fireworks display at 9PM, however dinner ran sort of late so we had to haul ass from one end of the park to another (see map: we ran from The Living Seas at the bottom to Germany at the top). Half of the time we were moving, my cousin Paulo and I were running with our heads turned to the side to watch the fireworks. Not the smartest idea in the dark with lots of young children around, but whatever.

Anyway, after that was done my parents and I left to stop by the grocery store for snacks, and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

Then yesterday morning I woke up early because my cousins and I were supposed to meet at the Orlando Premium Outlets at 10AM. They eventually arrived at 10:45AM and we then spent the next 5 or 6 hours walking around. I'm proud to announce that I did not spend a single cent at the outlet mall. Maybe it's because my cousins bought everything, I don't know. All I know is, I don't know anyone else who shops like these cousins. I don't know what they get paid in Calgary but I'm thinking I need to move up there and make bank like they seem to!

After the outlets, we decided to go swimming at the house my cousins and their families are renting for this trip. Luckily I remembered to bring my waterproof camera case, so for a couple of hours we had fun taking pictures and videos underwater until we finally got hungry. After swimming we took showers and 7 of us piled into Kiko's rental (meant to seat 5 only, haha) to head to Universal CityWalk for dinner.

I haven't been to Orlando since 2001 but I don't remember Universal CityWalk being quite like it was last night. It's the shopping/eating entertainment area between the two Universal theme parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) and it's free to go in, but damn dude. Teenagers everywhere! I don't know what teenagers in Seattle do on Friday nights nowadays, but I know they don't have a place like CityWalk to hang out at. It was insanely loud and rowdy and we all felt too old to be there. Nevertheless, we went to the NBA City Restaurant for food, booze, and alcohol, and left Universal CityWalk a few hours later with our spirits lifted. LOL.

Well, I guess I'd better get to sleep since it's now almost 5AM and I have to wake up soon. I'll try to update again tomorrow after all the wedding craziness is over... But we'll see. There are no set plans for tomorrow (Sunday) except that me and the cousins are going to watch that new Channing Tatum movie ;), and then Monday is DisneyWorld and Tuesday is Disney Typhoon Lagoon! I can't wait!

Hope you're having happy days, whoever/wherever you are!

>>> march & may: BOOKED!

Okay, I'm not going very far for my "trip" this month --- it's just a few hours' drive away to Forks, Washington. Yes, this is a Twilight-related trip. A few of my besties from grade school and I are going to have a little overnight trip there, see the sights, take pictures, relax, catch up... it's going to be fun. =)

And then Memorial Day weekend I'm heading back to CALI! Such a random trip that spurred out of nowhere. The idea came up earlier today, it was discussed a little bit, and then a couple of hours ago I booked my ticket! My friend Eilleen (who is from Seattle but currently lives in San Diego) is getting married in November and asked me and our friend Jeffrey to take the engagement pictures for her and her fiance --- at DISNEYLAND. Disneyland!!! You know that's one of my most favorite places ever! So next thing I know, me and Pao are flying into San Francisco to meet up with Toni and Jeffrey, and then the four of us will be driving down to SoCal to meet up with Eilleen and Alvin. I'm really looking forward to this trip, I know it's going to be awesome. =)

Don't think I haven't forgotten about Florida and DISNEYWORLD next month. Hahaha. I'm still so psyched for that trip... This may be the best Spring I've ever had (or at least a close second to going to NYC last year for Spring Break. LOL)!

>>> maui in 2011?

71 days til Orlando --- I can't wait to get outta here. =) Ticket's been booked, I just need to figure out my hotel and car stuff...

Just found out about another potential trip: my cousin/godsister/best friend is planning to get married to her boyfriend of a million-times-infinity years --- in Maui. Yahayyyy.. I've never been to Hawaii! Now that I know I need to saving up for that, too... And find a date for the wedding. Haha ;)

>>> back in action

Did ya miss me? You're probably thinking, "Nope. I read your other blog religiously. You posted something the other day. There's been no time to miss you." I'm going to take this opportunity to point out to you that I am not the same Tita that writes emo fluff about the passage of time and growing old; I am Traveling Tita. I travel the world and have fun and am never emo and the only stuff I wonder about regarding the future is whether I need to bring flip flops or if open-toed foot paraphernalia is inappropriate for the climate. Whole 'nother story, ya dig?

