I Am Back….

I have fallen away from the blogosphere, but have decided to try and return.

As you bloggers are aware, maintaining an active and full blog can take a considerable amount of time. And it is amazing how much the blog takes over your life. When you really get into it, you are often thinking about how you have to post again, what you might post, and what pictures you have to back up your story. You also start looking at life as a series of blog postings–if you see something or do something cool, you aren’t just thinking about what a neat-o time you had, but you are also thinking, wow, I should put that on my blog!

This last point, about seeing life as a series of blog postings, isn’t actually all bad, because as you record these daily happenings, and if you do so consistently, you actually end up just recording your life. Recording details and thoughts and moments that you might otherwise forget. And that is the best reward, the thing that really drives me to want to, once again, maintain an active blog.

And it is with that thought that I am going to step back into the blogging pool, at least for a few days or posts.

Wish me luck!

Katie in Miami in April

Read Full Post »

The Departure Gate

It is time for Katie to take another trip! I mean, what else am I supposed to do with over 140,000 frequent flyer miles and tons of free time? To the Orient I say!

When we last left my travels, I was just arriving home from spending a year studying international relations in the storied Bologna, Italy.

Since returning from Italy almost one year ago, of course I haven’t been able to remain travel-free. But at least I have managed to keep my travels within the borders of the US. I have traveled to Ohio, Virginia Beach, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Colonial Williamsburg, New York City, New Jersey, Tennessee (see below for a picture of Beale Street in Memphis), Texas, and, last but not least, New Orleans.

Now, I am off to discover and experience another set of cultures outside of the United States. Next week, or Memorial Day to be exact, I am off for 5-6 weeks of traveling around China and Japan!

As most of the people reading this blog know, I have 2 friends, Ron and Sri, with whom I have done an extensive amount of traveling. We met while studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, and since then have taken trips to South America, Southeast Asia, South Africa, and to various locations in the United States. Now, we are taking on Asia! Or at least another part of Asia. Here we are at Angkor Wat in Cambodia in 2003:

We are going to start in Beijing, travel to the western Yunnan province, and then work our way back to Shanghai. This part of the journey will take about 4 weeks. Then we are heading to Tokyo on June 23rd to celebrate Ron’s 28th birthday! Also in Tokyo we are going to meet up with my boyfriend, Matt.

After a night spent partying as a foursome to celebrate Ron’s birthday, Matt and I are heading to Hong Kong for a couple of days and then heading back to Tokyo, where we will spend a little over a week traveling around Japan. Not sure exactly what places we are going to hit up yet, but I know I want to visit some hot springs and maybe drink Sapporo beer in Sapporo! And then on July 6, I am flying home to New York.

That is the plan ,man! I hope to update this blog from the road, but it may not be possible in western China. At the very least, I hope to update the blog in the major cities. And, unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to include current photos, but this just means I will have to make my narratives that much more exciting!

Read Full Post »