Russia - Why Russia?

It is just under 12 hours before I board the plane for my Russian Adventure and I thought it was time to introduce you all to my blog. On past trips I sent out email updates describing a little of my experiences so that you could get a sense of what the country is like and, more importantly, so I could rub in the fact that I'm on vacation and you're not.

So now as I get ready to head off I thought I'd answer a few questions that I've been hearing a lot lately.

Q1. Are you excited?

A. Yes, excited and nervous. I booked the trip so long ago that I thought I'd have plenty of time to plan out what I wanted to do. Now that the day has arrived, I better hurry up with the planning.

Q2. Are you packed?

A. Not yet. I am definitely my parent's child when it comes to this. When I was growing up my mom decided to read a self-help book on procrastination and I'm fairly certain that the book mark is somewhere in chapter 4. What she did learn in those first 3 1/2 chapters is that the people that are most likely to procrastinate are perfectionists. So I like to think that I'm not procrastinating by sitting at my desk setting up and writing this blog instead of packing, I'm just waiting until I can be sure I pack perfectly.

Q3. Of all the places to go, why Russia?

A. Well... why not? Here are a few more reasons.

1. My cousin Jason lived in St. Petersburg for a while and since he is my only older cousin, and therefore my wisest cousin, I should go see what the fuss is about.
2. My brother Patrick forced me to listen to the Beatles non-stop from 1987 to 1990 and the song "Back in the U.S.S.R" was a regular on the playlist.
3. I really liked the animated movie Anastasia about Anastasia Romanov as the lone survivor of the assasinated Romanov family as told in the musical Disney format and wanted to see if any modern day Russians look anything like the drawing of Rasputin.
4. I was able to get a free flight using my Delta frequent flyer miles.
5. According to facebook I've traveled to about 10% of the world and I wanted to see if I could double it with just one trip.

I will attempt to update this blog every couple of days and hope you will take a look and send me your comments. Now, I better go pack.