Welcome to my world. Hold on tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride.
Friday, 12 August 2016
Verano 2016 - the epic voyage is booked!
Hola amigos. I've finally booked my epic summer adventure. My partner and I have a work trip to Orlando in Florida soon, the original plan was to take the opportunity to travel around America whilst we are already there. But I think we both concluded that I would be pretty bored with America so our itinerary will be as such. We'll fly from London to Orlando and then immediately from Orlando to San Juan (Puerto Rico). San Juan to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) by ferry. I then have a week in the Domincan Republic, I shall definitely get out of the capital Santo Domingo - probably to somewhere on the South Eastern coast, but that I can decide closer to the date. Then we shall fly to Miami, where we shall spend a few days before moving further north to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral where we are attending an event and ceremony. We are there for the launch of a satellite and so we have been told to hang around for a few days - the launch is scheduled for the 8th September but that's weather dependent so it could possibly be delayed by a day or two. Once we get that out of the way, we will spend some days in Orlando and Tampa, in the northern part of Florida before flying back from Orlando on the 14th September. Nearly 3 weeks, 3 countries.
I'm headed to Florida & the Caribbean this summer.
Actually, the original plan for my epic 40th birthday treat was to go down to Argentina mostly because I had always been fascinated with Argentina - in particular, I wanted to go to Patagonia, where Welsh is spoken along with Spanish. It would be winter down in Argentina of course right now and I could even go skiing there. But no, my partner's company just had to go win this competition this year organized by NASA so we got invited to attend an award and witness a satellite launch. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see something like that of course - how many people get invited to the Kennedy Space Center for something like that? It is the kinda thing I thought I'd see on a documentary, but never in person. So that's why we had to change our plans and go to Florida instead, but hopefully Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will give me plenty of Latin American culture - they are both Spanish speaking countries so I will enjoy speaking Spanish there. Spanish is my fifth language (after English, French, Mandarin and Welsh) and fortunately, I have plenty of Spanish-speaking friends in London so my Spanish is actually pretty okay. The latest series of Wie Is De Mol 2016 (one of my favourite Dutch reality TV programmes) was set in the Dominican Republic, so I saw plenty of it on TV already earlier this year and I am so excited about visiting this beautiful country.
The landscape and climate will be so similar to that of Singapore - we are actually having a pretty mild summer here in London with day time temperatures hovering around 22, 23 degrees and night time lows dropping to about 15, 16 degrees. It is going to hit 30 to 34 degrees most days on this trip - yikes. So that means a lot of sweating, but from my last trip to Singapore last year, I know that I will suffer a lot in the first 48 hours then I will get used to the heat and the humidity. Oh I hate hot weather. However, the food and the culture will be so different. Even Miami will be fascinating - I look forward to exploring Little Havana there to get a taste of Cuban culture. I would have loved to have gone to Cuba this time as well, but the flights were just crazy expensive and I refused to visit an English-speaking Caribbean island like the Bahamas or Jamaica. I said no no no, it has to be a Spanish or French speaking country as we're already going to America. Yeah the trip is not going to be cheap and the pound did take a hit after Brexit, but guess what? I'm just going to throw caution to the wind and say, fuck it, I'm going to have an amazing time and yes I can afford it. I'll always be able to make more money later but for now, I'll enjoy this epic trip. Life is just too bloody short.
Expect more photos of me doing backflips on beaches on this trip
So, obviously I am going to film something on this trip but given how long it is going to be, I have to make some strategic decisions about what I can film as I cannot possibly film everything. My phone will just run out of memory and I'll have hours and hours of footage that I'll struggle to edit. Is there anything in particular you guys want me to focus on in terms of filming for this trip? Do let me know please. many thanks for reading. Muchas gracias y hasta lluego.
I am definitely ruling out any other island where they speak English. Like, hell no. The closest other Spanish speaking island is Cuba - but I had to rule that out due to hideously expensive flights (it is cheaper for me to fly direct from the UK than from Florida, makes no sense). The other nearest island is Antigua & Barbuda but that's quite a long way away. There is Haiti which is French speaking, but the travel advice is basically DON'T GO THERE IT IS NOT SAFE. Which is a shame, I knew it is a poor country, but it seems foreigners (like me) will stick out like a sore thumb and get robbed/kidnapped. We'll see, if the rocket launch takes place on the 8th or 9th, then we'll have quite a few days left in Florida. I did plan a few days in Miami as it's a major city in Florida, but otherwise, some have suggested an internal flight to New Orleans as I'm unlikely to be in that part of the US again soon. Being from Singapore (LOL), "tropical islands" have zero interest for me, like I can't stress just how uninteresting that sounds to me, how that has zero appeal - but if they speak another language like Spanish, then okay I'm there for the culture.
Looks like I am getting Zika in Puerto Rico: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/12/us/zika-puerto-rico/ Ah well. I have no intentions to make any babies anyway.
That is awesome. Have you considered the other islands in the Caribbean? Many islands worth visiting if time permits.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely ruling out any other island where they speak English. Like, hell no. The closest other Spanish speaking island is Cuba - but I had to rule that out due to hideously expensive flights (it is cheaper for me to fly direct from the UK than from Florida, makes no sense). The other nearest island is Antigua & Barbuda but that's quite a long way away. There is Haiti which is French speaking, but the travel advice is basically DON'T GO THERE IT IS NOT SAFE. Which is a shame, I knew it is a poor country, but it seems foreigners (like me) will stick out like a sore thumb and get robbed/kidnapped. We'll see, if the rocket launch takes place on the 8th or 9th, then we'll have quite a few days left in Florida. I did plan a few days in Miami as it's a major city in Florida, but otherwise, some have suggested an internal flight to New Orleans as I'm unlikely to be in that part of the US again soon. Being from Singapore (LOL), "tropical islands" have zero interest for me, like I can't stress just how uninteresting that sounds to me, how that has zero appeal - but if they speak another language like Spanish, then okay I'm there for the culture.
DeleteLooks like I am getting Zika in Puerto Rico: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/12/us/zika-puerto-rico/ Ah well. I have no intentions to make any babies anyway.
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