Technically, I effed up and didn't post about some recent traveling that I did. I went to Vancouver, B.C. (that's in Canada if you don't already know) with my brother and a couple of friends. I was going to write that a trip to a location less that is less than a 4 hour drive away from home shouldn't count and therefore shouldn't be written about by Traveling Tita, but who am I trying to fool? Canada is a foreign land (sort of)! That deserves a blog entry, right? I guess I will work retroactively about it soon and tell you what I did. Not right now, though. I don't feel like it.

Right now I feel like talking about Orlando, Florida. I've been fB messaging back and forth with my cousin Richard, who lives in Calgary (Canada!!!), and we're making plans for Florida. You see, our cousin Edith (aka Ate Ditas) is getting married over there in April and the whole Calgary family, plus 3 Seattlelites (me and my parents), are going to attend. I am super excited for this trip because 1) I love my Calgary family a whole bunch but only see them every few years; 2) I love weddings; 3) I desperately want to go to a sunny place; and 4) DISNEYWORLD, duh!

The plan is as follows: I'm going to fly out to Orlando on the Thursday before the wedding, get the rental car, and check into the hotel with my parents so we can get settled and ready for the rehearsal dinner at Epcot Center. The next day, Friday, will probably be a family bonding day since everyone should be there by then, and then the wedding is on Saturday. Sunday my parents will be flying back home, so Richie and whoever else wants to will stay with me at the hotel until I leave on Wednesday morning. And in between Sunday and Wednesday, we're trying to hit up DisneyWorld (at least the Magic Kingdom for Ate Gemma's little kids, but I'm going to lobby for Animal Kingdom because I want to see animals!) as well as a water park.

Exciting, right? Hahaha. It sounds like it'll be pretty chill and I'm looking forward to that. I actually don't care what we end up doing as long as it's sunny, it's fun, and it's with my cousins.

As far as documentation goes, I'll most likely have my dSLR by then and hopefully I'll have had a lot of practice beforehand so my photos turn out well. And I'll have my Flip MinoHD camcorder, too, so if I have a free internet connection while I'm down there, I might just end up vlogging instead of writing. We'll see.

Anyhoot, I look forward to travel-blogging again! Even though I was so glad to be home after my last trip, I think I've caught the travel bug again because I've been itching to get out of here, just for a little while. Too bad I still have about three months to go until the trip...

>>> lagggggg.

Home. Finally! I was relieved to get home and find that Milo was in good spirits and even lost a couple of pounds (this is a good thing; he has quite a few more to lose to get back to his old self, haha.)

I'd so been looking forward to getting home for the past couple of weeks (sad, I know), but now that I'm here it feels weird. That was bound to happen, I suppose --- I have been gone for 3 weeks, plus that week in California before I left for Europe. Did I just get used to not being here?

[...I don't know how to be anywhere.]

Maybe I'm just lagging. Not just jetlagging (cuz I am -- I didn't sleep last night just so that I can try to get back on schedule by tonight for work tomorrow... if that makes any sense), but delayed in my realization that I am finally HOME. Whew.

Anyway, I'm going to take advantage of the few spare hours I've got before life gets back to normal (whatever that is) and try to unpack, maybe do some laundry. I'll try to post up the old blogs that I wrote a couple of weeks ago, but... does that even matter anymore? Hahaha. If I have time, I'll take care of it. We'll see. Today I don't have work, but I do have to take Milo swimming at Edmonds, take my laptop + cord in to Best Buy to get a new one, go to the bank, and then get ready for Ann-Marie's birthday dinner later on tonight. And I might try to finish my pic upload before the end of the day (I've already posted up 10 albums since we got home).

See how I do? Always hit the ground running. ;)

>>> mini update?

Greetings from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea! I'm sitting in the internet cafe on the ship, en route to Venice (our last stop), and about 100 feet away from me are a hundred people doing a conga line arond a champagne waterfall/fountain thing to the on-ship band playing "Let's Groove". Life is funny that way.

I don't remember where my last post left us at. Istanbul? At sea? Let me check.

...

Okay, now I got it. Istanbul was pretty cool except I was in a terrible mood that day. Got very little sleep and things at home were keeping my mind rancid. Luckily, I've got plenty of people around me to get my spirits up and keep em that way. I've been pretty successful since then to keep myself in a good mood and not thinking about stupid stuff that I'll just deal with in about 8 days.

