[WTF Wednesdays: Traveling In Airports]

So right now I'm currently waiting at the airport to fly back to Louisiana. Unfortunately, this isn't for a vacation or even a pleasant situation. As I was standing in the security check point line, I started looking around and thinking of ways that we, the travelers, could make this a much more faster process. I'm sure we've all moaned and groaned over how slow and LONG these security check point lines are. Now we can't really blame TSA b/c once you're near the metal detectors, they try to make the line move as quickly as possible. So in all actuality, the slowness has to do with the PASSENGERS. Being an avid traveler, my frustration really does have to do with the passengers and how they really just don't LISTEN to directions or the rules for traveling.

Here are a few things I've consistently noticed while in the security checkpoint line: 

LADIES: why MUST you dress as if you're going to a fashion show?! Do you really need to wear 5 inch heels and a million accessories just to sit on a plane?! And it's amazing how annoyed & frustrated you get when TSA is telling you that you have to take off your heels (well DUH) and all your bracelets/rings/watches/earrings/sunglasses so that they won't go off while walking through the metal detector. No one is going to be impressed with what you're wearing. In fact, I'm sure EVERYONE is irritated with the fact that you're holding the line up. I, for one, discovered that that sandals, jeans or sweatpants, and hardly any jewelry is easiest and most comfortable way to travel. Sandals are easy to take on and take off while you're going through security check point and if I'm traveling on a plane for a couple of hours, why wouldn't I want to be comfortable?

LAPTOPS: we have all carried one on the plane with us at least once or twice. And with that being said, how HARD is it to remember to take your laptop out of your case and place it in its own container???! It's def not rocket science and if you're so used to traveling with one, this should be a simple rule that sticks in your mind.

This entire post reminds me of a youtube video by the lovely Jenna Marbles:

&& I just noticed she even wrote a part 2 about airports! LOL!!

As much as I get frustrated and impatient during the security checkpoint line, I actually really enjoy airports. I enjoy traveling and people-watching while waiting to board my plane. Each airport is a different experience and you can try different foods at every airport.

These are my favorite top 5 airports:

1) DCA - Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
2) ATL -  Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
3) HND - Tokyo International Airport
4) LAS -  McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas)
5) BKK - Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok International)

                                                    Safe travels everyone!! :)

[backtracking: remembering March via mobile]

I promise to update SOON. life just gets so busy & I haven't had time for a real update. but I just wanted to upload some of my favorite memories of March (which included a girl's weekend to St. Augustine w/one of my favorite people & a wedding). The wedding I actually attended was for another blogger: so be sure to check out her blog!! Cami's Blog

[you've been served.. LITERALLY]

March was a pretty hectic and crazy month. I was so busy I didn't have any time to update; so these next few entries are going to be about past events from the month of March. But before I do that, let me backtrack to 2012. The month of April to be more specific.

That was the month that J & I were victims of a hit & run. We were actually on our way back from dropping off our pup at a friend's house when someone decided to hit the back of my car. BOOM! so normally, after a car accident you put your hazards on, call 9-1-1 and pull over to the side. Which is exactly what I did, but WHILE I was on the phone with 9-1-1, you can see the car that just hit me move forward into the middle lane & the passengers jumping out of the car & start RUNNING. While they were getting out of the car J & I watched them throw cups (which I'm sure had alcohol in them) over to the side of the road. Long story short, the police arrived to the accident scene, took down the license plate number of the driver, brought in the dogs & found them hiding about 3 minutes from where their car was parked. Not only were these 3 people found BUT they also had marijuana on them. Really!? One of the police officers said to us that we were hit by the dumbest people ever. Granted, I was already upset since I had just bought baby blue & I only had her in my possession for about 3 months. Now my poor Volvo wasn't drivable and would be away from me for about another 2 months.

Now fast forward to around the summer when the driver of the other car had her arraignment . She had spent the night in jail & was charged with possession of drugs. Now, due to my previous experience as a legal assistant & also working as court reporter, I know my way around the clerk of courts website. This is extremely useful if you would like to find out if someone has been previously arrested and has a record. I was able to discover that not only was the driver pretty young, she has been arrested before for disorderly conduct and possession (surprise/surprise). When I googled her name I was able to find a mugshot of her, along with her facebook where she decided to give some rapper her phone number. I decided to show up for her arraignment and spoke with the State Attorney about seeing if the defendant could be given the option of drug court. Many of you are probably wondering why I would want to give her that option instead of just being put in jail.

