In case anyone was wondering...

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been so busy organizing, packing, and seeing family and friends. There is almost too much to say, although it's of the day-to-day logistics and errands sort. I'll try to keep this high level.

Right now I'm back in Irvine at the parents' house sorting through the stuff Mom and Dad are graciously allowing me to store in the garage, and making piles (and piles and piles) around my room of clothes. I'm organizing by type - workout clothes, work clothes, casual clothes, going out clothes, etc. This way when I pack everything up (by type) and realize how absolutely ridiculous it is to bring everything with me, it will be easiest to pare down just an item or two in each category. For all of you who think this sounds insanely organized, well, you don't know me well enough. Doing this IS what keeps me sane.

Funnily enough, I already have my Easter weekend ticket booked to see friends in Washington, D.C. but I still don't have any definitive travel plans for the next few weeks in Europe. I show up in London on Thursday, meet up with my friend John to stay at his friend's place for the weekend (I don't know when or where we are meeting up yet, or where the place is). On Monday, I am going to fly out, somewhere. I want to make it to Prague, but I'm thinking of stopping over in France or something for a few days first. I just need to patch together the start of the itinerary (i.e. my ticket OUT of London) and the rest will fall into place along the way via Internet cafes. I don't know if this is yet another side effect of surviving India for 6 months, but I'm really not too worried about the ambiguousness of my plans. I'm sure I'll find flights, trains, hostels, and hotels. For the majority of the itinerary, I'll just play it as it lays.

Tomorrow I go to the British Consulate in Los Angeles and get my 'same day' visa. They have assured me over the phone and via email that they will process it and return it to me that afternoon. I have a rental car these past few days, because I am my own ride to LAX on Wednesday, so I suppose one last day of sitting in 405/LA traffic won't hurt me (in an SUV Jeep upgrade, no less).

Last night my parents and I went to Roy's Hawaiian Fusion restaurant in Newport. We had an overzealous waiter who tired us with his 'script' about the menu, even though I already knew what I wanted, but once we got past that phase, the food, service, and wine were excellent. So good, in fact, that we left the restaurant without paying the bill! My dad always takes care of that fairly quickly after we are done eating, so since we had been sitting there for awhile chatting, I thought nothing of it when he said "let's go!" When we got home, the waiter called my cell phone (I ignored the call at first because I didn't recognize the number) to leave a very nice message about how he had looked for us but there was still the check and he hopes we had a good time. I felt so bad for the guy! We obviously called back, and tipped him well. I told my dad that just because I'm skipping out of the country doesn't mean he can skip out on restaurants in Newport! Sheesh. Dad and I are going out tonight to Il Fornaio; I'll make sure that detail doesn't get overlooked.