OTW to Cali! (backtracking =p)

We're Heeerre I've got to say, that was probably one of the most uncomfortable flights I've been on. No wait, I take that back. The most uncomfortable flight was when in high school, when I slipped on a waterslide and landed on my butt bone. The following day I sat through about a 12+ hr flight to Hawaii (from PI). My back ached the whole time. But that was from my own careless (I mean the hotel folks did put up a sign tell me walk slowly as it's slippery). This flight just has super uncomfortable seats. First off, the next pillow/support is way too high for a short girl like me. So instead of it supporting my neck, all it does is push my head forward out of neutral position. Not very ergonomic. I woke up with the worst crick in my neck. My back also hurts. I blame on the neck pillow issue as well. I'm worried about the next leg of the trip now. I think I'll have to purchase a neck pillow (along with the eye mask I couldn't find) and ask the flight attendants for extra pillows for my back so I get better support. Speaking of flight attendants, when we first boarded, the lady behind me asks one of the flight attendant if she can help her put her bag in the overhead. The flight attendant said “No”. As we're flying out of NY, I thought maybe she was kidding or being sarcastic. But the attendant proceeds to explain, that they are not permitted to help passengers put carryons in the overhead bins because if they get hurt then their out of a job. The lady then apologizes to the attendant and proceeds to place her luggage herself. Now, I understand issues with employee safety and compensibililty but I've always thought attendants were there to assist passengers. I mean, isn't that why there's a call button on every seat? If I was that woman, I'd be pissed (and frankly, I'm a little pissed for her). I'm short, and depending on the plane, I have trouble getting the carryon in the overhead without climbing on the seats abit. Do they really want passengers climbing on seats? That doesn't sound safe either. I'm sure that if passengers and employee lifted the bag together, and shared the load chances of injury to either party would be less. Idk, I just feel like the physical ability to lift the weight of a carryon should be part of the job description. Next thing you know, the cargo handlers will begin telling us we have to load our own luggage on the plane because they can't risk getting injured. And speaking of carryons – we had to check ours in as it was to wide for the overhead bin. It does meet their size requirement and we have carried it on before. We just didn't expect the tiny bins. Now I have to consider weather or not I should switch carryon bags … I'm assuming the international flight will be larger and with larger bins. I guess I've got some homework to do tonight.

Blog Fail

Since leaving the US, I have experienced some technical difficulties...The first hotel we stayed in in the Philippines did not have internet in the rooms, and when I would go to the lobby to connect, I'd be unable to acquire an address. The second hotel did not have electricity half the time I was there. Thankfully, I wasn't completely deprived as I had internet on the phone, but blogging on the phone is no fun. Plus it's hard to add pictures. But now that I'm in Japan, I have internet access from the comfort of my room =) I will try to catch up and post old posts that I've been saving.

Peace out East Coast!!

Other than a rude gate attendant and having to check in our carry because the overhead compartment is tiny, the airport experience wasn't awful. All the lines were short and quick ..possibly because was 5 am. But we're boarded and ready to go!! And sleep!

Last day... To get ready

Yesterday was my last day to get everything ready. It started out fine.. I repacked my stuff into a smaller bag. Here's my stuff in the original bag. As you can see it's only half full so jay and I had to switch.

Then got errands done: picked up my meds, went out to get vday cards to mail to the parents, get my nails done (purple to match the bm dresses).

With all that done, I was happy to get home and finish putting together my carry-on and clean the house. I didn't get as much as I wanted done but at least it was cleaner than yesterday :p. And that's probably when things started to go wrong. I completely lost track of time. I had wanted to get to bed early as we had to leave the house at 330 am to catch our 630 flight. But I didn't stop cleaning until 11, at which point I began writing yet another insurance inquiry response letter and vday cards. ..and of course I had no stamps. Fortunately, mama n papa had some. Then as I'm writing, I realize there's no card for my mom! i clearly remember finding the perfect card for her..I must have accidently put it back when I returned another card. So I brought an extra stamp with me and hope find a card while in cali. Around 1130, Jay gets home and we start weighing everything and moving stuff around. As I get ready for bed, american airlines calls to tell us our flight is canceled due to the snow in the midwest. Our only options were to take a later flight or fly out of JFK. Sigh. We chose JFK so we don't lose our LA day. All this time, my little ones were waiting for me to get to bed..ah I'm gonna miss those cute cuddle babies

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

I spent last night trying on clothes that I may want to bring with me. While doing that I'm trying to pick out shoes that will match most of the dresses and outfits that I've picked out so far.

Currently I'm up to 6.5 pairs of shoes:
1. Nude heels for going out at night
2. Silver heels for the wedding
3. Sneakers for gym (hehe)
4. Black boots for walking around Japan
5. Gold gladiator flats for treks in the countryside
6. White and Nude Wedges for daytime treks in the city
The half is for my flipflops and foldable flats ..

Now that I look at this list, I can see that it's WAY too much! I'll have to reconsider 5 & 6 and choose from one of the 2 =/

But one of the shoes I'm definitely packing are the silver heels! I struggled a bit trying to decide which pair to bring for a dress I've never seen. Fortunately for me, the bride was there to help and pick out a pair after I sent her a couple pictures. So the winner is:

Distractions

I leave in 3 days! I've slowly started packing but I've been distracted, which has hindered the packing progress.

My first distraction: Reorganizing our Message Board.
I recently received Shiel & Joel's wedding invite so of course, I had to put it up on my message board.  For the past year, this board has been FILLED with wedding invites. As most of these weddings have passed, I decided it was time to reorganize and take down the outdated  invites. Now the board is filled with "Thank you" cards, vacation pics and pics of god kids =) Right now there's only ONE wedding invite left =) I guess wedding season is coming to a close.

Distraction #2: Puppies!! My pups are pretty distracting.  Usually when I try to do something important, they want to  play or crawl up on my lap and cuddle, but I'm use to that. I'm prepared for them to occupy my time. The new puppy distraction though are my little sister's puppies. Her doggy had babies! So I spent my Saturday playing with her and the new puppies instead of packing =p

Kawaii!!!

Cash or Credit?

During the past few days, I keep asking myself "How am I going to buy stuff?". Do I want to use my credit card or cash to pay for most stuff?
I just learned from fellow traveler and cousin Rebecca, that you can buy foreign cash at AAA, with no fees.  Typically I don't exchange cash before I travel. I don't really like to carry cash when I travel so usually I just use my credit card and use ATMs to get cash. Unfortunately, most credit cards and bank cards charge a conversion/foreign transaction fee. So now my dilemma .. is the foreign transaction fee worth the convenience of not carrying large of sums cash and having to estimate what I plan to use in each country??

I know there are some credit cards that have no or low foreign transaction fees (like Capital One Venture, Chase Sapphire, AMEX). Unfortunately for me, I'm a procrastinator and did not apply for one earlier.

What to do, what to do??