Do you want to hear about my vacation?

On Friday, May 30, 2014, I embarked on an epic journey. Spanning 22 days and 3 continents (counting home), it justifies my use of that played-out adjective.

I intended to post a running photo blog of my adventures, but this has proved more difficult than I imagined, because I’ve had internet access less frequently than I expected, and even less time to sit around and blog. Most of that time has been occupied uploading my huge photos on a slow connection.

However, I’m finally going to begin!

I’ll skip the part about all the disasters and things that I forgot, which basically defined our first day. Instead, I’ll tell you about Indonesia!

MAY 31 – JUN 1

I traveled with my boyfriend Al, his mother, grandmother, and nephew. Following 24 hours of travel, we arrived in Jakarta sometime after 11 on May 31 (Saturday night). We were picked up by one of Al’s cousins. By this time, you would think the best course of action would be to take us home to go to bed (I don’t know about the rest of my fellow travelers, but the pitiful sleep I got on the plane was probably worse than no sleep at all).

But instead, we went out to eat at a dim sum place owned by his family. We did not arrive at our lodging (the cousins’ home) until close to 4 am. The place could accurately be described as a mansion; however, I was less impressed by the grandeur of the house than the fact that I could finally sleep lying down. I would have gladly slept on the tile floor for that privilege, but fortunately I was furnished with a bed.

The next day, Sunday, was business time. After we got up shortly after 1 pm. Al needed to visit the airport to handle some details about our upcoming flights (over the entire vacation, we would be taking 5 airplane trips, not including the flights to and from the US).

We did that and then stopped for lunch at the below restaurant, where I had my first authentic Indonesian meal! It was vegetables in a peanut sauce, with all sorts of fried things served with it, which were bought a la carte. Although I’d been dreading eating in Indonesia, because of my very selective tastes, I almost enjoyed it! It was too spicy, though.

That evening, we went to a "beach" called Ancol. Although it was pretty dark when we got there, it was still pretty clear that it was no beach I would ever want to swim at. It was pretty dirty. That didn't seem to stop some of the kids around, but our party just walked around the shore, and then left to go have dinner.

And that was the end of our first day. Hopefully, I will have some more Indonesia stories for you later, and some photos too!