The Dog Blog

One thing that cannot go unnoticed in Goa, is the amount of stray dogs every where. When I first got here I noticed one, or two here, and there. This isn’t uncommon in the states. You see one or two stray dogs. But as I traveled around more and more around Goa, I noticed tons! Lol. All the pics here were taken on one trip to the beach yesterday. lol

Joe and I had a joke about the dogs here saying it’s the same dog that just keeps following us around. When you look at the dogs they ALL look exactly alike except for the color. No difference. So, when I see a dog I just say ”see, it’s the same dog!” lol

It’s kinda funny though cause it’s almost as if the Indian people here don’t notice the dogs at all. Like, the people are here, and the dogs are here…but they don’t pay any attention to each other. It really amazes me. The one night though this one dog came up to me, and would not leave me alone. I don’t know why.

We were at the beach yesterday, and there were massive people at the beach. And there were a few dogs too. The dogs are just chillin just as if they were people chillin at the beach. Lol. There was this one dog chillin on his own, than these two other dogs that looked exactly alike in color started messing with the dog on its own, than they just ended up playing together. It was a weird parallel to humans. While this was going on Joe and I played the dog game, where we commentate for their actions. Hilarious! Totally entertained us for at least 20 minutes. Lol. We stopped cause we wanted Ice cream. I recommend this game to everyone. Lol.



It reminds me of these videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPepCVepCg&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ1HKCYJM5U&feature=relmfu



Also I seamed together my first 180. I’m trying to do a whole 360 soon, but this one I just got what was in front of me. It involves taking a series of pictures across a whole horizon than to make one long picture. Seaming together is pretty challenging, I will need a bit more practice. But the end result is really cool! I know its uber small, but I'll be doing a bunch and will show them on a separate website. You can click on it and you can view it a bit bigger.

The Beaches

One thing you should never miss out on if you ever come to Goa, is the Beaches. They are really wonderful beaches, and you have a lot to choose from.

I remember when I first arrived in Goa when I was just about to land, I saw the coastline of the long, wide beaches. Some beaches that you see have nice sand, but the beach isn’t very big. These beaches are really nice! Soft sand, with lots of space.

Joe and I usually go at sunset to the beach(we are not fans of being in the sun to much, or getting burnt.) You get to see all the people, family, people hanging out, of course the tourists, and the people trying to make money off those tourists. Lol.

The colors in the sky over the ocean are just so pretty. All kinds of colors. That’s one thing I wont get sick of is just hanging out at the beach at night. During the day we went once and its just so hot it takes too much out of me honestly.

One thing I thought was cool was how at this one beach its really dark, but you can see the little store/restaurant areas in the distance, but than these random blackouts happen. lol. I know it’s not good for those people doing business, but its cool to watch the lights totally go out down the coast. Lol.

Different beaches have different types of people. There are beaches where just tourists go, than where anyone goes, and where just the locals go. I take pictures a lot obviously, but I don’t know when someone took a pic of me it was disturbing. Lol. There were two Indian guys about 10 feet in front of me, and he pulled his phone out, and took a pic of me! I was like what the hell. White people here do stand out, but I def wasn’t the only white person there. Who knows why he took the pic. But when I noticed he was taking the pic I looked at him and he finished and quickly turned away. Grimy! Lol oh well. I was too busy in the process of taking a pic of the parasailing going on.

Anything can happen at the beach. I’ll keep going though because I love it there!

The City

While I am in India, I am spending my time in Goa. From what Joe says Its different from the rest of India. That can be said about places in the states as well. But I wont know until I travel the rest of India. I intend to, but not on this trip.





I consider myself lucky to able to get to a know one small place like this while I am here. Usually when I travel I only spend a couple days in one place than I move onto the next. This is really nice to be able to live here.

The city, well to get around everywhere 90% of the people use Mortocycles. I really enjoy it, although traffic gets crazy! I am learning slowly how to drive the motorcycle. I like it too! I was telling Joe about how having a motorcycle in the states is more like a luxury. That’s usually someone’s toy, at least for ppl where it gets cold, or rainy all the time.


If we left the house at 8am or 10pm it’s always a constant busy flow around everywhere. Everyone works everyday. There’s ppl selling fruit late into the night. Way after 5pm.

Everyplace is small. There are no huge mega stores anywhere. There are a lot of stores, but all small. And they cram the most product they can.




You can see little tiny huts…which is usually the image people get when they think of India. You also see nice big houses. What I did notice is for most India people they only use, and buy what they need. Like, there isn’t usually luxury type items. Decorations are there, but to a minimum. Food is always bought when needed. Joe’s family is constantly going to the market.

There is a lot of things here. You got the crazy busy life, beaches, tourist-hotel areas, the city markets, the smaller shopping areas, the fields of crops, everything packed in a small state.

Carnival

I got here just in time for Carnival. There are massive parties, they had the floats/parade as well. Its because ash Wednesday is coming up. It’s like our Mardi Gras. They have parties till like 630 in the morning. I went yesterday to see the floats.





