It’s been a REALLY long day. Couldn’t sleep last night because I was so excited to getting started on the trip. I only got about an hour and a half of sleep and by 1:30am, I was wide awake.

I spoke to a number of friends about how interested I was in doing a vlog for this trip in addition to this wordpress blog. I had so many plans and ideas to execute a daily vlog on Youtube. I bought a specific lens for it, a shotgun mic, along with other camera equipment. After recording for several hours today, I unfortunately came to the conclusion that it wasn’t for me. Took 15 min just to import the data and by that time I wasn’t interested in slogging through all the footage and put hours at the end of my day to put a 3-5 min comprehensive video. I also didn’t want to miss out on relaxing and experiencing the trip either. I’ve been able to refine this blog format over the years where it take at most 30 min a day to process my photos and summarize the day’s activities.

I was able to finalize the first part of my vlog. I guess this is the only idea that I was able to successfully execute. Hope you enjoy:

I managed to get Jack and Gretchen to the airport at 6am and then I went home to rush and pack everything in my bag. I’m slightly frustrated that everyone was able to manage a 22lb luggage but mine ended up being around 36 with all my media equipment and winter stuff for Sapporo which is bulky.

My sister picked me up to go to the airport and halfway there, Joanna asked “Do you have your passport?” I decided to humor her and look in my bag. It wasn’t there. This is only a funny story because we left early enough for the airport with ample time to turn around. It was under my coffee table for some reason.

Plane was delayed to LAX because we had crazy 40mph winds. My friend Bob picked us up and took us straight to a Korean bbq place in Koreatown. This is always a highlight to my visits to LA.

I have been awake for 24 hours now with 2 hour long naps today. Alex and Stephanie just arrived in Shanghai while Jack and Gretchen should be arriving to Tokyo in the next hour. Our flight to Tokyo is tomorrow morning at 9am. This is going to be a great trip, I’m really happy to have you as my readers to join me!