WELCOME -- FOON YING -- BIENVENIDOS -- MINGALABA

Also, 'gung hay fat choy, sun nien fai lok'!! Much prosperity, good fortune and many wonderful blessings to you for this coming year.

In order to not have to participate in any type of cooking for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, I have escaped to write this first post. As I've mentioned to some of you, this blog will be my way to share with you what's happening during my travels over the next few months. Please feel free to make/add comments to any of my posts (but keep in mind that my 10-year-old nephew will be reading this blog as well!). To share those "not-for-general-public-consumption" comments/thoughts/things to share/etc., please email me. (Again, my new email address is passionate4travel@gmail.com.) These are the only two ways to contact me while I'm traveling; my mobile will be temporarily disconnected until I get back.

Just to remind you of where I'm going to visit (in order) - I will be traveling to Morocco, India, Nepal (maybe, depending on the safety against Maoist activities), Egypt and Jordan. I'll be flying out to Morocco via London on January 31. Wow...just a few days away!! I'll be back May 7.

It's kind of surreal actually. Despite having gone through the process to bring this backpacking trip into reality for some time now, it still doesn't quite feel real yet. Probably because I've been planning for this trip for such a long while now (a much more pleasant alternative to studying given the intensity of my senioritis during my last semester at Cal). Also, probably because there has been some drama to overcome while trying to get travel plans established.

Okay, it's time for dinner. I'll be spending a day in London before I head for Morocco via Malaga, Spain. I'll post again then.