this weekend i will be in washington dc. it is my first trip to the nation's capitol. luckily tomorrow is a holiday for some california places of work, including mine, as it is cesar chavez day. this allows me to have a 3 day holiday in dc. i wasn't planning this at all--it happened rather suddenly. this is another okinawan related trip. the kenjinkai over there is having their little new year party (excuse me, spring party) and it turns out a relative from brazil is going to be there. that's all i needed to hear to buy my plane ticket. when i was a kid, i always wanted to visit dc. but as an adult, i yearn to see foreign lands. as i'll be attending okinawa-related activities, this doesn't leave much time for me to see the sites, nor make my way to sample vegan food as much of the restaurants i looked up online are far from the main cluster of sites, AKA the mall.

i don't have money to burn since i'm planning a big trip over the summer so i figured i would take the cheapest flight and stay in a hostel. the cheapest flights i found were from sites i don't trust. i've read really bad reviews. so i had to book with a site much more reputable and that cost more. i had to have a connection because direct is expensive. this means that i'm actually flying out tonight so that i can wake up in dc tomorrow morning. i'm trying to travel really light on the plane, only carry-on. if i have to check in luggage, it might not make the connection flight. if the luggage is lost, i'm fucked because i'll be stuck with only the clothes on my back. no thanks, i'd rather do carry-on. i even bought a tsa approved mini toiletries pack so i can squeeze in my shampoos and lotion into it for carry-on. at first i was only going to bring hippie soap to use also as shampoo and no conditioner but once i bought the toiletries pack i said forget that!

one of the kenjinkai people has graciously lend me their sofa so that helps tremendously, especially useful is that they live centrally and the public transportation system in dc seems good. in fact, the place i'm crashing at gets a whopping 97% rating at walkscore.com, which calculates how close everything is to an address (what is the walkability for food, library, etc.). by contrast, where i live only gets a rating of 51%. because i know my area, i know the rating is actually lower as the business names pulled do not necessarily perform the service the site thinks it performs. the same may be true for where i'm crashing but that's still a good score. in fact, it's almost ideal. i'd love to live in a place where i could walk or take public transportation and not bother with private vehicles.

as for the food, this is the biggest problem: there's hardly anything to eat by the mall and especially not if you're vegan. i found a lot of interesting places to eat at but they're either far away from the mall, not open on weekends, or only open late at night (vegan bar food). there's even a ghanian restaurant that i'd love to visit but i don't have the time. when i was little, my best friend's mom was from ghana and i have never ate the food as an adult. that the restaurant offers vegetarian/vegan options is great! but alas, no time.

my other issue is the list of prohibited items! i'm trying to travel light but i really want to bring my tripod for awesome night shots or sunrise/sunset photos. it's hard to wake up early enough for the sunrise, especially when changing timezones that is not in your favor, but since i'm going to okinawan dinners, it looks like i have no choice but to get up early for an awesome shot. i predict i will not. to take night shots might mean freezing my butt off and being rude to my host by coming back late. so this might not happen either. i was able to completely forget the idea of taking a tripod and then i saw the awesome hdr work of stuckincustoms.com and remembered that one of the reasons i got my camera was to try out hdr. i don't think i can leave the tripod behind afterall, even though it is restricted at some sites, grrr. also, backpacks, food, water, and toiletries (does this include purell?) are not allowed at some places so i can't carry lunch around with me. on top of that, a lot of places that are interesting to see require months of planning. you have to reserve so far in advance and have a large group. for example, it takes a group of 10 to see the white house. sorry but i don't even have 10 friends, let alone know 10 people willing to go to dc at the same time with me so i'll never be able to see the inside of the white house unless i cure a disease and get invited for dinner. that or become a white house intern or janitor.

as i've said, i've never been to dc, i've never been close. that mid-atlantic region and the midwest are the two main spots of america i have not seen, besides anything north of san francisco/sacramento on my end. lucky for me the kenjinkai dinner is in virginia so i can knock that off my list of 50 states. since maryland is right there, i also have to find some way to squeeze in a quick trip there, even if it means a metro ride up there, walk around a block, and back for the simple sake of saying i've been there.

anyway, there's just so much stuff like this to mention pre-flight that i wanted to cover this ground now instead of blabbing on about it during my trip. here's to good photos and good times!