#211 - time flies

half of january is already gone. how the heck did that happen?! i have been working a bit but other than that nothing has really pushed this month to go fast. life in general seems to be going faster all the time. maybe i am enjoying myself more ("time flies when you're having fun"). i didn't even have much time to think about the non-resolutions that i made (twenty ten). i did not want to make new years resolutions because they never really seem to work. it's more about making lifestyle changes and being accountable to them everyday. in the first couple months of the year the gym is always packed and i hate it. i want people to fall off their resolution wagons already so i can do supersets and not have to worry about waiting for equipment.

one of my excuses for not going to the gym is that it is so busy all the time but honestly i haven't been feeling it. i have been lazy. also i haven't been conscious about what i've been eating so it's kind of a waste of time. what is it going to take for me to actually be serious about becoming the best that i can be? no, i am not joining the army. i just feel like i only get one shot at this thing called life. each day comes and goes and then it is gone, you only have one chance to really grab life by the balls. everyday is a new day, a new game. it's like golf where each hole is an individual one but at the end you have a total score. string together a bunch of good days and you'll get a good week. string together weeks and you can see some progress in a weight lifting program or even on the scale if that is your goal.

regardless of it being daily thing though, i do have a goal now. june 4, 2011 my little sister is getting married and i have the honor of being her maid of honor. it is freaking me out just a little bit but i figured out that i have 502 days until the wedding. i have lots of time! i don't have to freak out. i want to look good for her wedding (not better than her of course!) and i'll have to wear a dress. i get to have input on the kind of dress which is cool. i don't think i even put on a dress in 2009 because i didn't have reason to do so. i own one but it is deep in storage somewhere and doesn't even fit because i bought it in 2005. the point to this whole post is that i want to work on myself for this wedding. 502 days is a lot but i know it will go by quickly with preparations and so forth. if it were my wedding i'd go to vegas or voodoo donuts and just be done with it but that wouldn't make my mom very happy. luckily i don't have to think about that yet.

i bought a notebook for $1 at fred meyer and i plan on keeping track of everything, food and exercise. this is the only way to do it. i have the knowledge and education to put together workouts and meal plans. i even have the time right now to do it. i have just been lazy. STOP BEING LAZY! it is just so much more fun to sit and play resident evil 4 on the wii rather than hit the gym. so today i went to the gym first and now i'm gonna go play RE4. hahaha

#186 - i want out

i want to get out of here! don't get me wrong, i love portland and my life is pretty darn good right now but i want out...i want to travel. i'm getting the itch pretty bad. i think what makes it worse is the thought that i will be getting a full time job pretty soon. i hate the idea of being tied down. i have been working on-call for the past couple years, so i say when i am available and when i am not. i can say i don't want to work for the month of june or whatever. it's the bomb.

last summer i went to mexico and guatemala, it was an amazing experience and once i was back i just wanted to leave again. it was a month-long trip but i wanted more. i am not into having just two weeks off a year as your "vacation". i don't like the idea of having to plan a trip within the confines of 14 days. lame! i just do not want to work a full time job. i think that is the expectation. most places do not want to hire you unless you have experience. they also do not want to know you are going to leave after making X amount of money so you could travel to ___ for X amount of time. so i cannot tell anyone that, shh....

mostly i want to travel the world. i want to see everything. unfortunately i know i will never be able to do that. at this point there are several places that i must see before i die. there are different reasons but i've got a few trips in my head that i must do, in order to see these places.

SOUTHEAST ASIA i am totally drawn to this area right now, i don't know if its the culture, food or landscape but it just seems AWESOME! places and things in order of importance:

• thailand - songkran in april - it's a new years festival where everyone throws water on each other. plus, i could eat all the pad thai and som tum i want. for cheap, like thai food should be! a thai tattoo would be cool too.
• laos - while not many people i know have been there, i have heard it is cool and will definitely get there
• vietnam - again, food is key here. phở is the bomb.
• cambodia seems wild
• malaysia - my parents went there and said it was fun but pretty grossly humid.
• indonesia would be neat to go to

ITALY i feel italian sometimes. i could seriously eat italian food all day, everyday. i'm not exaggerating. i think in another life i was italian. while i mostly want to eat my way through italy, there are also a number of things i want to see/do there: rome, vatican, sicily, venice, tuscany, abruzzo, florence...basically everywhere. i want to see art and learn italian. i want to push the leaning tower over.

