On the road again...

Except this time I don't speak the language. Those of you who followed my blog the last time I was traveling know that I went to Peru, Ecuador, The Galapagos and Colombia. As a Spanish major, I found backpacking by myself in South America to be relatively easy since I was able to communicate with the locals. Traveling in the The Philippines and SE Asia is sure to be a whole different kind of adventure.

Tomorrow I leave for Manila to meet up with my grandmother, mother, stepfather and brother, all of whom left Juneau today. Believe it or not, my grandmother was born and raised in the Philippines, but hasn't been back in 60 years. I think my great-great-grandmother was 100% Filipino, thus making me...well...mostly pretty pasty white. But in some small way, this is my heritage, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to travel there with my grandmother. We will be in the Philippines until Nov. 18th, at which time I will be flying solo to Thailand. I arrive home on Christmas Eve, taking of from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Now you know as much about my travel plans as I do. Once again, and to my parents' dismay, I am journeying without much of a flight plan. I must get from point A to point B and there are some stops I'd like to make along the way, but how it will all come together I'm not really sure. I have my dirty backpack, my passport, my trusty laser-water-filter-wand thing and not much else. I hope to update this blog as often as I can, but only if I have interesting stories to tell. Feel free to comment on the posts, that always makes me smile.

One day in Juneau left, lots of stuff to do to get ready. Will I be fully prepared by the time I go? Doubtful. But hey, this is trial by fire baby, trial by fire.