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.

I grabbed my checked bag downstairs and caught a cab. Mo, the driver, was super friendly. He moved from Iraq to Phoenix about 15 years ago. It was cute how curious he was about Hawai‘i. He asked me questions like how long the flight was (six hours), how many people live in Hawai‘i (1.2 million) and if people there still practice the art of traditional tattooing (yes).

I got to the hotel and checked in with the front desk. At first, the woman there looked really tired but after I broke the ice (!!) she opened up. =) She was also curious how long my flight took.

So now I’m here, laying on my stomach, typing out this blog with the TV tuned to ABC. I was hoping to catch Franz Ferdinand’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel even though I know well enough that I missed it. No biggie because I’m seeing them live tomorrow night! This weekend is actually happening, yes!

Time for me to go to bed. I’m gonna explore the neighborhood and meet up with some fellow Musers (Muse forum peeps) tomorrow.