BACKPACK EUROPE this is separate from my trip to italy. i want to do the whole backpacking thing, taking the eurorail and sleeping in hostels. not sure where i want to start and end but i know i want to go through the chunnel! i'm guessing i will start in great britain - england, ireland, scotland. i need to golf in scotland and swim in lake guinness in ireland. then on to france, portugal, spain, germany, netherlands, austria, czech. not necessarily in that order or equal time in those places. there are obviously lots of things to see there. i'll need many months and moneys.

SOUTH AMERICA/CENTRAL AMERICA, again i will forget my two spanish phrases if i don't go there soon. oh dear. first, see motorcycle diaries, then you will know what i want to do in south america. basically i want to travel the continent, as it is "all one america". i want to see iguaza falls, go down the amazon river, go to carnival in brazil, rain forests, mountains, oceans, people, food, etc. i want to speak spanish and i guess maybe i could learn a few phrases in portuguese as well. chile and argentina sound like awesome countries!

AFRICA duh.

#185 - what i want

i'm thinking about what i want my life to be like. i'm thinking about the future. i'm sitting in a coffee shop right now, wasting time. it's not that i am bored and have nothing to do. i have tons of things to do, but i need to get this thing for school done. it's an online tutorial and i need to do 2.5 hours every 2 weeks. of course it's due friday and i didn't start till today. so i've spent the last 100 minutes clicking back and forth between the timed tutorial and various online activities (facebook, myspace, etc). i've still got another 50 minutes to spend on this.

i hate wasting time, especially when i don't have much free time. coffee shops get boring after an hour or so and i forgot my ipod. *sad mac face* i am really looking forward to more free time this summer. having a somewhat regular schedule will be nice. having multiple days off a week will be nice.

i really can't complain much right now. i have a job, i pay most of my bills, i have a house (until july 5), i'm almost an RN, i am enjoying clinicals, i play dodgeball and kickball, i have an awesome relationship, portland rocks, and it's good. but...i still complain! i'm congested (maybe allergies), tired, it's raining, i work too much, i have no free time, not enough money, i've been eating crap and time flies. overall i'm happy but those little things are annoying.

so this summer will be exciting. PLANS - i'm going on an alaskan cruise (june 20-27) and house sitting at the coast (july 9-17). i'll be taking my NCLEX (and passing!) some time in july. i'll also be moving somewhere in july. moving is never that much fun but i like to do it anyway. who wants to stay in the same place too long? get a new job, preferably at providence on 2G! whoo! my clinicals there have just been awesome and it's a great working environment. busy and interesting. draft league dodgeball, something i haven't done yet. you sign up and get picked up on a team, then play with cool peeps you haven't played with before! awesome! bike rides when it gets sunny more consistently. other than that, who knows what this summer holds for me.

maybe i'll start some new hobbies. maybe i'll have time to workout. maybe i'll cook more. maybe i'll garden. maybe i'll become president. who knows..and besides me, who cares?!

i want to say i will continue my "no buying" thing but i just don't know if i can. i want... i want a new laptop, mine takes about 20 minutes to start up and get going. it still works but i want to smash it to pieces. my desktop is just as slow starting and i don't even have it connected to the internets. i'm pretty sure they both have viruses. my laptop needs a new battery, it only lasts about 10 minutes off AC power. so i could spend money to fix them...or buy a macbook...heheif i do cave, it will be on a new laptop. that's all i can think about. i have too much clothes and other things that i would've normally spent frivolously on. i'm over buying stuff for the sake of it and to make me feel better. i would probably get buyers remorse now, something i've never really had previously. it hasn't been that hard not to buy things. i am pretty stubborn afterall. if i make a decision to do or not to do something, then it's done and done. whatever the reasons may be.

