3, 2, 1.....Blast off!

Ok so Christmas came and went....

Yesterday was spent, like I said, working and with family. I didn't even get to say goodbye to the ocean I love so much.

Right now I am sitting in terminal 1 @ SAN @ gate 15 United but WOW did it take me a while to get here. I hate United!

I thought I had taken enough clothes out before and when I go to weigh my bag it weighs 58.5lbs WTF!!!!! really? I literally had to unpack more clothes and stuff out of my bag AND THEN I come to find out I have to pay for 1 checked in bag. 1!!!! Since when do airlines charge for 1 checked bag! Again, I hate United Airlines! I'm hoping they won't say anything about my backpack. Agh so annoying.

But I am here in SAN next stop DEN and then MCI and then ORD and then finally CDG (Paris).

Yesterday I purchased my ticket to spend New Years in Germany, I'm so excited to see old friends. Germany here I come!

Time to board my 11th flight of the year.

Till Paris,

Have a beautiful day/night!

5/4 Day Countdown... Packing Trial #2 & #3

So I have now packed a total of three times. Still my luggage is overweight, but I am getting closer I think one more repack will do the trick and that will happen on Christmas Day.

Today I couldn't resist and had some Nutella Banane Crepes at a French Bistro in Hillcrest. Nothing like the real deal in Europe though. Right on the side of the street from a vendor who makes them fresh right in front of you for 3 euros. I can't wait. If you haven't tasted nutella you are either like two of my best friends who don't like chocolate or you have not been exposed to this delicious substance. It's pretty amazing!

Later on in the day, work. I'll give you a clue as to where I work. There was tons of people, annoying may I add, a day before christmas asking for sizes, colors, gift boxes, and gift receipts. Yep you guessed it I work retail! and yes I hate it! I have worked many retail jobs but enough is enough. The truth is I only took this job because my last job was seasonal and I wanted to make some extra cash for Europe. So I decided to take this job up until the day I left on the 27th of Dec. Guess what? I work on the 26th. Yea I know, brutal!

Tomorrow marks Christmas eve and I will be spending it in Tijuana, Mexico with some family. This will provide me with a hilarious blog no doubt.

Till then,

Have a beautiful day/night!

7/6 Day Countdown.. Packing Trial #1

Yesterday marked the 7 day countdown. It was quite uneventful because I caught up on much needed sleep.

Today I realized I leave for Paris, France in less than a week, so I decided to do the one thing every traveler must be good at. PACKING. I really hate it! I should be used to it by now because I do travel so much but I'm not. This is the least favorite part of the traveling experience. Nothing ever fits and I get frustrated.

I was really determined to pack mostly everything and make it fit comfortably. I realized that it's a pretty impossible thing to do on the first trial. My little sister helped me pack things into my suitcase.

Packing- Trial #1 went like this:

Me: OK! Let's start

Sis: Ok tell me what to do.

Me: Alright lets start packing all the liquids into a bag.

(At this point the whole room was turned upside down. All of the bags that contained the toiletries were emptied. There was shampoo, razors, creams, loofahs and everything else imaginable on the bed. All of my clothes that needed to be packed were near the space bags. I spaced bags all of the clothes and saw hope.)

Sis: What next?

Me: Put all the socks into the boots.

Sis: What socks?

Me: There was a bag of socks

Sis: Where? It isn't here.

Me: It was just here a second ago. It has to be under you. I just saw it.

(This is where we search for like 10 min to find them under the towels)

Me: How much does the suitcase weigh now?

Sis: 55 pounds

Me: Scheiße (German for SHIT) I give up. I need to stop for today.

I'm glad I started today because I realize I have to cut my clothes by half. Again, I really don't like to pack. I guess it comes with a big trip like this one. Trial #2 will come on Wednesday.

Have a beautiful day/night!

8 day countdown... Mister Hobo's Essence

Goodbyes are bittersweet, especially when its saying goodbye to your right hand.

My right hand in this case being one of my best friends. She's taking off with Wallace for their own adventure in India while Mister Hobo and I still have 7 more days to enjoy San Diego before we leave for Europe.

Today was suppose to be a day of SD fun but instead I ate a lot of food. Lunch with friends, dinner with friends, to say the least I'm stuffed. But the night did end with many bright lights. Living in Chula Vista (which is just a bit south of SD) has actual advantages during Christmas time. Designated locations where there are rows of houses that can be observed from outer space, i.e. not very environmentally friendly yet brightly colored houses decked out with all sorts of festive lights and decorations. This is where we ended up tonight.

The place: Christmas Circle

Objective: Drive around in a circle observing lights and decorations and trying not to run over people.

We were pretty successful at both. We didn't FAIL, unlike some houses on Christmas Circle that didn't have even one light up. Major Fail.

Mister Hobo stayed home on this outing but he'll be coming out very soon. Now, I talked about Mister Hobo in my last blog but I didn't explain why or how I received Mister Hobo in the first place. You must know his history to appreciate his ESSENCE.

Mister Hobo started off in a bag filled with other creatures of sorts in a magical store called IKEA. This bag of creatures was purchased by my right hand, Jen. She already knew that the turtle was mine. Why a turtle do you ask? Because je les adore! ( I love them). They are green round and totally awesome dude. For a long time now I have had a liking towards turtles, so naturally the turtle came to my possession. Us four girls sitting on that bed that night decided that since each one of us were going to have new and exciting adventures to come, some apart from others, we would all have this tiny creature that we could take along for the ride wherever these new adventures would take us.

