Trip-planning, like party-planning, gives me hives, a headache and a bad attitude. I suppose I should be thrilled at how quickly the Internet and its myriad trip-planning sites can digest the information I give it (dates, places, price requirements) and spit it back out in the form of quickly scanned multiple choice format; nothing could really be easier. However, it’s taken me 3 days and numerous howls for help to my husband and my mom to figure out the best possible combination of departures and arrivals and layovers and airlines and prices. And that was only for 3 of us; my husband still has to figure out HIS ticket to the States separately since he’s coming later than we are.
One choice, which allowed me to leave after work on Friday, had a layover overnight in Amsterdam. Um, no. The most common possibility for departure was a flight that left Copenhagen at 6:45 in the morning which, with the U.S. government’s recommended arrival NO LESS THAN THREE HOURS before boarding would have required that we get up at 2 a.m.
Um, no.
Why in hell do they tell you that you should get there 3 hours before a flight to the US? That’s just insane. Also, completely unnecessary. Traveling is stressful enough with plenty of aggravations and long waiting times…there’s no need to exacerbate the situation with that kind of foolishness.
Anyway, both our vacation trip to the States and my work trip in October are now booked. Yippee skippy! Two trips to the States in one year! Now to figure out a way to get to Chicago while we’re over there this summer. 🙂
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We’re dog-sitting again, this time for a week instead of 5 days which is my normal limit. But you know what? With this dog, I think we could make it UNLIMITED. She’s the easiest dog we’ve ever taken care of, and she doesn’t keep us up all night like Chelsea did, with tickity-tacking nails on the hardwood floors and unexpected facefuls of dogbreath and cold nose snuffles. She’s QUIET and RESTFUL and a pleasure to walk with. My arm is still attached to its socket when we get back to the house, imagine! I guess that’s the difference between 1 year old and 3 years old when it comes to puppyness. Come to think of it, Max and Chimay, the other 2 dogs we’ve sat for, were pretty easy too, and they were both relatively mature. But London (my cousin Cate named her that so her daughter Sydney wouldn’t be the only capital city in the family…though their last name is Berlin, so they all qualify, really) is quite the sweetest sweetheart of a dog.
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I am impatient for grass, for pansies, for budding leaves on trees. It’s making me jittery; this part takes so long!
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I made moose pasta for dinner tonight. It was an impulse buy during my quick in-and-out trip to IKEA on Sunday to get new shower curtain liners, as were the 2 new pillows, the 2 new sage green hand towels, the set of 3 plasticware bowls and the 2 packs of napkins with purple and green designs on them. Dammit, IKEA! You did it to me again!
Moose sushi, moose pasta, what’s next?!
Frosting-filled Belated Birthday Wishes to carrieb!