back from road trip

back from the road trip ... safe and in the comfort of my office in LA where it's a perfect 70 degrees F outside ...

here's larry's quick re-cap of the road-trip

http://www.larrychi.net/post/67283081/back-from-my-road-trip-ill-do-a-full-recap

more pictures and blog entries to come in the next few weeks, but here's a glimpse of what we went through ...

Will, Larry and I decide to take our rental Trailblazer off-roading (in the snow storm) after hitting up a local bar and Will cleaning up the locals at a "friendly" game of poker ... unfortunately, the off-roading didn't make far ... a cop had to pull us out of 3 ft snow and nearly put us behind bars for reckless driving ...

Road to Soul Search

after days of discussion and re-booking our hotels, we've finally came up with the following plans ... it seems quite ridiculous to me given the aggressive timeline, the winter / snow drives, and trying to see each city and hit up the bars ... but what can you do when u want to see so much in so little time ... u make do ... so here it is ...

19th: las vegas, NV
20th: salt lake city, UT
21st: jackson, WY
22nd: billings, MT
23rd: rapid city, SD
24th: denver, CO
25th: santa fe, NM
26th: flagstaff, AZ
27th: phoenix, AZ
28th: back HOME!

here's a link to the map of our trip ... (copy and paste into address bar)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=Los+Angeles,+CA&daddr=Las+Vegas,+NV+to:Salt+Lake+City,+UT+to:Montpelier,+ID+to:Jackson,+WY+to:44.063907,-110.709229+to:Billings,+MT+to:US-212+to:Rapid+City,+SD+to:Chadron,+NE+to:Denver,+CO+to:Santa+Fe,+NM+to:Flagstaff,+AZ+to:AZ-64%2FUS-180+to:Scottsdale,+AZ+to:Los+Angeles,+CA&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3BFRZYtwIdKHyt-Q%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3BFRYXJgIdImFR-Q%3B%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=4&mrsp=5&sz=8&via=5,7&sll=44.067854,-109.434814&sspn=2.798262,4.943848&ie=UTF8&z=8

Tagged: 7 Facts

larry tagged me this morning so i'm suppose to disclose 7 things about me ... will try to keep it short ...

1. while i deny it ... deep down, i still believe i'm pretty spoiled ... (at times, i think i can be an a-hole) ... come to think of it, i played a spoiled a-hole so well once that i helped my friend get $4K off his new beetle but the dealer was so pissed off afterwards he kicked me out of his dealership ... (my friend got the car cheap)

2. i love going to book stores on my own ... even better, reading trashy magazines at airport bookstores knowing no one will recognize me ...

3. i can't stand staying at home for an entire day ... but, don't be mislead, i'm still a very lazy person ...

4. i once bargained at a 7-eleven and got 2 free cans of coke for buying a hot-dog ...

5. i use to love & hate horror films ... up until 6th grade i'd still watch'm and flip out ... be so scared that i couldn't use the restroom and slept with the lights on ... i now refuse to watch horror films ...

6. i started a business ... i regret leaving it 2 years ago ... it did well in the beginning, but after i left, it's been struggling ... i blame myself for the struggle, i hate the fact that i can't do much about it being here in the U.S., and i wonder how much better off the business would be had i stuck with it (or perhaps it wouldn't be) ...

7. i love chick-flicks ... many ppl ask what's my fav, hard to say, but love actually is prolly somewhere on top of list ... (need i elaborate? i'm just digging myself deeper)

there u have it ...

The Road Trip

I'm turning 30 and always wanted to do a road trip across the U.S. ... one of those road trips with a few close friends seeing the world in a beaten down 1960's VW mini-van and living on a $1 a day ... alright, so that never really happened .... sexy as it sounds, quite frankly, living off my parents, i was too spoiled to do something like that ... but the idea was there ...

so, shortly after graduation, i left for TW and then started work in HK ... trying to live a baller-lifestyle (until i realized i wasn't making shit) ... reality kicked in and i soon learned the difficulties of making money and getting rich ... (hey, i'm still trying)

A few months ago, I met a co-worker & friend who told me of his story where right after graduation he and a friend took 1 month off and traveled the entire U.S. in a beaten down VW (no, it wasn't a 1960's mini-van) and $700 in his pocket ... living on a budget that tight, he broke-in to college dorms they came across along the trip in order to save on motel expense ... quite an inspiration!! ... so the idea of a road trip came to mind again ...

A few days ago, my BFN (best friend for now, ok, dun ask me where i just thought of this), Larry messaged me and said he was bored with life and wanted to go somewhere, before i knew it ... our good friend Will was roped in, a road trip map and plan developed, and i found in my inbox reservations of hotels across the US for the days dec 19th - 28th (Larry works for a hotel chain) ... this is how the road trip began ...

over the next few weeks, i'll be documenting my thoughts (insightful or trashy), experiences (good or bad), and pictures (inspirational or shameless) along the way ... please visit regularly over the next couple of days if you'd like to track our progress, post comments / suggestions and provide other feedback ... at the very least, hopefully, this will keep you guys slaving away at your desk during x-mas week something entertaining to laugh about ... wish us luck, fun and hopefully, not too much pain!!!