Back to the topic at hand: travels! Istanbul was tight, but I think I liked Kusadasi (also in Turkey) a little better. We spent most of the day looking for a present for Liz's best friend and we were in luck because she found a beautiful turquoise pendant and a box made of cowbone to go with it. Then I finally laid out on the boat for a couple of hours and read some Vonnegut and got my back all dark. ;)

Athens and the Acropolis were quite the experience. We walked about half a mile to a train station, took the train to Thissio, and then saw the huge climb it would take to get up to the Parthenon. I wasn't too hyped for that because it was 95 degrees out and dusty as hell, but then we found this tourist train thingie that took us almost to the top. We still had to walk up those last 87 marble steps to get to the top. Marble is slippery as @$%#$^, by the way. Us "kids" took some fun pictures at the top, then I ate the best Greek food ever, and then we headed back to the ship.

Today was our last "at sea" day and our last formal night. I spent most of the day sleeping because we stayed up til about 4am last night. The time spent not sleeping was spent eating and/or getting ready for formal night. I didn't realize how dark I've gotten on this trip until I put my dress on (which is mostly white). I don't think people will recognize me when I get home. :)

Tomorrow we pull in to Venice, and then we stay there for a day and a night and disembark Tuesday morning. From there, we will say goodbye to the Magnos and Jamoras (*tear*) and head off to Rome and Florence, and then to London, and then FINALLY I will be home.

My brothers and I have discussed what we will be doing as soon as we get home in about 8 days. We're going to hop into my car, go to Albertson's, and buy Tony's pizzas and Coke and Gatorade and just lie around the house. Sounds like a plan, right?

Unfortunately, my laptop is still dead and so I can't upload pictures until I get home. But you better believe it will be done the moment I get there!

Wish you were here, really I do.

<3

>>> lessons learned in the mediterranean

I've gotta make this quick --- Internet minutes are a-wasting!

So, tough break. The power cord for my laptop appears to be broken and I have no way of charging my laptop, which conveniently is devoid of battery power. So until I return to Seattle on September 16th, I won't be able to upload any pictures or copy and paste the entries that I had already written out for this blog. !@$#@%%$*@#$)@$!(!@!#@~!!!

I will try to break it down for you right quick because the point was to keep you posted on what I'm up to and I've been gone for over a week now and I haven't been posting ANYTHING!

BARCELONA: really hot, cool city, beautiful people, cool architecture, nice scene. I liked it.
MARSEILLE: also really hot there, really really beautiful scenery, too expensive though!
LUCCA/PISA: really really hot, kind of boring historical stuff, and once you take your obligatory picture with the Leaning Tower, there isn't anything else to do there.
ROME: really really really hot, dirty, got ripped off by one of those tour bus thingies, the Vatican is cool, people at the Vatican were not cool (cut me off in line several times trying to buy rosaries, of all things!), Trevi Fountain is beautiful, but all in all I was not a fan of Rome.
NAPLES/POMPEII: really hot, kinda dirty, got bug bites, pedestrians are always in danger, people on the buses and trains are always in danger of pickpocketing, but hey, the PIZZA WAS GOOD.
MYKONOS: beautiful scenery, lots of wind, we took a lot of great pictures that you'll probably never see because I can't upload (grrr!), and had the best day because it was all strolling and pleasant chatting and taking pics.

Other than that, we've all been stuffing our faces on the boat and been gradually getting bigger and bigger (except for Alex, who only gets buffer --- but he's a personal trainer, so he's exempt from the "get fat on the cruise" rule). I'm getting along really well with Ricky and Paco, as well as the other "kids" on the boat with me.

The thing is, though, I'm still pretty homesick and I've only been gone for about a week. It's been the longest 8 or 9 days (I'm not sure) everrrr and I'm still not going to be home for another couple of weeks. It's really making me realize how hard it would be for me to relocate to another country and it's also making me realize how much I depend on my social connections with friends. Shouldn't family and family friends be enough social interaction for me? I guess I just really miss my usual routine and the comforts of home. I guess. I dunno, I've been having a lot of time to reflect on this trip. We'll see what happens when I finally get home.

AUGH, the laptop thing is going to drive me insane. I feel like my links to civilization are all getting severed?

Shouldn't this be the best time of my life? Why doesn't it feel like it?

Really, really, really wish you were here.

<3