Chihyau

Well, the bag is checked and with boarding pass in hand, I guess it's too late to back out of this deal as I sit here at Gate 104 in the Tom Bradley Terminal, wondering what I got myself into. It's a strange feeling, excitement mixed with butterflies in my stomach...I have to remind myself to take deep breaths, but I have been full of nervous energy since last night, and had to laugh at myself as I was doing my final check list this afternoon, and suddenly realized I had already checked the stove 4 times. A month relaxing on the beaches of Hawaii suddenly sounds very Comforting, but tan fades after 10 weeks, while the memory of this trip will stay with me 10 years from now, so I soldier on. Besides, one of the main reasons I'm going on this trip is to get out of my Comfort zone and rediscover myself, so go west I must.

Just like anything else in life, this trip took several revisions since I began planning 4 weeks ago. In fact, the itinerary still isn't finalized. That's the lesson - it's impossible to plan everthing in advance for a trip that covers over 25,000 Miles. But thanks to the support of family and friends, I am as ready as I will be; it is entirely possible that I'd end up in Chile instead if I did the planning on my own.

Well, boarding is about to begin for my flight to Beijing via Taipei. So I'll sign off with this one final thought...

HOW ABOUT THEM LAKERS!!!