Vacation - Montego Bay, Jamaica

So I have been over due for a vacation. Nothing too crazy going on at work but the realization that I will be losing some vacation days by Apr 1 means its time to take a break.

Initially the plan was to go to Turks and Caicos. It sounded like a fun enough place and besides, sandals has great commercials showing how blue the water is and advertising how much fun I would have. But T&C didnt care much for me and my vacation as its fire department was on strike, causing the closure of the airport.

We all decided to go to Montego Bay, Jamaica instead. Boy was I a little excited when I actually got on the flight. This is my first "International" trip since Japan. There were a total of 6 of us on the trip. So there was a lot of excitement to go around. Anyway here is my spill

Travel Location - Montego Bay, Jamaica
Travel Dates: 3/25 - 3/27
- 2hrs 40 mins flight
- Arrived Montego Bay at 3 PM
- really really really long line to exit customs. (seems like all flights land around the same time. Must have been about 200 people in line before us)
- and like every non Western culture, the line was somewhat "blurred". Not a true line
- Took a 45 person bus for 6 of us from MBJ to our hotel in Negril
- The hotel price included free meals and beveragesall comprehensive - Sorted out hotel accomodations and went to dinner

My thoughts on Montego Bay
- I've always hated that EVERY TIME any African country is portrayed on TV, it always something to do with the Safari and the animals in there. Dont get me wrong I acknowledge that some of God's beautiful animals reside freely in parts of Africa but I would rather have people paint a comprehensive picture of the place. I found it interesting that while we were in MBJ, Bob Marley got so much airtime. I guess we went to all the touristy places anyway so I guess that may have had an huge impact on things.
- Jamaicans are pretty confident and worry free people and they have a positive spin on life. For example
a) Someone asked for a virgin drink and the waitress at our hotel said... "You want a virgin drink?, I'll get you a virgin drink and winked. She didnt ask what kind of fruits or flavors the person wanted. He got a drink alright
b) At the airport, the customer service person at the gate said - People on flight blah blah blah, your flight has been delayed by 24hours :).. I kept thinking, you mean its been cancelled :)

Places Visited
- Hotel - Grand Palladium Hotel - All inclusive food and beverage.
- Seven Mile Beach - White Sand and beautiful blue water. We jet skied for a while and yes I summoned th courage to actual jet ski read some books
- Rick's Cafe - Watched people jump off a really tall cliff into the ocean. It was a sight but I dont have that much need for adventure
- The tour guide we had, drove us through Lucea and Negril and through some historical sights including
- Rusea high school in Negril,
- The courthouse of Negril - It has a clock that was ordered by St Lucia but was accidentally switched and sent to Lucea instead. The difference in price was paid to St. Lucia. The building's roof is shaped as a German helmet

Different types of food tried
- Authentic Jerk Chicken (I say authenticate because it was from a man in his shack restaurant. It is clearly the best Jerk Chicken I've ever had
- I'm not a big fan of sea food outside of Fish but we tried lobster on the beach. It was the freshest, "bestest" thing ever
- The hotel we stayed in had an all inclusive meals and beverage plan so we didnt have to worry about food as they had various restaurants and buffett options

My overall travel thoughts
- I wonder if my hypothesis is accurate - people who dont have too much dont care or worry about too much. Maybe Diddy actually made some sense with his mo money mo problem concept.
- My historical thought - I was on the beach talking to one of the locals and I began to think about how he could have been a long lost cousin. The reality is that the only thing that separated me from him is that one of my forefathers ran faster than his and our lives took very different paths.

Where do you shop?

So today, someone asked me this simple question, "where do you shop?" and I rattled off a short but honest list. Not because I wanted to but just more out of not wanting to lie.

The reality is that when a woman asks you where you shop especially when she does not directly give you a compliment like. "hey, nice skirt, where did you get it?". Actually regardless of how someone asks it, as a woman, I know that what she is truly asking is where do you shop so that I can buy similar things. I have friends that I don't care if we have similar items but when someone that has not always been especially sweet/nice or someone will be in the same place where she'll wear the similar same type things asks, I freak out.

I guess the fear of wearing the same thing as some other woman does not sound appealing :). One of my friends said you should have a back up store that you shop out occasionally but you should never give out your true secret :).. Maybe I should take that advice :)

Christmas in Tokyo, Japan

Every time I visit a new country/place, I get caught up in the excitement of being somewhere new and somehow while soaking in the culture, food, experience, architecture and other random things, I find it hard to capture those moments/feelings in writing on time. For example, Tokyo - Dec 2010, China - Mar 2010, Brazil - Mar 2009 have yet to make it to my blog. I have decided that this is bound to change as 2011 is a new year :). Before I make any promises, I feel like part of the reason that writing about a travel experience is hard is because some times words, I find, do not always capture what I feel.

