I’m typing this from our gate at Honolulu International, while my mom and her aunt are chatting away. I had absolutely zero sleep last night, so I’m quite looking forward to getting on the plane so I can sit back, relax, and hopefully get some shut-eye. We left the house at 2:00 this morning, because that’s the time my dad leaves the house for work so he can beat rush-hour traffic. We had no choice but to ride with him to the airport. So basically, I’ve been here for six hours already. And I still have a 12-hour flight ahead of me. =\

I’ll be staying in the Philippines for the next couple of weeks. My mom’s really just accompanying her aunt because she can’t travel alone, but of course it makes for a good excuse to visit the place where my parents are from. (Well, my mom was born and raised there; my dad was born here but grew up in the Philippines.) I haven’t been there in a decade, so this trip should be interesting, seeing what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.

My mom and I are pretty much playing things by ear as far as the travel itinerary goes. Right now, it looks like we’ll be staying in Manila for three days, then taking a one-day ferry ride to Iloilo, the province where most of my mom’s side of the family live. I’ve never taken the ferry there before; it’s always been a plane for me. Heck, I didn’t even know there was a ferry option.

It’s quite odd not having my iPhone with me. In its place is my fifth-generation iPod that I rarely use. I figured there was no point in bringing along a phone I wasn’t going to use at all for phone calls and didn’t want to risk losing it or getting it stolen. Plus I use it mostly for music anyway, and my iPod has my entire music library on it. Battery life on the iPod is a downer, but I don’t think I’ll be listening to music for 12 hours on a plane. I could if my iPod could take it, but I won’t. I’m too tired.

Okay. I’m gonna take a break from this computer and rest my eyes. See you when I’m in the P.I.