Recapping 2008

Every year I tell myself that I need to go somewhere I have never been before. I haven't traveled internationally since my trip to China (which was back in 2003), and going down to Rosarito and Ensenada in Mexico does not count for me.

Last year, I went to Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Delaware, Chicago, Orlando, and southern Utah. I visited three different National Parks: Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce. I also went snowboarding at Brian Head, again southern Utah. I consider that a fairly successful year of traveling.

Of all the places I visited last year, Chicago was hands down the best. Orlando, courtesy of Song and Masa, was a very cool place (and I did not go to Disneyworld). Philadelphia was nice too, but my poor choice of visiting museums on Mondays (museums there are closed) prevented me from exploring more of the cultural aspects of the City.

This entry was prompted by the fact that my best friend is about to finish Law School, and she wants me to go with her down to South America. I have been a little hesitant on making travel plans mostly because I have no income. I say, screw it. If I don't go through with the plan, I will always regret never going somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time. I don't have time for regret.

Travels

So far February has turned into a month of short journeys to two different regions in the United States for me. Earlier, I went off to Philadelphia to visit my friend Kim (and I somehow managed to end up in Delaware too). Over Presidents Day weekend I ended up at Grand Canyon National Park. One could say it was a romantic Valentine's Day getaway (no, it wasn't, but it was romantic none-the-less). One trip, planned literally months in advance, the other acting on an impromptu idea. Sporadic, most assuredly. I was always hesitant to say that I had visited Arizona, even though physically, yes, I had stepped foot onto Arizonan soil. In reality, my family crossed over a bridge from Laughlin, Nevada to Arizona for maybe ten minutes and that was my trip to Arizona (over a decade ago). I have had lay-overs and stops in Phoenix for my flights to Anchorage and Philadelphia, but I have yet to actually set foot and explore the city. So at the might age of 25, I finally visited the "Grand Canyon State" and saw the Grand Canyon, driving on desolate Interstate Highway 40.

For now, until I get around posting my photos of my trip back east and trip to the Grand Canyon, I have visited two places this year I had never been to. I make it a point to go somewhere each year I have never been. Last year it was to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mount Hood. This year, so far, it has been Arizona, Pennsylvania and Delaware. By all means I have yet to travel internationally, but I figure, better to start off somewhere than no-where at all.

Fiasco

Yesterday I ran into a few complications at the Philadelphia airport: my connecting flight in Chicago was canceled. Now, my friend Kim (who so kindly housed me during my trip) told me that Philadelphia was notoriously known for bad customer service. I must admit that this is true, and was perhaps the only thing that I disliked regarding the city's people.

Anyway, I actually received decent help from the woman at the counter of Southwest airlines. She wanted to try to find me a "direct" flight from Philly to Los Angeles, with one stop either at Phoenix or Las Vegas. But due to inclement weather (and the few direct flights from Philly to LA), all the flights were either booked full or had to go through Chicago. See the problem was that a snow/ice storm came through the mid-west, delaying or canceling all the flights in and out of Chicago. Fine, there's nothing I can do to control the weather. After about five minutes of the woman trying to help me, I started stressing out a lot. I honestly didn't care about having two connecting flights because I wanted to get out of Philly as soon as possible, especially when the weather reports stated that there would be possible snow fall later in the day (and having more flights delayed). Yet the woman at the check-in counter kept trying to insist that I have a direct out of Philly at 2:00 pm. I politely declined. First, I know that Southwest is notorious for being late. Second, I was not going to stay an additional five and a half hours to get a direct flight home. Third, seeing how the flight was leaving at 2:00 in the afternoon, I did not want to end up with the possibility of being stuck in Philly. So finally after twenty minutes, she found a flight for me to go into Houston, and from Houston to Los Angeles. Of course, with my luck so far yesterday, Houston was experiencing delays as well due to Thunderstorms. Just my luck right? Right.

Here was the list of my alternative flights:
Philadelphia to Orlando, Orlando to Los Angeles.
Philadelphia to Nashville, Nashville to Kansas City, Kansas City to Los Angeles
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Los Angeles

The departure times ranged everywhere and anywhere between 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. It just didn't matter at that point because I was just going to have to face the awful weather sweeping the midwest and southwest and even the gulf coast states. And I didn't want to "arrive" in Los Angeles at 7:00 p.m. (this is if there were no delays what-so-ever). In the end I opted to fly into Texas because my "arrival time" was at 4:00 pm. I figured that I could give myself about 2.5 - 3 hours worth of delay time, and still be back in the City of Angels for a decent dinner hour.

And so my trip to Philly ended up stressful the very last day, but I am alive and well, albeit a bit tired.

East bound

This will be a brief entry regarding my whereabouts currently.

I left Thursday, February 7, 2008 to head to Philadelphia to visit my friend Kim. I arrived in the early evening at Philadelphia, and rented a car. So far I have had an authentic Philly Cheesesteak (apparently you can request Cheesewhiz or Velveta cheese), driven out to Gettysburg, did a quick trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania and I am now currently in Delaware, courtesy of my friend Kim's family.

The weather has been wonderfully pleasant, I love the city Philadelphia, and Delaware feels like the quintessential east coast state (after all, it was the first to become a state). I will write more when I return on Tuesday, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Miss all my friends, the California warmth and sunshine, and I promise to bring back ridiculously touristy things.

And yes, I have visited Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Love Park. I will be venturing out to the famous "Rocky Steps" tomorrow. Attempting to track down Edgar Allen Poe's historical museum in Philly (even though I only have read one of his short stories).

Hugs and kisses,
Frances