#116 - five days

i will be en route to cancun. i am almost in no way ready for this trip. mentally i am ready but as far as things to take with me, not even close. i'm going to pack extra light since we'll be moving around a lot and i'll have to carry my backpack a lot. this weekend will be a little crazy with last minute shopping and seeing all my friends before i go.

• friday - last hours with doggies, drive back to portland, happy hour for chris's promotion, maybe tanuki with the FF
• saturday - try to pack, library (return things), figure out what i need, golf/fun @ edgefield
• sunday - pack, happy hour with work friends
• monday - last minute shopping (rei, best buy, fred meyer), lunch w/erika! for her b-day
• tuesday - 6am flight to LAX > mexico city > cancun

travel blogging. i found this website called travelpod and made a blog there but i'm finding it not so easy to work with. mostly i don't like the layout, which you can't change. then there is travelblog.org which is also a blog site but with lots of pictures. i don't think i'll be spending lots of time blogging on the road so i don't know how much i'll be putting up pictures either. mostly i want the blog so that people know i'm still alive and rockin. i think maybe i'll just stick with my blogger and create yet another blog. gotta come up with a nice vacation layout.

EDIT: new blog is brandi travels 2008

#108 - preparations

in exactly six weeks from today i will be on the plane to cancun. i've been keeping busy reading up on places to eat, sleep and play. it's all i can think about, it's probably all i talk about. i feel sorry for the poor people who are my friends and have to listen to me talk about it. i wish i could bring all my friends along, that would be great. unfortunately i've only saved up enough for myself. i still have so much to do...travel insurance, shots, malaria pills, buy a few more things, talk to jose, get an extra camera battery, make copies of things, get traveler's checks, etc.

packing will be interesting. they say to lay out all the things you are planning on taking, cut that in half and take twice as much money! i am a horrible packer. i bring everything i think i may need. i am usually going somewhere that weight doesn't matter though. i will be lugging my pack all around, probably every other day, crammed on "chicken buses" worrying that i'll be robbed/ripped off. so i want to bring as little as possible.

so far i've come up with a rough itinerary:

• july 1 - leave portland, arrive in cancun at midnight get through customs, etc, get bags (this is essential, i hope the airline comes through for me), hang out and head to isla mujeres as early as possible on the 2nd
• july 2-4 - relax on the beaches of isla mujeres
• july 4-6 - head to merida, hang out with jose
• july 6-7 - ruins of chichen itza!
• july 8 - travel day to flores (guatemala), probably 15 hours on a bus or something ridiculous like that
• july 9-11 - lago de peten itza, el remate and tikal (more ruins!)
• july 11-13 - coban, lanquin, semuc champey
• july 13-16 - relax and enjoy the views on lago de atitlan, panajachel and san pedro la laguna
• july 16-19 - hang out in the city of quetzaltenango (xela), hike volcanoes
• july 19-21 - chichicastenango, visit the town and exciting market!
• july 21-24 - antigua - another city and more volcanoes
• july 25 - i leave :(

it's going to be a lot of bus rides and many different hostels but i want to make the most of this trip so i'm trying to hit the main places that interest me. of course there is a lot more i want to do and see (and eat) but i've only got 25 days. when i invent the teleporter, travel will be faster.

it will be nice to be in a country where i can get a whole meal for $3 and eat tacos everyday. i just love learning about new countries, cultures and people. i've been taking this spanish conversation class and i've got two more classes left. i don't think i'll be prepared. i still have no idea how to speak spanish. i've got a few important phrases down - "una cerveza por favor" and "donde esta el bano". what else do i need to know?! i am sure i will meet lots of people so i'll have lots of chances to practice my very very limited spanish. i can't wait!!

