When the snow falls, I fly...

Get me the heck out of Korea when winter hits. It gets colder than a meat locker, without the wonderful smell of carcass. This year is a bit different than others, in regards to vacation time, thanks to our good friend swine flu. A well known fact in Korea to most foreign teachers is that we're not to leave the country unless we complete a 7-day quarantine upon return to Korea. Now, this may seem odd or inconvenient--and it is. However, it does serve a purpose and in a way lengthens our vacation by 7-days, which is fantastic. We are, after all, public servants and spend most of our time around children. Because of this we must take precautions to try and ensure not only our own health but the health of the more susceptible children. Though some of us may understand the reasoning it is a bit of a wrench in the proverbial gears. In the good old days we were able to travel during the Chuseok (Thanksgiving) holiday. This year, we may not because there's not enough time for quarantine. So we must be patient and travel to far off lands in the winter. I'm cheating a bit and Dong Wook and I have planned a trip to Busan for the first weekend of October. We'll be attending Asia's foremost film festival, the Pusan International Film Festival. We didn't manage to snag a fancy-schmancy hotel as we wanted, but we did manage lodging and train tickets at a modest price. This will tide us over (or so is our hope) until good ol' winter rolls around (how I dread you bitter cold). Keeping things bright and happy, I was welcomed with the news that my vacation runs from Christmas day to January 31st. Quite a sizeable vacation...but where to go? The choices are seemingly endless. I mean, I can afford for my boyfriend and I to go virtually anywhere. The only trouble is we don't want to spend our entire nest egg on yet another trip. Also, if we choose a less expensive area of the world (ie. South-East Asia) we can presumably stay longer and still save money. On the other hand, who wants to spend 2-weeks fearing tranny pick-pocketing and tummy-typhoon when we could spend a week getting our nails filed and culture polished in Europe? So, I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I'm a planner--what can I say? So far the list reads as such: Oahu, Osaka, Cambodia, Paris, Barcelona, Malaysia, and the Philippines. What to do, what to do? Sun and beaches on the cheap, or pretty cold in some of the most beautiful cities on earth? Grrr and harumph...