I'm on a boat and...

Ok, I'm not on a boat yet. But I will be. Soon.

The Singapore trip planning is in full swing. There are a host of things in Singapore that the BF has been waiting to explore until I arrive: the Raffles hotel (origin of the Singapore Sling), the botanical gardens, the zoo. So that's on the agenda. Also, dinner with some friends of friends who live there.

Then we're going to go to Bintan, Indonesia. It's about a 45-minute boat ride from Singapore and is a beautiful little island, with beaches and jet skis and kayaks and golf and...stuff. According to the interwebz, it's all the resorty things people love about Bali, but not quite as touristy.

But now that the trip is looming, I have a few concerns. In which hotels will we have drinkable tap water? How much does alcohol cost? How scared do I need to be of street food? Or ice in my cocktail? But my biggest concern about the trip: how in the world is my poor translucent Seattle skin going to handle the equatorial sunshine?! Now that summer has arrived, I'm trying to get out and play and see some sunshine when I can in Seattle. But it might not be enough. Anyone know where I can acquire some SPF 90 or something? 

What happens in Vegas...

...is clearly not staying in Vegas.

But it really doesn't need to, because we didn't do anything wild or crazy.

I went to Las Vegas for the very first time last week, and met my friend MommaDoc there and basically our days went like this:

• Wake up sans alarm clock
• Head to buffet (location of buffet depends on the day)
• Eat lots of deliciousness (one day I had a french toast sandwich, shrimp cocktail and flank steak sandwich, followed by vanilla ice cream with Butterfinger crumbs for brunch...it was awesome)
• Sit at pool
• Order freezy slushy drinks at pool bar
• Float in lazy river (where we used 3-foot beverage glasses as paddles to direct our innertubes)
• Order refills of freezy slushy drinks from friendly pool waitress ladies
  
• Eat (the best) burgers and fries (in the world) at In-N-Out Burger
• Change into "fancy clothes"
  
• Shake our money-makers at dance club
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour
• Lather, rinse, repeat

Maybe that's not what most people do in Vegas. But as I told the blackjack dealer: "I have casinos in Seattle...I don't have pools...or sunshine...so whatevs."

MommaDoc and I had a fantastic vacation and thoroughly enjoyed our trip. Having just finished med school, MommaDoc earned a vacay...I was just grateful she wanted to spend it with me! In fact, I'd do it again tomorrow. We got to visit with each other (awesome) and even came in under budget (awesome). Overall, my first trip to Vegas was a success.

Now let's see how long the "tan"* lasts.

*It was hard work getting from translucent to color, so while I'm not sure I qualify as "tan", I'll still claim it.