the ex-boyfriend who called me last week has sent me a lawsuit to handle for his company. I am flattered that he has entrusted me to handle this very important matter for him and am excited that it will require me to travel to a state I truly love to visit.
You may recall that he left me a voice mail last week in which he mentioned that he is now married and expecting his first child. When he reached me "live," J filled me in on the precise date and place in which he proposed to his wife, the date on which they married and the date on which they conceived their child. Yes, this was too much information. But we quickly moved on to the state of my love life, which offered a really short transition into how fulfilled I am by my work. Um. So ... then we turned to talk of travel, and the conversation became significantly more comfortable for me.
Sometimes, life throws you into a truly unexpected situation. My philosophy is to see where it takes you, as I do not believe in accidents or coincidences. Lest I be misunderstood, I am not implying that there will be any romance with this guy--even leaving aside the obvious (that he is married), it was clear to me then, as it is now, that this was a connection better left unconnected. But other good things may come of this!
In other news, I was thinking of a North Carolina vacation in August/September, but am now thinking that if I have 10 days off in a row, I should spend it in another country, as that is a rare occurrence. So now I'm shopping for another country to visit and am feeling totally undecided. I haven't officially scrapped the NC trip and spent a lot of time today scouting out possible places to stay along the way. But I find that I feel most refreshed after returning from a place where people speak a different language. Am even considering Cuba or places southward, a direction in which I have never before traveled. Thoughts?
P.S. A big shout-out to Phil of The Archer Pelican site, who was nice enough to provide me with detailed thoughts on the NC trip and to solicit feedback from his readers, too. I know if I don't make that trip this year that I'll do it another time for sure.
P.P.S. I have now had 5,999 visitors to this site--the next visitor will be number 6,000. Welcome!
7 comments:
Well, I know you've been to Paris and Prague, but where else have you been in Europe?
Have you been to Ireland? Or to Scotland?
How bout that long wished for trip to Southeast Asia?
Somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere where it is sunny and seventy five. Once you get over the cost of the airfare, the day-to-day expenses are about the same as anywhere else. Australia is fairly economical.
Thanks for the thoughts, all! As for places I have already visited, Jay, they include:
France (Paris, Loire Valley, Mediterranean)
Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Grenada)
Italy (Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, the Cinque Terre, Southern Italy)
Switzerland
Austria (Salzburg and Vienna)
Germany (Munich, Heidelberg, Hannover, Rothenberg)
Prague
Istanbul
Greece (Athens, Ios, Santorini)
Greece is really calling out to me for a return visit, and late August would be a nice time of year for that, but I'm not sure.
I would gladly welcome you in Amsterdam.
Well, since you haven't been to Ireland I would reccomend going there. Fly to Dublin and the wander around the Irish countryside for a few days.
Go to a small town on the west coast like Galway and hang out in the pubs with the locals and listen to the traditional music and drink some Guinness.
You can ride a bike around the area or rent a car either way, it would be a wonderful trip.
And then I can vacation there vicariously through you!!! LOL
Wow! You've been to some great places!
I haven't traveled as extensively, but I love Edinburgh. However, Edinburgh in August is a mad house because of the The Fringe Festival. If you're looking for a packed, energetic place with truly incredible people- watching, that would be the place to go. But since you might have trouble finding a place to stay, you could always stay in Perth, Glasgow or Sterling, and take the train in to Edinburgh for the festival.
But the best thing about going to Edinburgh in August is that in addition to the Fringe Festival, the International Book Festival is going on, and it's huge!
Anyway, here's a couple of websites:
http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/
http://www.edfringe.com/
But if you're looking for relaxation and a beach, Greece would be awesome.
Thanks so much for your thoughts, all. I see now that one of the things that brings us together here is our unanimous love of travel!
You know what? I think now that my inability to make a decision about this trip is really borne of my uncertainty about whether to take it at all. This is a big year for me at work, and I think I'm nervous about taking that much time off. I think I'll wait for the time to draw a bit nearer, but it may be that I just take a bit of a long weekend for Labor Day and save the big trip for next year.
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