We breezed through security and are waiting to board the plane, which
is heading to Taipei, for the first leg of the flight.
After the 14 1/2 hour flight to Taipei, we have a short 2 hour layover
before arriving in Bangkok, Thailand two days later at 1:00 am on
October 30th.
Weeeee! Fun with the international date line!
Okay! This is the last test post I am sending with my phone to ensure
that I am able to blog when/if we find a wifi connection in Thailand.
The kitty in the photo is Celeste. 🙂
Kevin and I were married at The Castaway in Burbank, California. Ironically enough, both the sky and sun was a deep, bright orange as there were widespread fires up in the hills of the valley. Our ceremony was held outside on the balcony and the wind just before sunset was blustery and strong. Finally, though, just as the ceremony started, the winds calmed down and it was peaceful. I was very grateful for that, especially considering the length of my train (15 feet!).
Our trip to Thailand is how we are celebrating, so we don’t really have any special plans made. Though, we did exchange gifts. I read that, traditionally, for the 4th wedding anniversary, one would give the gift of fruit or flowers. Not too bad, considering I love both! Nowadays, however, the typical modern gift is either an appliance or linens and silks. Kevin took the “appliance” part to heart and I received an 8 gig iPod Nano!
It looks bigger than it really is, because everything looks bigger in my tiny hands. It’s incredibly thin and insanely easy to use. I’ve already uploaded over half of my music library and… oh… about 20+ podcasts. That ought to last me the 12 days of our trip to Thailand, right? 😮
I know I mentioned volunteering to help with the California wildfires, possibly with my friend Cat. I wanted to give you all an update on that. I’ve rolled it over and over in my head and weighed the options, and at this point, I have decided that it would not be a good idea for me to go any closer to the fires than I already am. In lieu of volunteering, I have made monetary donations to organizations who are helping out, specifically Noah’s Wish and the Red Cross.
My decision to not go is for many reasons, but the two that come to the forefront are my compromised pulmonary health because of the high amount of particulates in the air (via smoke) and the fact that there are plenty of capable volunteers, who are officially trained for rescue work, already helping out in San Diego, at least for now.
I will reassess whether or not to volunteer for the fire relief efforts when we return from Thailand and will probably help with the clean-up efforts when a lot of the fires have died down and the smoke has lessened. I know from experience that disaster areas need help with clean-up just as much as when the initial frenzy begins.
On another note, some people are comparing this to post-Katrina New Orleans. I have to strongly disagree with that. I was there, in Louisiana, for a long time after the initial influx of volunteers left and I must say that these fires and what happened post-Hurricane Katrina are vastly different. Sure, they are both horrific natural disasters, but that is where the similarities end. In fact, I would venture to say they are on complete opposite ends of the disaster spectrum. (more…)