Ian Lozada: Images and Words

...And no, I don't mean an amusement park in Jackson, NJ.

Late on Wednesday night, I'm flying out on the first leg of a trip that will have me in Cebu, Philippines by Good Friday. This is the first time I'm ever going to use my passport. That's right, kids, 34 years old, and the only time I've left the country is to go to Canada. Which isn't much more out of my way than going to Philly, in reality.

My father is already abroad on the trip, in Myanmar (formerly Burma). My dad has used his retirement to coordinate logistics for short-term medical missions trips, getting doctors and dentists to free medical clinics in countries such as India, Pakistan, Egypt and Thailand. I'm going to document one of these trips as we go to Cebu and also to an area just outside of his hometown of Manila that has suffered damage from a volcano and from a typhoon over the last year. On the way back, I get a tourism day with Dad in Hong Kong, where I've made arrangements to go to Happy Valley Race Course to shoot some pictures.

The toughest thing about the trip, of course, is missing my wife and daughter, who will be hosting my in-laws while I'm gone. Thank heaven for videoconferencing. There's also been a lot of vaccinations and things like that, too.

I'm going to try and update the blog from time to time while I'm out here, including pictures and maybe video. Keep checking back!