A first-draft list of all the places we want to go along the course of the WorldTour(TM), uploaded at the request of Dai-An. Countries may be added/deleted at any time.

“THE BEGINNING”

• China (Uighurland)
• Tibet
• Japan
• Mongolia (?)
• Russia

“WORLD ADVENTURE”

• The Pacific
  • Australia
  • New Zealand ***
  • Easter Island (? - may be prohibitively costly)
  • Fiji ***
• Southeast Asia
  • Indonesia
  • Malaysia (?)
  • Myanmar (Burma)
  • Philippines
  • Singapore (?)
  • Thailand ***
• Indochina
  • Cambodia (?)
  • Laos (?)
  • Vietnam
• Southern Asia
  • Bangladesh *** (Need to find suitable “husbands” before we go.)
  • India – (Also might be good if we find some guys to go with us.)
  • Nepal ***
  • Pakistan – (Again, would be nice to find guys.)
• Middle East
  • Iran (?)
  • Turkey ***
  • Syria (?)
  • Lebanon (?) - (“Most liberal middle-eastern country.”)
  • Jordan
  • Bahrain
• Africa
  • Egypt ***
  • Kenya (?)
  • Tanzania *** (Safari!!!)
  • Zimbabwe (?)
  • South Africa - (World’s highest bungee-jumping!)
  • Lesotho
  • Ghana

“THE END” (…or is it?)

• Europe
  • England
  • Ireland
  • Scotland
  • France
  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Germany
  • Switzerland
  • Luxembourg
  • Netherlands (YAY Amsterdam)
  • Italy
  • Greece
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Finland
  • … And many more!
• South America
  • Who knows?

*** Places that are on my personal MUST list
(?) I wouldn’t be too depressed if we missed, but are def. worth a closer look

I arrived at my French advisor’s office at 10:20 this morning for my 10:30 appointment and waited until 10:45, and my advisor never showed up. So I was annoyed all the way to work, and then I checked my email and it turns out my appointment is for 10:30am tomorrow. Which sucks, because I’m not here on Tuesdays.

And now I have to drive in tomorrow. Ugh.

Here’s a list of everything that needs to be done before we leave the week of January 20th, 2008 (and some additional things that don’t relate directly to the WorldTour(TM) but need to get done anyway)…

Summer 2007

• Set up weblog
• Set up online photo storage [11/17/2007]
• Renew driver’s license
• Finalize Fall 2007 semester loans [11/17/2007]
• Get hair cut
• Meet with Mme Clough about French major
• Contact Ms. Hoff about ESOL volunteering

Fall 2007 (during school semester)

• Buy airline tickets to China [1/3/2008]
• Apply for graduation
• Get Visa for China [1/3/2008]
• Get new ISIC card [1/3/2008]
• Buy travel notebook (IBM ThinkPad X22) [1/3/2008]
• Buy portable hard drive (Iomega eGo 160GB Portable Hard Drive) DO NOT NEED
• Buy camera for photography (Canon PowerShot G7)
• Buy “point & shoot” camera for everyday use (Canon PowerShot SD1000) [11/17/2007]
• Buy web cam sets for me/home [1/3/2008]
• Apply for new credit cards [11/17/2007]
• Buy travel insurance (World Nomads) [1/3/2008] - ISIC coverage
• Get new wardrobe (!!!) [1/3/2008]
• Graduate from UMD! [1/3/2008]

Winter 2007-2008 (a.k.a. “Last Minute Freak-Out Period”)

• Get extra passport photos [1/3/2008]
• See doctors for final check-up [1/18/2008]
• Set up Skype accounts for me/home [1/3/2008]
• Get addresses for friends & family at home [1/18/2008]
• Get presents for family & friends in Urumqi [1/18/2008]
• Get addresses/numbers for friends & family abroad [1/18/2008]
• Pack old stuff away at home & clean room [1/18/2008]
• Confirm China flights [1/10/2008]
• Visit Aziz bey [1/6/2008]
• Fix WTJ to work on Firefox, IE [1/18/2008]
• Take care of financials
  • Cancel ResLife housing [1/10/2008]
  • Renew BoA check card [1/6/2008]
  • Close BoA tuition savings account [1/6/2008]
  • Close Chevy Chase checking account [1/6/2008]
  • Call Verizon to move charges off credit card [1/18/2008]
  • Suspend Sprint account [1/18/2008]
• Get final hair cut  [1/18/2008]
• Pack & go! [1/22/2008]

Items will be added & checked off this list as I do them/think of them.

ETA: Dates noted are the days the item got checked off (i.e. when I got around to updating this list), not necessarily the day that the list item was actually taken care of.

Today my parents left for Urumqi, China. They’ve been planning this trip since March, at least. We drove them down to the airport this morning. Dad let me drive the Jag (since it was the only car all the luggage would fit into). The luggage turned out to be overweight and they had to pay $100 extra, and they’ll probably have to pay even more at Beijing, which sucks. Now Camira and I are home alone for three weeks. It’s nice to have a break from them, but the house feels empty.

Mom’s going for our cousin Ilnure’s wedding. Dad’s going to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday. She actually already turned 80 a few weeks ago, but they held off the party to coordinate with the wedding so mom & dad could participate.

 Dad wrote all this in his journal this morning and he read it to us on the way to the airport. They were both in surprisingly good moods as they left and there were no last-minute freak-outs. Other than the luggage overweight charge, everything went really smoothly. I hope it sets a good precedent for the rest of the trip.