#106 - misery

i am miserable right now. it is supposed to hit 97 degrees today! right now it's 4pm and my computer says it's 93. YUCK!! i cannot handle weather like this. you walk outside and feel like you are a pile of wet clothes in a dryer on high heat. no one should have to live like this.

luckily for me and others around me, my room is on the north side of the house and doesn't get absurdly hot. i never appreciated the placement of a room so much. 1st floor and north, without much direct sunlight. i used to think it wasn't ideal because it's sometimes kind of dark but it's all good now. i've lived in the top floor on the east side of the house, i was miserable there during hot days. i lived in a basement too and that was so nice. it makes a huge difference.

i worked today in the air condition which was nice considering the heat outside. i really don't like the air at my work because it's pretty much stifling and i feel like the old people don't get enough fresh air. today i opened the windows up in the morning because it wasn't too gross yet. no one said they enjoyed it but i like to think that i would want fresh air every now and then. i love to open the window for a minute or two, even on the coldest days, just to get fresh air. i also like to sleep with the windows open. during the winter i think this makes me have sore throats and coughs but i still gotta do it.

so maybe this is the unofficial, official start of the summer. it's gonna be a doozy. i am not quite sure how i will handle the heat in mexico and guatemala, especially since i won't be drinking tap water. bottled water or beer, baby. no ice chips either. i've got plans for the summer:

• may 21 - underdog playoffs
• memorial day weekend - herron island with a bunch of friends and a keg
• may 31 - end of season dodgeball tournament and party (to which i might be wearing a fancy dress...)
• june 5 - kickball starts, and continues every week till october!
• june 7 - BBQ/camping out in the boonies
• june 14 - first kickball double header
• june 17-27 - watching 3 crazy dogs at the beach
• july 1-25 - central america!
• some point this summer - move into nw
• july 28-aug 29 - school, one class...boo
• august 14 - birthday!
• also in august - football season starts!!
• sept 13 - parents coming up for OSU vs UH football game

#92 - i've got tickets

i did it, i bought them today - round trip tickets to cancun in july! so here is the plan, leave on july 1 and return july 25. since it's a RT to cancun i will be spending probably a night or two there, separated by a nice trip by bus around yucatan mexico and guatemala. cancun is party central but i will mostly likely not dive into the party scene. i'll be there for cultural experiences, not shmoosing with other americans!

loose itinerary (as of this moment):

• arrive midnight july 2, find a way to bus terminal, wait around until there is a bus to merida
• spend a couple days in merida, see my friend jose
• valladolid and chitchen itza - mayan ruins: temples and pyramids
• isla mujeres, a caribbean island northeast of cancun where you go around on golf carts
• south to chetumal
• across border to guatemala - flores/tikal - more ruins, plus beautiful lake peten
• coban, trip to lanquin and semuc champney - a series of ponds and pools
• from there to lago de atitlan, a lake surrounded by volcanoes - different towns/villages around the lake - panajachel, santiago, san pedro, seeing some sunrises/sunsets on the lake
• chichicastenango for the sunday market - biggest market, locals with crafts, produce and food
• experience antigua - spanish colonial city, some volcanoes
• fly back to cancun to catch flight back to portland

so i've got about 23 days of travel. i'm taking a spanish conversation class but i doubt it'll do me any good. they'll probably be talking so fast i won't know what's going on! in addition to that, a lot of the guatemalan and yucatan population is mayan so they speak in one of twenty-plus mayan languages. many don't speak spanish, let alone english.

i have no idea how i'm gonna pull off all these bus trips and getting around. how am i going to see everything i want to in three weeks?! there are a ton of things i need but don't want to take too much. i gotta get some immunizations and anti-malarial pills. mosquito nets. traveler's checks. there are so many things to plan. planning is part of the fun! anticipation and excitement...but reading stories and looking at pictures are nothing compared to true experiences. i will definitely write a travel blog when i go. and take lots of pictures of course.

but i've got tickets. i am going!

