truvy
Thursday, April 25, 2002
Must Travel...
I have, over the past few days, become obsessed with vacations.
I am going to Dallas for 4 days, leaving tomorrow evening, but that's not really a vacation - I'm going home to help take care of my mother, who recently had major surgery on her neck & spine, and now can't drive for 9 weeks. So, yes, I'll be out of the office, but I won't be taking in new sights or dining at exquisite restaurants or things like that.
Anyway, RJ and I are going to Australia for the Gay Games in November. That is taking up most of my vacation days this year, but even counting that, I have 5 more to "play" with for 2002. Should we go on a trip? Should I take long weekends during the summer? I think my best option is to take off Labor Day week, because RJ will have just graduated, and I'll only have to take 4 vacation days, and it's a lovely time of year to travel - not too hot, but just hot enough to include beach trips in the mix of opportunities.
SO, here are my ideas for Labor Day Week:
1. Provincetown - Rent a house for a week and enjoy the surf, sand & shows. Added benefits: we can drive and take the dog (bark!), which is always nice, especially since we'll be leaving him for 2 1/2 weeks in November. Also, Mark will be moving there for the summer (probably maybe most likely we're fairly certain), and it's always fun to spend time with habiby Mark (for those of you who don't speak Arabic, too bad, figure it out).
2. Fire Island - same idea as P'town, but closer. More expensive, so we'd be renting a room in someone's house instead of the whole house, but we'd still have surf & sand. Added benefits: in addition to proximity, we could see our NY friends whom I feel we never see anymore, & Rowan loves Fire Island, and his vet spends the summers there too.
3. Spain - Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, Sitges. I haven't set foot in Spain since I went to school there in 1990 (shriek, long ago, long ago), and I miss it! I have a (very) few friends in Madrid, and I would love to see how the country has changed in the past decade+. Plus, I'd love to practice my Castilian Spanish, and enforce that accent that my Latino friends like to make fun of (Bueno pues, de mi corathon yo juro que te quiero guapo). Added benefits: Spanish practice, seeing the Bilbao Guggenheim, lots of queers on the beaches of Sitges (hurray - hot Spanish jotos!), and eating as many chocolate covered palmeras from the Edelweiss bakery in Madrid as humanly possible. I dream of these palmeras - me encantan, que rico!
4. Eastern Europe - Prague, Budapest, Zagreb - Spend a week among the Lukas's of the world! Neither RJ nor I have ever been to Eastern Europe, and I have a friend/crush in Zagreb (so much of a crush I started to learn Croatian). We have friends who lived in Budapest, so I'm sure they could give us stellar advice on what to do, where to go, and the inside track on the grooviness. Added benefits: practicing my Croatian, seeing brand new (to us) places, everyone says these 3 cities are wunderbar (Christ, I'm practically my own UN today, no?)
I like all 4 possibilities, but I think P'town is the most practical in a way - it's far enough away to feel different & away and close enough to drive, bring the dog & be able to make alternate plans if anything should strike our fancy.
Then, there's Australia to think about (& dream about, and fantasize about, and plan plan plan).
After the Games are over, we'll have 8 more days to do something, go somewhere. I would like to spend several days in Melbourne and then go up to Cairns for a few days of SCUBA on a live-aboard dive boat. Robert is thinking of spending the week in New Zealand. I am conflicted, of course. After seeing the 3 hour tourist brochure for New Zealand, wow! It looks amazing, and everyone says it's very pretty. On the other hand, a lot of people say it's pretty, but pretty boring. Do I want to spend a week trying to jam an entire country in, or would I rather explore more of Australia while we're there? Right now I'm leaning towards the latter (obv.)
This is all, of course, because I'm at work and wishing I were not, plus the fact that I really do need a vacation right now, so even planning one 6 months from now is therapeutic, and gives me something to look forward to.
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