Here's why: the driver of the other car is in her early 20's. Once you've spent time in jail or in a state prison, several things happen while you're in there. Once you're in the system it's really hard for a person to stay OUT of the system. While you're in jail you either bond with other inmates who will become horrible influences on you or once you get out, it's even harder to find a job or get back to a normal type of life due to incarceration. At the arraignment, the SAO told the Judge that I wanted to give the driver option of drug court & so the Judge offered it to her. She accepted (of course).

So let's fast forward to 2013 when I received this lovely piece of paper in the mail:

J & I were both subpoenaed for the hit and run charges for the driver. I wasn't actually surprised to see this since I had spoken to the State several weeks before about what I would like the Judge to sentence the driver. He had actually told me that she was in & out of drug court b/c she would fail her drug tests & the Judge had actually given her a few days in jail. I decided to go onto the clerk of courts to see what little miss hit & run has been up to recently. It turns out that not only was she in drug court, but she had been arrested AGAIN for possession of meth & cocaine. I guess when I decided to give her a second chance she didn't take it. So I told the SAO that J & I would like to give her jail time. There are only so many chances you can give a person and perhaps being in jail is the only way miss hit & run would get her life back on track.

On March 21st, J & I showed up to court for the sentencing of miss hit & run. The Judge asked us to come to the front, swore us in & then asked us what we believe should happen to her. I explained to her how I believe the defendant should receive jail time b/c she doesn't seem to learn her lesson and has been in and out of jail since the accident. Now her public defender was an idiot. He actually called miss hit and run an ALL-STAR in drug court (say what?!?!) and that she's an outstanding citizen of the community (uhhhh). THEN he asked me since I've been keeping up with her records on the clerk of courts website if it said on there how she's been an "All-Star" in drug court.. no sir, I don't believe it has ever said that. Duh. The Judge ends up sentencing her to 6 months probation with a special condition that she must fully comply with felony drug court and if she violates drug court or probation in ANY WAY she will automatically have to serve 30 days in jail.

And wouldn't you know, on March 28th she was pulled over by an officer for a traffic infraction: unlawful speed/not wearing seatbelt. SMH. I guess some people will never learn.

[happy songkran....]

Which is also known as the Thai New Year!! In Thailand: the new year is celebrated April 13-15. Another fun fact: these are the dates for many calenders in SE Asia. Unfortunately,  I wasn't able to fly to Thailand to celebrate but the Wat Buddharangsi Buddhist Temple of Miami held their own water festival for the Thai New Year (and that's only an hour away from me!) I was also excited that I was able to share my Thai heritage with my friends Jade & Sara who came along with me to the festival. The picture below pretty much sums up our day in a nutshell:

 

My favorite part of the day was being blessed by the Monks. and yes, these Monks were flown in from Thailand to live in the temple in Homestead. So Happy Song-Kran to my fellow Thai readers out there & I hope you surrounded yourself with friends & family today! 

[birthday weekend]

Yesterday was my birthday and I'm starting to realize that the older you get, the less exciting it is to turn old. I remember in my early 20's, I would consider the 1st of February the start of my "birthday month." Birthday celebrations in my early 20's were fun-filled weekends filled with limo rides to South Beach and VIP status at my club of choice. Soon those became played out and as my late 20's started creeping up on me; my birthday celebrations became more low key and the past few were more of weekend trips to Disney to drink around the world at Epcot. It's not the same as having VIP status but still fun nonetheless.

Someone once told me that it's in your 30's when you'll have the time of your life and I'm beginning to think he's right about that. Your 20's is when you're still "finding" yourself and getting situated in life. Your 30's is when you're able to actually enjoy things more. Last year on my birthday, I actually worked and made money. Yesterday, I ran errands and relaxed with my pups. Friday night J took me out to this really romantic Italian restaurant which is "off the beaten path." Our table had a waterfront view and while the food was just "okay," the ambiance was pretty great.

We actually found a cute tea place next to it that we plan on going back to visit. The next morning, I woke up to a super sweet card right next to my ipad:

Not sure how many of you know who the Lumineers are, but "Ho Hey" is our song and I thought it was awesome that he actually referenced that song in the card. It definitely put a smile on my face!! Today the plan was to go kayaking but unfortunately, due to low tides and not being able to find parking, things didn't go as planned but I was still happy to be the company of good friends. Plus, there's always another time for kayaking!

