To my gorgeous friends: how I spent the last 21 days

(I will attach pictures to this entry very soon. It'll be boring to read without them.)

And so the vacation ends. Given that I will have to start supporting myself from this point onward, I have a feeling that my jetsetting lifestyle will have to be suspended until further notice (this being reaching that point where I will earn enough money to afford going to places by myself). It was really tough going back having this in mind. Then again, I don't want to be pessimistic. One never knows. The hardest thing about returning home was really about having to look for a job. Seriously searching for a job. The weeks before I left, I was pretty lax about it. Now I have to exert more effort.

I won't dwell so much on all the details of the trip because I might end up boring you, and this entry would end up being super long.

The past 21 days have been pretty unbelievable. Long and wonderful. It felt much longer than that, actually. It's also interesting to watch how quickly $100 can disappear. Apparently, it isn't so big. How sad.

We left on April 13, Philippine Time and arrived the same day, Pacific Time after an excruciatingly bumpy plane ride. The landings were really bad, there were a lot of turbulence and we had 3 airplane transfers. I didn't think that was so bad, but until I got to experience it, oie. It's exhausting.

Our first stop was Vegas, and no, no gambling for me. I am underage by only 4 months. Dang! I wanted to try the slot machines as a tribute to Jacqui. Hehe. We lived just 2 blocks off The Strip. The hotels were all so glamorous and interesting. Like, Caesar's Palace has a HUGE mall inside. Pricey stores, but fun. If malls existed during the Greco-Roman periods, it would have definitely looked like that. Complete with the trojan horse and the whole "white statues" enchilada. My favorite "mall" (more like, group of shops) was Aladdin's Desert Passage, where interestingly, I saw one of my batchmates and her family. That was a funny encounter. We were so lucky though, because on our last day, we were able to get a FREE night's stay at the Paris hotel, courtesy of one of my mom's friends who earned it for something. Though the highlight in Vegas will probably be the shopping, I will never ever forget this. It was just gorgeous.

We then flew to the West Coast where we will be spending the rest of our stay. Agenda number 2 was my mom's favorite city, Washington DC. Because Uncle George ran out of rooms in the White House, we had to live in Arlington, Virginia, just a few minutes off DC. The weather was excellent, and I will always remember that (the weather is so important. Haha). Naturally, we visited all the great monuments/attractions, including the White House (okay, saw it from across the street. They blocked the road) and the Capitol. I learned that DC law states that no building can be taller than the Capitol, hence no skyscrapers. We spent most of our time at The Mall, which is basically a row of Smithsonian Museums with The Capitol and the Washington Monument at its ends. It was pretty awesome visiting the nation's capital. It's so clean and so pretty (sorry for the lack of a more appropriate adjective, just imagine me saying it the way I usually say it. Hehe). My personal favorite though is the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I find space quite fascinating, so we spent an entire afternoon there. I was able to buy space food! I know it sounds a bit dorky, but I found that really cool. Haha. It's not one of those capsuled meal types, its the freeze-dried ones. The pack had freeze-dried ice cream and strawberries. I haven't tried it yet though. After our afternoon here, I had an interesting, but rather embarrassing "teenage movie-esque" encounter while trying out a newly bought boomerang just outside the museum. The guy was really cute, too bad I don't have a picture. Hehe.

Our next (very short) stop was Boston. The weather was horrible. It was so cold. The weather was I think, below 10 the whole time we were there. It kept raining too. The shopping's great though cause there are no taxes (unlike here, they only incorporate the tax amount once you get to the register, so shopping can be really misleading). We weren't able to go to Cape Cod or Martha's Vineyard because it's far, but I guess there's always a next time. Harvard was gorgeous though. I'd imagine that the campus would look even better during the summer. Since spring just started, a lot of the trees are still pretty bare.

The last leg of our stay in the US was New York (City). It wasn't everything I imagined it to be, but everything I've heard about. It was pretty dirty and even Fifth Avenue wasn't as glam as I pictured it in my head. Our arrival was interesting though. We took a bus from Boston, one of those Chinese ones because it was half the price of the Greyhound. And lo and behold, they have no station in NY, so it dropped us off in the streets of Chinatown. We were lugging 6 luggages in Chinatown!!! Central Park was great, though it looks better on TV. Hahaha. Bottomline is, New York looks way better on TV or in the movies (except for the Liberty Statue--now that is NOT overrated)... There are a LOT of places to go to though, so that's what I really like about it. The shopping is more upscale, so we went miles off the city to Woodbury and did our massive shopping there. It was a really huge outlet (you need a map to navigate through the stores, oh yeah!) with tons of great bargains. I'm talking about $10 Liz Claiborne leather bags and $7 Fossil watches. Hehe. I love Barnes and Noble though. I got some really great books from the clearance items, one of which is the FRIENDS: The One with all the Ten Years (or something like that) collectors ed which I got for only $7.Sure it's not in perfect condition, but hey! We could have bought more but my dad will kill us with the packing. One of the highlights of NYC really was the UN tour. That was just...awesome. Really makes you think of the future... ;)

Our really last leg was Canada. We stayed in Toronto most of the time, primarily to spend some time with relatives there. I met my cousins there for the very first time and it was great. I thought it'd be awkward, but it we meshed pretty well. I also got to spend time with my high school friends who migrated there years ago. That was fun too, but it was just really evident that 6 years cannot pass by without any change... Niagara falls was astounding!!! It was just... I have no words for it. I was just so awed, humbled, and amazed at the wonder that is the Niagara Falls. It was so beautiful, and because of the massive mist, there's always a rainbow. It's just... wow. In the middle of our stay in Canada, we drove to Montreal and Quebec City for an overnight stay (for each city). It wasn't spectacular, but Quebec was pretty charming. It's too bad that it rained on our stay there and I was just freezing the whole time. It made everything so much harder. I met these really cute (and really warm, friendly) Vietnamese twins who owned the restaurant we ate in. One of them was really so charming and had a great personality. Made the trip really worth it. Haha. So, yeah... Our stay in Canada was really more on visiting people rather than places, cause there's really not much to see (and say about it, for that matter).

Okay this is really long now. I know I missed a bunch of stuff, so just ask me. Haha. I'll post pictures reaaallly soon, I promise. =)

The flight going back to Manila was a lot better, fortunately. Total travel time amounted to 24 hours though, and that's a huge downside. That was really uncomfortable. We flew over the North Pole though, and that was something that excited a lot of the passengers in the plane. Hahaha. Everyone was really looking out the window. It was just a sea of ice, but knowing that it's the North Pole just made it such a cool and exciting plate of ice. =) I received a great surprise when we landed because Jacqui picked me up from the airport. That was just so touching and comforting. I really am home.