Massive people there!! I’ve never seen something like this in person. So, many people. Besides a concert or course. But for celebration, even at like the St. Patrick day parade there aren’t as many people coming out as this!! Crazy. The floats were cool. They had a theme, something like wealth out of garbage. So a lot of the floats were about saving the environment. They had a lot of music, and cultural and historic floats. It was cool that I got to learn more about India. Joe explained a lot of those things to me. I wasn’t feeling too out of place. I was worried I would. I stick out obviously; I get the stares, as well as Joe for being with me. There are other white folks here on holiday. One of Joe’s friend has a friend from the UK I think. She’s leaving in a day or so.

After the floats were all said and done everyone started to leave. Now when anything like this happens in the states, there is always this gridlock. Major traffic, and someone always gets hurts and/or dies. Not here. That totally amazed me!! So many ppl, cars, and bikes, but traffic keeps moving. Amazing.

Finally made it to India!

I finally made it! I’m happy to not be on a train, bus, plane, shuttle, car, or in a hotel. I feel like it took so long to get here. It’s great to finally reach my destination. I was Running on no sleep in about 42 hours Before i got some sleep.

My flight from Kuwait was … interesting. Lol. That airport is a big mess. Lol. A lot of disorganization going on. They use shuttle buses to take you to the airplane. I found this odd. But turns out it’s how they do in this part of the world. Like not every plane has its own gate. They take a number of flights through one gate, and you have to make sure you’re on the right bus.

So made it on the Mumbai/Bombay flight. Took off a bit late, but made it to Mumbai only 10 minutes late. While I was on this flight was just done with airports, security, and being on a plane for so long.

When we finally landed in Mumbai, I got nervous. Lol. I don’t know why. I thought about Joe, and how ppl are gonna take to me. I had nothing to worry about. People are really nice. I don’t know if it had anything to do with me being white, or a chick, or American, but I got to skip customs in Mumbai. Lol. I was like “sweet!” I didn’t ask any questions. Lol. Immigration peeps were nice too.

Joe met up with me. It was really good to see him, not to mention just someone to meet up with in a country I’ve never been in. We had to catch our last flight to Goa. I thought it was like a 4-hour flight, but Joe told me its only 45 minutes. You don’t know how happy I was to hear that!!

My first impression of India: I literally thought “well, its not as bad as people in the states make it seem." All countries have their problems, poor and rich, great things and drawbacks. When I flew into Mumbai I thought wow there is a lot down there. Lol. I didn’t see much because of it being dark. When we flew to Goa, I got a chance to see some things. Mumbai-Packed with tons of buildings. Yes, the shacks that everyone thinks covers India do exist. There are stretches of land that you can see these small low-lying buildings. It’s actually quite a thing to see, high aerial view, or up close.

Once we got to Goa Airport, fastest disembarkation I’ve ever had. Off the plane, our bags were first out, and than we quickly got a ride to his house. I’d say we spent an actually 3 minutes from plane to the car to reach his house.

The car ride to his house was exciting. I was looking at everything. Joe, asked me “Whats wrong why are you was so quiet?” I don’t wanna talk when there is stuff to take in. I was absorbing everything. ☺ The roads are … different. You have to dodge other drivers, ppl on bikes, ppl walking, animals. Its just mind blowing, how a country like this has such traffic….but no fatalities. It just really amazes me. Our roads in the States our wide as crazy, with clear cut lanes. Like massive organized, and ppl crash and die everyday. The more I travel the more I think “wow how do we in the States have these problems, when other countries are easily breezing through the same things?” It really blows me away. I mean one thing that bothers me is the garbage. But India actually recognizes as a problem. Once I knew that they see it as a problem, I thought well at lest they are doing something about it bit by bit. They know it’s a problem.

We finally got to his house. Exactly what it looks in the pictures. But I thought when I walked it that it’d be bigger on the inside. I like the house a lot. Just the way it’s arranged. I like how is not an ordinary American house. It wouldn’t be right? lol. But I hate looking for apartments in the states. It’s always the same blocking. I love his floors! I don’t know the material exactly but it some kind of cool tile. Lol. He told me its called Spartex?? Lol. No idea.

He’s in the process of adding things to the house. Like he’s re-doing his kitchen, and adding things here and there. I know he’s adding a/c soon as well.

He has all these plants growing fruits in the backyard. His mom does the gardening. She showed me the bananas this morning. Lol.

Yes, it’s hot here. Lol. I came here in the afternoon when it’s the hottest. At night and in the morning is perfect temperature.

So, far things are going great. ☺

3/5 of the way there!!

my title explains it perfectly. lol.

I am currently in Kuwait waiting for my next flight, which is in about 5 or 6 more hours away. It feels like it's taking forever to get here.

Ok, why am I not in India yet? Well, lets start from the beginning.

I left BUFFALO at 444am. I caught a train to JFK. The less I fly, and the less money I spend the better. If I flew itd be like 200 more dollars. So I was like hey why not take a train?

