I'm sailing away...

well, actually flying. Somehow "I'm sailing away" popped in my head before "leaving on a jet plane."

Anyway, I am going on a trip. I have not been away since last September for a weekend in Seattle. I love Seattle, but considering the distance between us, Seattle's hardly a trip to write home about (hence the lack of blogging).

Where was I? (It's 2am and I should be in bed, but I'm writing up a packing list to make sure I didn't/don't forget anything.)

Oh yes. I am leaving town this Friday. I'm accompanying my dad on a trip to China. I'll only be gone for two weeks, but I'll try to squeeze in as much as possible. On the itinerary so far is visiting my family in southern China fairly close to Guangzhou in the Xinhui district; embarking on (hopefully) a multi-city tour of the bigger tourist attractions in China: Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an; and stopping off in Hong Kong (maybe Macau as a day trip as well) to visit my mom's relatives. None of my plans are set in stone in terms of dates once I arrive in China, which is not the way I'm used to travelling, but such is the case when it's a family visit first, and tourism trip second.

This will be my third trip to China - one in every decade of my life so far. On both of my previous trips, we didn't venture outside of southern China - though I did get to see a lot of things - so I am supremely (nobody uses that word enough) excited to see some of northern China this time around.

As to whether or not I'd be able to blog, I still haven't decided if I'll be bringing my laptop - the thought of lugging it around if I have to city-hop with a tour group leaves me less than thrilled - or just hope that my phone will suffice. If I do choose the latter, I'll make sure to be packing a physical journal, as I'm fearful that typing on an iPhone will prove to be the loss of my (remaining) sanity.