Farewell

Three hours to go before my alarm clock will start screaming Spirit in my life and a black car will take me away AWAY. What is taking me so long? At midnight I had to pick up a package from Latvia with two dozen of Riga postcards. Now I am ready to represent the country of my passport. I also received dark chocolate bar that I simply had to start eating immediately.

Hyped and excited I can write about my farewell party that took place on Friday. Thanks to our quick brainstorming with Roly, a perfect bar was located in East Village, New York. The key ingredient to the party was [besides me] a retro photo booth that for 4 bucks produced photo strips of our drunk and not so drunk faces. I had a blast taking those and trying to be creative with my facial expressions. Not as easy as I thought! Here is a small collage of a few photographs.



I am taking the pictures with me and imagine I will drop a tear or two looking at them on that lonely night. Thanks everyone for coming!

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I was told by multiple people that I was living their dream. Actually, I am not. I don't even see it as living my dream. I am just living exactly the way I want to live right now. I wake up happy and go to bed happy, appreciating the last step and already excited about the very next step I will make. If I was to imagine freedom, then I would just picture myself today. Free from [...] and free to [...] Lucky to be able to do whatever without second guessing.

The two most asked questions at the party were how long my trip will last and what I will do afterwards. Can a smile be my answer? The beauty of my plan is that there is none. Except for I know I will catch a plane to Bogotá in a couple of hours. Then I plan to head down to Ecuador and Peru and I have tickets to South Africa, but plans can change. If I grow tired of traveling, I will come back. If I don't like the place, I pack and go. If I love it, I stay for as long as I want to.

a w e s o m e

[pls don't hate me]

Pre-departure budget

Vaccinations $715

Camera accessories (incl. repairs) $507

Packing (incl. daypack + sleeping bag) $383

Clothing (incl. hiking shoes) $325

Travel Insurance (6 months) $240

Medicine+toiletries $56

TOTAL $2226

Packing - done!

If anyone is interested, below is my packing list without details what my medicine kit and toiletries contain. My backpack weights 24 pounds, daypack - 18 pounds (for the flight purposes tomorrow only). Daypack will get lighter once I finish reading all my Economists!

I was surprised to learn that clothing takes the least amount of space. In fact, my backpack is overtaken by cords and chargers, bandaids and medicine for all possible emergencies, and small containers of everything a girl might need...

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Sleeping bag +15F, synthetic, 2lbs 12 oz
Silk Sleeping Bag Liner
Travel Towel
Hiking Shoes
Teva sandals
Flip-flops

Clothing:
Pack-It Cube #1
Thermal long underwear + thermal top
Underwear
Hiking Socks – 5 pairs
Bras

Pack-It Cube #2
Zip off pants
Cargo Pants
Shorts
3 t-shirts
1 long sleeve t-shirt
Fleece
Waterproof parka
A skirt and a top to go out

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Hidden Travel Wallet
Water container
Nikon D70 SLR camera with cords, 3 extra memory sticks, a charger, adapter, protective bags
Wide lens for D70
Small digital camera - Lumix Panasonic DMC-FX01 with extra everything as above
iPod+extra headphones
External hard drive + universal card reader
Medicine Kit (packed my own)
Toiletries
90% DEET
Water purification tablets
Sunblock

Other:
Compass
Sewing kit
Leatherman Micra
A knife
Zip locks
Extra stuff bag
Guidebook
Electronic dictionary
Diary
Notebook
Pictures + postcards
Pens

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As you can see I am not big on warm clothing, which I plan to accumulate as I go on as needed basis. I want to believe I packed light, smart and practical.

Stress

One day to go. I am certainly stressed, tired and disappointed with myself. I am not where I thought I would be in terms of being ready to leave. I imagined I would spend the last weekend in New York City walking my favorite streets, watching TV and doing yoga. Instead I am running in circles. Actually, I thought the trip's planning would be the hardest part. Wrong. Going away is the easiest part. I just need to get on a plane, the rest will fall into places. It is leaving this complicated high tech world is what drives me crazy. Time just evaporated, some silly calls, bills, paper work, tax returns, shopping and emergency doctor appointments took all the time this week. Still have to make a dozen of calls, copy files, make lists of phones+addresses, give instructions and directions. I am almost there.

WMC 2008 report

Winter Music Conference in Miami last week was a blast! I've seen and danced to quite a number of my favorite Djs. Тыц-тыц-тыц. In the mix.

We kicked off WMC at RA vs. Kompakt party at The Pawn Shop on Thursday.

Dominik Eulberg [Cocoon - Ger]
Ewan Pearson [Kompakt / Fabric - UK]
Gui Boratto [Kompakt - Brazil]
SOS (Desyn Masiello, Omid 16B, Demi) -[UK] - front room





Then I switched to Nocturnal where I tried to be in two places at the same time:

The main stage hosted Anjunabeats 100 party with Above & Beyond, Andy Moor, Super8 & Tab, Mark Pledger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8b80rneF_8

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2529877458149218233&pr=goog-sl (video is taken with my tiny Panasonic camera, I was jumping, most of it sounds like noise to a lot of people)

I like trance, but today's "it music" as I see it was playing on the Nocturnal Terrace. Highlight of M_nus 10 year anniversary showcase party was of course Richie Hawtin. I saw him multiple times in Miami and the crowd seemed to like him no matter what he played. But he is great and good looking. Other M_nus folks included Magda, Marco Carola, Paco Osuna, JPLS live, Heartthrob, Ambivalent.



http://www.residentadvisor.net/photo-gallery.aspx?set=3468&page=1

Both parties were sick! Ah!!!

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On Friday afternoon after 3 hours of sleep (who sleeps at WMC?) and a delicious breakfast on Ocean Dr. we went to BBC Radio1 Pool Party hosted by Pete Tong and Annie Mac at The Surfcomber. It was a complete disappointment for me - the crowd, the music, the line up. Even Erick Prydz who was amazing in New York, played something average. He was saving himself for Utra where I heard he rocked the place.






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Saturday I kicked off with Beatport Pool Party at National Hotel. Amazing atmosphere, crowd and line up. I stayed for Matthew Dear & Ryan Elliott, Guy Gerber, Richie Hawtin and Paolo Mojo.


Matthew Dear & Ryan Elliott [Spectral Sound, USA]




Guy Gerber [Cocoon Recordings - ISR]



Sea of Sand from Late Bloomers album

Richie Hawtin [Minus - Canada]

Paolo Mojo [OOSH Music - UK]

After a 30-minute hassle with my lost debit card (I have it already, ready to go), I headed for Listed loves Mobilee Party at Townhouse Hotel Rooftop. I love Mobilee label from Berlin!

I came just in time for Pan-Pot:





Then Sebo K








And closing act till 11 pm - the one and only Anja Schneider




Amazing party, just what you need before the last night out in Miami. Without coming back to change, we headed off to The Pawn Shop (again) for Lee Burridge [UK], Loco Dice [Germany] and Marco Carola [Italy]. One dark party, amazing music. Crazy people continued through the night and day through the following day with a killer line-up. I collapsed on Sunday morning in urgent need for food. We left, but we wanted more (and I wanted some physical therapy for my knees)!