I made it to PENN STATION with no problem. I had this ticket for a shuttle or whatever to JFK airport. On the ticket it didnt have any details on there. Checked my email, it just had the time. So, obviously I was trying to find out where I had to go to get this transportation to the airport. I went to the amtrak customer service. the lady had no idea what it was. lol she was like (in ghetto voice) "girl you go get in that line and get a refund and just take the long island rail road, and catch the airtran." I was like "ok than". lol I got in the huge ass line, and got to this guy who didn't help either. I asked him if he knew where I should go. He tried to send me back to the other lady. I also mention how the other lady told me to get a refund. Than he said a refund, and info are two different things. Obviously. lol. At this point I was like ok I'll check things out and see what I find. Nothing was found. lol So, I called a few numbers, NO one knew what I should do....besides forward me to another person, or place. So, I ended up getting a refund, and taking the train. Yes, I did follow the directions of the lady, but not in the first place....only because I wanted to know the deal about this ticket I bought online. I wasn't freaking out on time, cause I knew I had a lot of that. Made it to JFk no problem. I waited two hour to just get checked in though. Than security and all that jazz, than waited a few more hours till my flight. I also forgot to eat during all of this, so I decided to finally do that. but than on the plane they just kept throwing food at me. lol

My flight to LONDON was ok. My plane stopped in LONDON than to KUWAIT where I catch a different plane to MUMBAI. I was an in-transit passenger... but i still had to go through LONDON security. This time around I wasn't pissed. When I left the ship i was in the worst mood. lol. Mainly because they tried to charge me crazy amounts for my luggage. Flying internationally I find that they don't charge you for checked luggage. It may not be every airline.

It was funny because everyone needed to find out what gate we had to go to. This one security guy was telling everyone gate 8. well there were like 15 passengers in a row asking him. They kept asking like they didnt hear him three people in front of them, and the second person in front on them. lol. So while I was getting all my stuff together and putting in my contacts I saw all this happening. You could tell the guy was thinking...."fucking idiots". So, I looked at him and said "so, uhh what gate was it again" and laughed. I made him laugh. So, I hope it helped him out. lol.

We board the plane, it was late, and boarding took forever. We take off. I'm thinking "finally." Like 15 minutes later the captain gets on and says "We would like to ask you for your patience, we are experiencing a technical problem, and we will be landing in London Heathrow airport." I was ok at first. Than they released all of the fuel. Than I was like of "oh, jesus." It freaked me out a bit. So, there we were flying above LONDON for a half hour releasing all the fuel than we land. They wouldn't let us off. So, we sat there another 45 minutes. Than we took off finally. All of....that situation caused a massive delay of about 4 hours. I got to Kuwait an hour after my flight to MUMBAI left.

I wasn't alone though, at least 30-40 other ppl were stuck there. No flights to MUMBAI till the next day at the same time. So, they shipped us to a hotel literally at the airport. I'm not talking like across the street, or down the road. Like I can see planes take off outside my window...runway and all.




Ive kept my cool so far. its really cool though. everyone has been really nice. beside the chick at the Kuwait Airways desk explaining to all these furious passengers that there are no flights till tomorrow night, but thats acceptable. lol. ppl just would not get it. I thought she was bad ass. I didn't give her attitude. for what, ya know. yeah it sucks I missed my flight, but... not the end of the world. It did suck that Joe had to pay for changing our flights to the next day. I felt really bad, but nothing I could do about it.

It was cool when I flew into KUWAIT though. They have regular street lights in the city, but when we flew over the desert area, they had these cool fire torches. I never seen it before so I thought it was cool. oh! we flew over the Swiss Alps. That was really awesome to see!!

Scanning frenzy!! I feel like this scanning thing is out of control. I scanned to get on a plane. scanned when I got off the same plane. scanned again to get out of the airport. scanned again to enter the hotel. its just crazy.



two more flights. thankfully shorter ones. :-)

leaving again..but not for the ship

well I'm nervous and I need to write it out.

I'm going on a trip to India. This pertains to the ship only because I am going to visit the Bf i acquired on the ship. lol.

We talked about it for months how I would come visit him. I always wanted for the longest time to go to India. Every since i crossed Australia off my list.

I applied for the visa, waited as patiently as I could. lol Got it approved. I Finally got it back, Booked my flight, and packed my things all in a matter of a couple days. Its happening really quickly... or maybe it just seems that way.

I was super excited once I got my passport back, and booked everything I needed to. That excitement has now turned into nervousness, and I have to admit I am a bit scared.

In India.... there ain't no blending in for me. if you know me you know I'm pale as sin, bright green eyes, and just ...well Amber. lol

I'm staying with Joe, and his family, so I am nervous about that as well. I tend to get uber shy around family. I remember when I went to Australia. I did not know a soul there. Got on a plane, got off a day later, and was like "ok where do I start?" This time I at least no someone, but I'll be sucked into his world rapidly. In Australia I did everything at my own pace. If I wanted to make friends, and hang out- I did. If I wanted to be alone, and wander - I did. I feel like this wont happen time, this is going to be drastically different.

This is why I travel. Each time its all very different. I learn about me what my limits are, and about the people I'm surrounded by.

After this trip my next place I really want to visit is the UK, and South Africa. :-)

I'll blog about my trip while in India. :-) So, there will be new stuff!!