Hence Mister Hobo, although just a tiny finger puppet, he will be one of the most traveled finger puppets ever. Taking pictures with famous landmarks and seeing much more than some people get to see in their lifetimes. 7 more days for departure.....

Have a beautiful day/night!

9 Day Countdown..... Happiest Place on Earth

December 18,2009- 9 days to leave for Europe

So weeks and weeks ago my friend and I marked the 18th of Dec. on our calendars as our set day to go to the Happiest Place on Earth, aka. Disneyland. I love that place. Ever since I was a little girl my dad has been taking my sisters and I to this magical place. Every time I go back a rush of warm feelings and good memories fill my body, I know a bit corny but hey I'm speaking the truth. Disneyland really does hold a special place in my heart especially around this time of the year. Everything is lit up, there's a great fireworks show, and it SNOWS, well its fake but still it's the thought that counts. I have had multiple annual passes growing up, so you get the picture I really love Disneyland and so I wanted to go one last time before leaving for Europe.

The plan was to leave around noon from San Diego to arrive at Disneyland later on because we didn't want to get tired before the fireworks, since that was the whole point of our trip. Well the night before my friend got really sick. We kinda just left it up in the air whether or not we were going to drive up. We woke up and she was still feeling yucky. Stuffy nose, headache, and stomach ache she decided she was going to see Holiday Disneyland for the first time even with the sickness. So we took off around 330 pm.

TRAFFIC!... Something I didn't consider. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Disneyland when usually I do this trip in under 1 1/2 hours. Then we were minutes away from parking and it dawned on us that Disneyland might be full and won't allow us to get in. We arrived at the Disneyland parking structure around 640 pm and of course there was a huge sign that read

Disneyland full, California Adventure Available! Just our luck we drove all this way in traffic and we weren't even going to see what we went up for. We decided to go for CA Adventure but when we got off the tram and were standing in between both parks we decided to try our luck and try to get into Disneyland even though it was "full."

So we got in line to get into Disneyland. I could see that the lady was checking hand stamps so my friend Jen decided to pray to who else but Roy E. Disney. Guess what? It worked. The lady didn't even check our hands she simply scanned our passes and in we went.

The park was beautiful as it always is. We had one main goal get food and mark our spots in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle for the fireworks show. We grabbed clam chowder and sat our butts down for about 1 1/2 before the show started. I like seeing the pretty lights in the sky and then the "SNOW" started to fall. Yea it fell, it fell right into a tree, nowhere near us and then stopped. I blame it on the budget crisis.

After it had finished we cinched our way towards It's A Small World, typically I stay far away from all the dolls that look like they are going to come at you but during Christmas time this place is pretty amazing. All lit up with lights and all decked out with special Christmas decorations inside, you are just naturally attracted to it. It's pretty!

This is where I get to introduce my traveling companion. He will be sharing my experience every step of the way. Taking the craziest photos and sharing them with all of you. I introduce you to Mister Hobo.

Do you see him he's all the way at the bottom, you see the little turtle. He's a wanderer just like I am. You will see many pictures of what I hope will be a semester full of adventure and traveling in Europe and Mister Hobo will be along for the ride.

Mister Hobo has a couple of friends who will also be doing some traveling very soon. Wallace, the starfish, will be traveling to India. Together they both ventured into their first outing.

In the end, despite the sickness and the traffic, the trip was well worth it.

Have a beautiful day/night!

10 day countdown

Today marks the beginning of my first day of my blog. I'm writing this blog because I will be starting a brand new adventure. An adventure that will be taking me to one of my most favorite places in the world, Paris, France. I leave in 10 days and it still hasn't set in yet. My room consists of three bags that has things I need to pack and an empty suitcase. Soon I will start to pack and all of this will become more real.

Because I'm not leaving yet I would like to introduce why I'm starting today. Today marks the end of MY finals at SDSU which means that I'm free. I'm now focused on enjoying San Diego for the last ten days I will be here. So that you understand what my blog will be about, I will give you a little bit of my background.

I just turned 23 years old and I have been lucky enough to grow up with a father that loves to travel, so I in return have a great passion for travel and adventure.

I am a senior at SDSU majoring in the language of French hence the French fetish. I actually was studying to graduate for an international business diploma but I decided that Accounting and Finance was not for me so I changed my major to French with a minor in English and I love it! I feel like I'm actually doing something I really care about, you know pursuing the French fetish. You will learn very soon that my fetish doesn't just consist of French but all international things/people/languages... So I changed my major and this upcoming Spring semester I will be fulfilling my study abroad requirement in Paris, France.

My mission: LIVE in a foreign country/continent without my friends and family from Dec. 28 2009 to May 16 2010.

Now I do have to say that I do have a couple of advantages:

1. I have made many friends in the last year that live all over Europe (I love them)

2. I have already been to Europe twice before and I lived in Paris for a month in the summer 2007 to take a class &

3. I speak French & Spanish

So of course this does give me an advantage to being able to "live" in Europe BUT my mission is not simply to exist in Europe, I'm talking about really living. Experiencing every single thing. Traveling to places I have never discovered before, meeting exciting people, eating, drinking, partying and of course laughing every step of the way.

So stay tuned I will be taking you with me on my crazy adventure.

Have a beautiful day/night!