 && before I sign off, I'll leave you with the video of mine & J's song ^_^

[no filter friday: traveling with other couples]

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!
I've decided to designate every Friday as "No Filter Friday" which basically means anything & everything goes. So I apologize in advance if I offend you in someway due to the fact I'm not sugar-coating how I feel about certain issues or situations.

And with that being said: the first topic for No Filter Friday will be about traveling with other couples. J and I currently in the process of planning and booking our vacations for the near future. We're also learning about the type of people we are inviting (if we do invite) on these trips. I've decided to post a few requirements in order to get an invitation to come on vacation with us. These requirements will also have an explanation, along with examples from the previous vacation J & I had taken on New Year's Eve this past year.

1) Do not travel with cheap people.
While this may seem harsh and I'm sure MANY people will not agree with this. BUT if you are given 6+ months in advance about taking a vacation somewhere, I believe that this is ENOUGH time to budget accordingly in order to have a great time on your vacation. The couple that was on our previous trip KNEW that the agenda was to go skiing/snowboarding along with the fact that ski/snowboard rentals and snow-lift tickets were not cheap. YET when the day came to purchase the rentals & snow-lift ticket; we encountered lame excuses as to why they decided to sit around the cabin/ski resort while the rest of us were out on the slopes. LAME-O. My favorite comment about #1 is when J said to me, "they can afford to go out & eat and get fat but when it comes to doing something different that requires physical activity and being fit apparently they can't afford it." HA.

2) Don't invite couples that are fun sponges.
I believe that #2 could also correlate with #1 considering fun sponges & being cheap usually go hand in hand.  J & I have never been the type of couple that would sit around with other people & just whisper to each other. Seriously, if you're going to do that then WTF are you even hanging out with everyone else!? Just stay home if you want to whisper with your S/O. The SAME couple that I spoke about in #1 basically just whispered to each other the entire time. Why would you spend 14 hours in a car to drive to another state if all you plan on doing is whispering and being sketchy with others around you. Not only is this just being a waste of space but they could have done that back home.

3. Don't invite guys where they are just pushovers and never speak their minds to their girlfriends.
Seriously, if you're in a relationship & you just let your S/O run your life (even when you want to have fun) it just looks pretty pathetic. Sure, you can blame this on being "in love" with your girlfriend and you don't want to "upset" her but if you want to do something fun such as skiing/snowboarding.. then GROW SOME BALLS. The bf of the couple that I'm speaking about , J & I even asked him about why they didn't want to go skiing/snowboarding. And once we even told him how much it was per person ($168.00, which is a pretty good price for a ski resort) he actually seemed like he wanted to go & said he was going to talk to his gf about it. I guess she didn't really want to go (surprise/surprise) and instead they sat around for 4 hours the first day (oh how fun!) and the 2nd day sat around the cabin while the rest of us had a blast. GUYS: if you want to do something fun and your gf is just being a huge debbie downer about it then SPEAK UP. If J wanted to go snowboarding and I didn't want to, I would have just stayed behind but I would have never forced J to do the same. When you're on vacation you want to have a good time, not be restricted to do things just b/c your S/O is a huge lame-o and wants to stay inside and sleep.

I actually remember that morning when I confronted the guy about it & asked him why would you pay for the ski jacket, ski clothes and SKI GOOGLES if you weren't planning on using them?! then I said to him that I knew it wasn't him that didn't want to go and I know it was his girlfriend. He actually kept silent and looked at J (as if J would even stop me from speaking my mind). Then he went downstairs (I'm sure to go tell her what I said).  Maybe he had a nice time just doing nothing all day in the cabin.. or maybe not. I pick the latter.

So, lesson learned about not ever bringing that couple on another trip with us again. Of course, J & I had an awesome time & I'm already wanting to plan my next snowboarding trip. While J would rather not invite other couples AT ALL, I think that if you're in the company of others that enjoy the same things and aren't super cheap then you can have a great time. We obviously had an amazing time with the other 2 friends that came along, of course. So I think if you're going to invite a couple on a trip with you, just limit it to 1 more couple. This will lessen any chance of drama or stupid situations (such as not wanting to do certain activities.) On our ski/snowboarding trip it was 1 couple and 2 of our other friends and thank goodness the other 2 people wanted to actually have a good time. Otherwise it would have just been J & I out there on the slopes.

Do you have any rules or requirements that you go by when traveling with others? 

[do you know that your love is the sweetest sin]

One of my favorite music videos performed by one of my favorite bands. This video is so intense and filled with passion that whenever I watch it, I get chills. Happy Monday everyone!