The Chin family took a much needed vacation for a few weeks. I'm finally back at work and can say I'm glad to be back. I'm still loading up all the photos and videos, finding a place for the receipts, cards, and postcards in our non-existent scrapbook. And getting around to pay monthly bills for things that haven't been used for a month. Life is pretty sweet.
As for the vacation. It was Morocco in August. Think of the hottest place you've ever been. Add some sun, a few wild animals, and a little pollution. I've got great pictures of our first night. We all woke up with completely puffed out eyes due to allergies or something. Every picture has a story behind it and as soon as I can I'm going to give them to you.
Twice today I read almost the same article on the New York Times and International Herald Tribune. The article was reporting on the weak dollar bringing in loads of tourists from abroad. Most cosmopolitan cities are expensive. The short list is Moscow, Tokyo, London, Paris. New York has been pushed down somewhere in 20s which means it just that affordable. But it's become a summer and travel right. Just about everyone has a similar strategy of flying to New York City with an empty or partly filled suitcase and loading it up. I've only done this once on a trip to Miami because I had most of my clothes in my closet at my parents' house. Even when we were there I felt a little guilty buying semi-expensive things. Gadgets I wouldn't normally look at until they were on sale became much more affordable. Hell even my student loans don't appear to be the "dreaded, monthly evisceration of our bank account".
But in the long run this will be a good reminder to the US that things won't always remain constant. It can happen where one day you won't be on top. And it's starting to reveal it's way to a lot of Americans. The precarious position they are in on an international scope. When the dollar was weak loosing value against the euro it was easily cast off as temporary, just inflation on the european central bank. But as Canada, Australia, and other nations have risen against the dollar at the same rate we've come to realize the dollar has actually been weakening.
No matter what the talking heads tell you, when planeloads of tourists start arriving from war torn central asian countries, you've entered a new era.