Archives for January 2012

A rough start.

I think I’m owed an upgrade.

I’m hoping those flights in and our of Bangladesh weren’t the beginning of an awful flight pattern, but it’s starting to look that way.

I’ll only share a brief overview but getting to Vietnam went like this:

On our way to Colombo for a layover I sat in the most uncomfortable seat ever created. Something in the back rest was broken and sticking into the width of my back. Since it was the middle of the night, sleeping would have been nice. Unfortunately, the “massage” kept me up most of the time.


Mike had 3D glasses keeping him happy.

Our second flight to Kuala Lumpur was also uncomfortable, but in a different way. I won’t say too much because I know it’s a touchy situation… but, I was sat on. The whole 4 hour flight. The man next to me would have benefited from purchasing two seats but instead used about 1/3 of my seat in addition to his own. I scooted over to Mike as much as possible and remained polite but it was awkward. I couldn’t fully lower my tray table to eat because his leg blocked it. Has anyone else been in this situation? What do you do? (Oh yeah, and the person in front of us was puking. Repeatedly. Actually, nearly all our flights involved pukers nearby.)


I already looked like this…and then was sat on.

We had an overnight stay in Malaysia and then an early flight to Vietnam the next day. This was perhaps the most stressful part of our journey. Despite having a receipt from the airline showing we paid, the company claimed we each still owed the full balance. In cash. It was a lot of waiting in long needless lines, running around the airport, and sweating. Luckily, Mike made a quick dash to the ATM and all was well.

So I won’t be flying with those two airlines again, but we made it to Vietnam!

xo, jill

Kiva: Year in Review

“Loans that change lives.”

Over the course of 2011 my goal was to fund one Kiva loan per month. I’m happy to say that I stuck with it and funded a total of 12 loans over the year. While some goals (or resolutions) are easy to forget, lending via Kiva had me feeling excited each and every month.

Here’s what my loans look like on the map:

And here’s their progress:

Not too bad!

For the coming year I’ve decided to do things a bit differently. The new plan is only lend money that I’ve already invested. So instead of paying more money into Kiva, I’ll use the repayments to fund more loans. I hope to have enough repaid to fund a loan every two months.

Do you have any Kiva plans for 2012?

xo, jill

Return.

Too many time zones.

I’m back from Vietnam and Malaysia. Now I have all this to tackle and a whole lot more on the horizon.

xo, jill

Travel Essential #5: Packing Cubes

Keepin’ it compact.

If you’re like me, packing is your least favorite part of travel. (Ok, unpacking is actually just a bit worse but you can put that off for longer). Luckily, a few years ago a friend gave me a gift that makes packing so much easier: packing cubes!

Have you ever used these? The cubes help to keep my clothing organized in my backpack as well as keeping everything compact. I use one small cube for socks and undergarments and one large cube for everything else. If it doesn’t fit in the cube, it’s not coming (with the exception of a jacket). This way I won’t over pack for a trip (at least not with clothing).

The cubes also help me stay organized once I’ve reached my destination. I don’t have to dig through my items. I just take out the cube I need at the time and slip it in my bag when I’m finished.

If you’ve never used packing cubes, I highly suggest you check them out!

Now tell me some of your travel essentials!

xo, jill

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...