TODAY IS THE DAY!! I didn’t get the chance to upload this before my sixteen hour flight to Taipei — I still have a two and a half hour flight to Manila in about an hour so I’m grabbing a quick bowl of noodles and taking advantage of the free WiFi. At first I thought I was being dramatic about dreading the sixteen hour flight, but by hour thirteen I had watched all the movies I could possibly watch and was itching to run four miles. No one is meant to sit for that long… Other than that, Taipei’s international airport is seriously nice — check out my snap story for the orchid garden I found while walking to my gate! JFK where is your orchid garden?!
By the time this is posted I will be on my way to the Philippines. I wanted to touch base here and let you guys know just how much this trip means to me.
Besides fulfilling my dream to visit and explore paradise on the other side of the world, this trip is about reconnecting with an old friend. When I was 8 years old Eileen had been working as an Au Pair in USA and happened to switch families mid-stay and ended up with the Fables. While we were only lucky enough to know her for a number of months, we all made a lifelong friend. For those of you who are not familiar, an Au Pair is “a young foreign person, typically a woman, who helps with housework or childcare in exchange for room and board” (Google ?). I was fortunate enough to have some of the kindest, fun, and adventurous Au Pairs growing up. Being surrounded by people of other backgrounds and cultures, the desire to meet, and get to know, as many new people as possible was instilled in me at a young age.
Little did I know that Eileen, my Au Pair from the Philippines, would be a life-long friend.
Eileen is one of the only Au Pairs that has kept in touch with me, not only to say Happy Birthday — but to check in on every holiday and sometimes for a random Hello. This past Christmas we were messaging on Facebook and chatting about our plans for the new year. I had mentioned that going to Thailand, Tokyo, really anywhere in Asia — has been a dream of mine for a while now.
As soon as she said, “You should come visit me!”, I told her not to joke around because I would buy my plane ticket that day…
We spent the next three months planning our weekend excursions and daily adventures — and I spent the past three months telling everyone and anyone about my trip across the world. So get ready for the thousands of photos and daily vlogs. I’m thinking the best way to reach me will be FB messenger (Facebook isn’t dead people!!)
My noodles are getting cold… Talk to you guys soon!
XO,
L
P.S. I have never felt like more of a tourist than when I went to pay and ask, “Do you take American money?” hahah