#56 - summer trip

in the ideal situation i would have an endless source of money with which to travel the world. unfortunately i don't so it's not my ideal situation but i do have an opportunity for a great trip this summer. my friend and former college roommate, amanda, is getting married this august in costa rica. her fiancee is a costa rican so naturally they are having it there. it was going to be a nice 3 month trip for me to explore central america but unfortunately i had to go and ruin my trip by failing my class. so instead of having from august till whenever to complete my trip, i will probably only have a month, depending on when my summer class is. i have to take a 1 credit class called nursing transition NUR 151. since my teachers/advisors are inept and generally wrong i have no idea about when and how i will take this class. it will start june 23 and get out either july 25, august 15 or august 29. then fall term starts on september 22. if it is july 25 i can do a 6 week thing. august 15 and i can do a 4 week thing but if it's august 29th i won't much time, barely enough for a 2 week trip. i have been saving money for awhile now for it so it would be a bummer if i could not make it work out. i have also been doing research, reading online and in travel books...only making me want to go more!

if i have a 6 week trip i could make it work. here are the 7 countries i am interested in visiting and planned on spending time in on my 3 month trip. instead i'm either going to cut out time in each country or skip countries altogether, thinking the latter probably.

• costa rica
• nicaragua
• el salvador
• belize
• honduras
• guatemala
• mexico

obviously i am going to be there because of my friend. since she won't be living in c.r. i am not sure how long she will be there before/after her wedding so if i cannot make the wedding in late august that would be a shame. then would i not even go? that is the question. spend my money to visit another area perhaps. i think my 6 week plan (school ending july 25) would include, in order of interest but not necessarily chronological/geographical order:

1. costa rica - 8-9 days
2. guatemala - 7 days
3. yucatan peninsula, mexico - 5 days(ish)
4. el salvador - 4 days
5. belize - 4 days

then if the trip were to shorten to say 4 weeks or less with amanda being in c.r., my list might be more like:

1. costa rica
2. spanish school and homestay somewhere to learn spanish

so these are two different possibilities that i've been thinking about, both not what i planned initially but change and flexibility are the names of the game. if she will not be in c.r. at that time though, i might do a trip to guatemala or mexico instead, the two i have a little more interest in and that aren't terribly expensive. i have something to look forward to, i'm just not sure what.

#41 - new years trip!

i've been looking online for stuff to do on my family trip this coming month - to the south! i'm going to be leaving hawaii for portland on the 29th and arrive late at night, then catch a flight at 6am the 30th to meet up with my parents in Denver and take a plane to memphis. from there we're driving down to new orleans for the game.

new orleans - there is so much i want to do in NO but we won't have very much time. we'll get there late on the 30th and leave early on the 2nd. so that's only 2 full days, one of which we'll be watching a football game. i really wanted to go on the haunted history tour at night but we might have to go during the day. i want to see all the cemetaries and voodoo stuff. of course seeing the french quarter, bourbon street, jackson square, st charles avenue and magazine street. it all sounds fun and hopefully we'll be able to fit it in.


we're planning on new years eve on bourbon street and maybe jackson square! i've heard it's one of the best places to be when the ball drops, hopefully i won't be too claustrophobic with all those people. january 1 is the sugar bowl, the whole reason we are going. but it is at night so we have the whole day to do stuff (nurse the hangover). eat beignets and drink cafe au laits. why not?!



nashville - just found out we won't be able to go see a show at the grand ole opry. =( so sad!! they only have shows on tuesday, friday and saturday and we'll most likely be there on a wednesday or thursday. BOO!! we were going to drive to nashville just for that. hopefully we still go there cause i want to go to the country music hall of fame! also the RCA studio b, where elvis, dolly parton, waylon jennings and roy orbison recorded.

memphis - the most important thing here would be graceland, home of elvis. my mom loves elvis and i think he's pretty cool too. he's the only musician in 4 hall of fames - country, rock&roll, gospel, and rockabilly. i think we're gonna spend a lot of time there so she can get her elvis fix. i have a feeling we'll be playing a lot of elvis on the drive there.



we'll be driving over 1000 miles on this trip so it should be interesting. luckily it will be 5 of us, me, parents, uncle, and dad's friend. so it won't be just me and the 'rents. regardless, it's a lot of time spend in a small area without escape. hello ipod.