My birthday week

Since we arrived in Japan, I had been preparing myself for an uneventful birthday since I knew Shane was going to be gone on the GW. Boy was I mistaken!!! The ship's schedule worked out so I was able to fly to Singapore and meet up with Shane for a great birthday week/vacation! I spent my actual birthday packing and getting excited about flying out...it was my first time traveling to a foreign country by myself AND my first time flying from Narita Airport in Tokyo. It takes 2-3 hours to get from Yokosuka to the airport, so getting there is an experience in itself. There is a shuttle bus from base to the airport, but it wasn't running early enough (5am) so I had to take the train. For a Saturday morning at 5am the train was suprisingly crowded!

In case you're wondering, Singapore is an island city-country at the tip of the Malay Penninsula in Southeast Asia. It is very close to Malaysia and a bridge connects the two countries. I've included a map of Asia - I'm terrible with geography - and actually thought Malaysia and Singapore were connected until a few minutes ago(don't ask how I did on the 50 states quiz...it wasn't pretty.) So, for those of you who are geographically challenged like I am, you can dazzle your friends with your vast Singaporean knowledge! :)

Singapore has four national languages - English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil - it is quite a melting pot of cultures. Fortunately, English is spoken by pretty much everyone which made directions and communication really easy. We had a really amazing trip but the highlight was definately getting to hang out with my husband!!!!

I should probably give a warning about the slideshow...there are a LOT of pictures! If you click on a picture it will allow you to go thru the slides faster or slower...I hope you enjoy them!!

If you're having trouble viewing the slideshow or you'd like it to start from the beginning, click here: http://www.slide.com/r/rl_WIB6C6z85kmJpT9tmn5pkjR6FYoYH?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original