Flyaway

In the past couple of days, I’ve been finalizing arrangements for two of the three Big Trips I’m taking between now and the fall.

1)  A five-day April trip for all three of us to San Francisco to our friend Michael’s wedding.  Two full days on a plane with a ten-year-old, five days in the kennel for the pupster, expensive hotel room, wearing a tie.  Grand total for the trip, somewhere in the neighborhood of two grand.  The latter is the only part that’s really stressful.  (Well, except from the dog’s point of view.)  It should be a nice family trip for us, and we get to celebrate with our good friends, to boot.

2)  Less than 48 hours after the above, I hop a plane to Chicago for a conference.  I’ll be flying and rooming with a colleague – probably my best friend in the biz, who works for the state rather than for the U.  Total cost is a little over $600, although the U will reimburse me.  (But in the meantime I’ll be sucking up the finance charge on my cards.  Suck.)  I usually do these conferences alone, so I have lots of down time after the sessions are over.  This roomie business, although I love the guy, is making me a little antsy.  But on the bright side, I hopefully will get the chance to hang out with somebody (else) cool.

3)  That little motorcycle-race thing with somebody (else else) cool in August.  But we’ve got time to build up to that.

I always enjoy being someplace new (for some reason I always love watching the morning news and weather and traffic in a new place) but I’ll admit, that two solid weeks with only one day back at home is a little freakish.  After the first 24 hours I usually miss my family (see most recent evidence).  For the first trip, the family will be there, but I’m betting after about the third day we’ll all be missing our own beds, own chairs, own routines.  And THEN, on my second trip, there’s a strong potential that I’ll be in my “I’m so tired of this crap, when can I just be home again?” mode from the get-go.  But what the hell, right?  I’ve never been to Chicago so I need to buck up and see the sights.

Anyway…anyone else going to be in SF and/or Chi-town in mid-April?  I can try to carve a niche in my busy social calendar…as long as you understand that my tired-ass B game may be the best I can play!