Several people who’ve been abroad with me to New Zealand, Greece and America have asked me to put together another tour. Some request we go to South Island New Zealand, while others have requested California for skiing and sightseeing or Hawaii.

However, the last tour fell apart because I couldn’t organize the dates according to everyone’s schedules. Some people gave me their schedules too late or told me they would be able to go, but then told me those dates were no good later on after I had planned everything out. In the end, I had to cancel the trip because no one could go at the same time.

If you wish to go on the next trip, please specify your name, dates you can go and which place sounds best to you.

Your choices are:

• South Island New Zealand – Whitewater rafting, hot air ballooning, glacier hiking, fjord sightseeing cruise, hot spring, horseback riding
• Hawaii Island – helicopter over Mauna Loa, snorkeling, sunbathing, windsurfing, ocean kayaking, shopping and sightseeing
• Sightseeing the states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California on a 10-day drive from Chicago to San Francisco in a camper van!

Personally, since the yen is stronger than the dollar, I would like to take advantage and do the drive from Chicago to San Francisco!

After a long flight from Osaka to Seoul to Los Angeles, we’re finally here in Mammoth Lakes where we will go skiing in the morning.

(Sorry, the pictures were deleted. I will repost them soon! July 27, 2011)

Day1 Drive to Mammoth Lakes

The drive from Los Angeles was smooth one. We stopped a few times along the way, once for two hours of shopping for bathing suits and groceries, and then another time for gas, and another few times for picture taking. All in all, the drive took us a little over 7 hours including the stops.

There is leftover snow on the ground around Mammoth, but not much. Mostly the stuff left from snowplows piling it up on the sides of roads here and there. The mountain has plenty of snow though, and they expect more Tuesday. Good thing we rented a 4×4 Jeep Liberty to get us around, rain, sleet or snow. We should be good to go.

For dinner tonight, we ate Mexican that we bought at the grocery store and made ourselves. It was delicious!

Well, everyone is showering now and then we’re off to dreamland to get some much needed sleep before skiing tomorrow.

The flight to Korea was nice and short. The food was good in flight and afterwards at the airport.

We leave for the flight to Los Angeles in about 45 more minutes so I had better wrap this up. The ladies are on the other computers sending emails to their family.

Incheon has a nice airport. It has been fixed up since my last trip here. There are many shops to visit, but the prices are more expensive than Japan. The food is relatively the same in price and very good. I recommend the tuna sushi for 4000 wan. It comes with a cup of soup and pickled daikon and kimchi. All good for the price.

If you want to do Internet, there are Internet cafes throughout the airport, some for $$ and some for free. I found a free one!

Time to go.

Next post from Mammoth Lakes, California!

The pictures for this trip will be here —> Pictures

We’re heading to America tomorrow morning. We will be meeting at KIX early tomorrow morning. We have to be at Kansai International Airport at around 7:30 to check in before our flight out.

We should arrive in LA around the same time we leave the same day…only about a 20 minute flight! Amazing how that happens, eh?

Today, I had to run around all over the place to get some last-minute stuff done. Now, I have to pack my suitcase and make sure I’ve got all the proper paperwork.

Here’s a check-list for you guys, Chiemi, Eiko and May, if you read this today.

• passport (essential or you can’t leave the country)
• omiyage money
• clothes (essential if you don’t want to be embarrassed)
• shoes
• bathing suit (for the jacuzzi after skiing and swimming in Vegas)
• winter jacket
• light jacket or sweater or sweat shirt
• camera, memory card, cables to download if your memory card gets full, battery and charger
• sunglasses for skiing
• carry-on bag with nothing liquid, no food, and no harmful objects (whatever those things are I’m still in the dark since this is the first time I’ve flown in over two years and in-flight restrictions have gotten stricter)
• toiletries (beware because these things may not even pass customs and may be considered dangerous materials)

That should do it for the main things. I hope I don’t forget anything!

The next post will be coming from Mammoth Lakes, California, God willing. He’s in control, and I pray we arrive there and back safely.

The current conditions at Mammoth Lakes are very good! They have a 170cm to 200cm base of snow. The skies are clear right now and the temperatures range from -3C in the morning to 8C in the daytime.

The temperature in Las Vegas is 23C and clear skies.

The Grand Canyon ranges from 1C to 24C depending on where you are and what time of the day it is. The skies are clear to partly cloudy.

So we should experience some great weather on the trip and go through all the seasons of the year in one week as we start in Los Angeles 12C, drive to Mammoth Lakes -3C to snow ski, then to Vegas 23C and the Grand Canyon 11C.

We will be posting pictures to this site during the tour next week. So please check back frequently for updates and photos because the tour will only last one week.