On another note, I also struggle with how much to say and to what level of detial I should say these things. I figured an easy way to complete this is bullet points. Hopefully, the pictures captured will fill in the blank :)

Travel Locations - Narita Airport, Tokyo, Hitachi, Tokyo, Narita

Travel Dates: 12/23 - 12/29 (if you think in terms of U.S Eastern time.
- Experienced the lay flat beds in business class - totally loved it
- 14 hour flight. Correction, according to the pilot 13 hours 55 mins :)
- Arrived Narita on Friday at 3:30PM
- Experience a local Japanes fast food restaurant (rice bowls and meat)
- I'm glad that I still remember how to use chopsticks
- Pretty much showered and crashed
- Stayed at Ginza Marriott Courtyard
- instead of a bathroom robe, we had kimonos... I liked :)

My thoughts on Tokyo
- The sun truly rises in the East... at like 4AM and sets at about 4PM. It's confusing walking out at 8 am and it feels like its noon time and even more confusing when it starts to get dark at 4PM.
- ladies barely wear jeans in Tokyo. Even though it was cold, it would still be mini skirts and a shirt. In some cases, no panty hose...
- Very laid back and respectful culture. I witnessed 2 men greeting each other and they probably bowed their heads about 12 times to "respect" each other
- Men carry purses and no these are not gay men and yes in some cases these are purses I would crave for myself

Places Visited
- Asakusa - a souvenier type street market. fun and lively
- Akhihabara - a major electronic shopping area. We went to a mega electronic store (about 6 floors or so). It kind of reminded me of what I remember about Tejuoso market in Lagos. Different sections for different sales people.
- Tokyo metropolitan government building in Shinjuku - you can pretty much see all of Japan from the observation deck... all the way to Mt. Fuji
- A flea market
- Roppongi - Around here you see the Tokyo tower and more international people
- Sensoji - I captured an awesome (if I say so myself) night time picture of the pagoda of sensoji. I was told its called the 5 Steps
- Shibuya - Hosts a major pedestrian corssing intersection. It criss crosses at all angles and corners including diagonal and its common to cross that intersection as you break into the new year. The area also hosts high end stores.
- Takeshita Street - Another major shopping street
- Yoyogi Park - Saw some dancers performing, some drummers beating the drums for the fun of it, a few people dressed as Santa playing santa and reindeers version of catch, and a comedian
- Omotesanda street - fancy shopping area
- Ueno park
- Swan lake - popular for break ups

Different types of food tried
- Rice and chicken - haha.. yes I did try this hot delicacy.. It's different because I used chopsticks :)
- On a more serious note, sabu sabu - like a hot pot cooking. you get your meats and vegetables and boil it to your liking and eat it. Appetizers included fries, a sardine mix, tuna fish. Thanks to 2 McCombs buddies from Japan who took us out to this fancy dinner at a place called Six
- McDonald, Krispy Kreme and Starbucks were not too far off.

My overall travel thoughts
- People are people are people - we may all look different, and our cultures may require us to behave in different ways but at the end of the day we all go through the same cycle and for the most part go through the same rat race.
- Billboards always lay emphasis to what's important to the people in a region. Every billboard had "pretty" girls on there and by pretty girls you mean a girl with bigger eyes.
- I learned that the Japanese lay emphais on looking pretty, gambling and drinking. For the most part the guys dont even dress up nearly as much as the women do. The women's definition of casual is so much more dressed up than mine :)

Thanks to an awesome awesome host for showing us around and getting us to exercise while we were at it. Much appreciated

My second calling

So I think I've found my second calling - interior decorating. I dont know what it is about shopping for a new apartment but I feel like with every move I've had, when I find a place I find worthy enough to call home, I get into the how-do-I-dress-up-my-apartment-to-make-it-my-home mindset. It's like every room speaks to me and they speak to me differently. But speaking to me requires a lot of time and research. For example I've been through every single Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Crate and Barrell, CB2, Macys e.t.c in Atlanta to find pieces that "wow" me

I have had this feeling for a long time but because of my travelling work lifestyle and lack of time, I get half way through putting up the basics and general necessities and forget about the rest. But considering I am at a somewhat stable place and phase in life I am actually really taking time to decorate and I am absolutely loving it.

I have to admit that this year's decorating is different. I've had to change some of my bigger pieces like my couch and mattress. In a way, I feel like those bigger pieces represent changes going on within... Mmm..

I think I found my wedding song

I know, I know, I know, a couple's song/first dance song should be a song that the couple shares. And I probably should not be choosing the song on behalf of the two of us but I found an amazing love song today that best describes how I want to feel about the future HIM and how I hopefully want him to feel about me...

I actually started writing this blog with the intent to share this song but for some reason I dont want to share it anymore. Maybe I am hoping no one else would steal the song and get to use it before me (selfish I know) :p... I'll leave it at this... I think Kem is an amazing musician :)