Work-cation

Back in June, Gavin and I were able to join Kevin on a week-long work trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. Kevin has to work for three days (which sort of stretched into four days), but we took the whole week so we'd have some time to enjoy the scenery as a family.

We went right after the solstice, and Fairbanks is just a couple hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle, so there was a lot of sunlight. Technically, the sun set for a little over two hours every night, but it never dipped far enough below the horizon for the sky to actually get dark. Instead it was a kind of twilight that was really surreal the couple of times I glimpsed it. Despite the lack of night, or maybe because of it, since the hotel room had blackout curtains, Gavin slept like a champ for the entire trip. He took two solid naps every day, which gave me plenty of time to read and watch mindless TV while Kevin was working. The flip side of that is that I spent a lot of time confined to a hotel room with a sleeping baby, but that's not such a bad way to spend a vacation.

That frame of mind is helped by the fact that there isn't a ton to do in Fairbanks, especially without a car. The downtown area is small. Even with my limited time I managed to visit every shop and museum and almost every restaurant. We spent a morning at the children's museum, which had a play area for toddlers. Gavin was a little too young for it, but it was a nice change of pace.

With Kevin along we ventured a little farther out. We took a riverboat cruise and learned about the history of the area. We visited a park that had a number of museums and attractions in addition to the playgrounds and grassy areas. Gavin even got to go on his first train ride around the park. We also went on a short hike around a lake and stopped off at the North Pole. Gavin was sleeping, so we didn't get a picture of him with Santa, but we'll get one this Christmas.

It was a nice, relaxing vacation, and it was fun to see Alaska. I was surprised by how much it reminded me of Colorado, except without the mountains. The climate and wildlife were so similar to what I grew up with that I wasn't as awed as I probably ought to have been. I was surprised at how warm it was, and was especially weirded out that it kept getting warmer late into the day. When the sun doesn't set until after midnight, the temperature is still rising at dinner-time. I'm used to it cooling off by then.

With this trip, Gavin has completed his tour of the non contiguous United States, traveling as far north and west as Kevin and I have ever been. Too bad he won't remember any of it. I guess we'll just have to go back when he's older.

First Christmas

Before Gavin was born, I was told that it's easiest to travel with kids when they're just a few months old. So we decided to take him home for Christmas, when he was just 2 months old, to introduce him to my extended family. The trip ended up being more of a whirlwind than it usually is, as we tried to cram in the entire family in very little time. But Gavin did great, and I'm so glad we were able to get out and introduce him to everyone.

I was worried about the flight, and had read a bunch of tips. We brought my nurxing pillow on the plane so he wouldn't just be sitting in my lap. We brought bottles of milk so he could be sucking on something during takeoff and landing. And then Gavin slept for almost the entire flight. It was magical, and I got to feel smug because the crying baby on that plane wasn't mine.

We went down to my aunt's house for her annual Christmas Eve party. Gavin was quickly overwhelmed by the noise and being the center of attention. But my aunt had set aside my cousin's old bedroom for us so we could escape to somewhere quiet. Kevin and I spent a lot of the first half of the party taking turns sitting with Gavin in there. But after dinner he calmed down enough to come out and meet people.

Christmas day at my mom's was a smaller crowd, and Gavin did much better. He got passed around to everyone who wanted to hold him, ate a ton, and got a bunch of clothes and books.

The next day we went down to my dad's for the third feast in a row and another side of the family. Gavin was a bit grumpier that day; I think all the traveling was getting to him. And he slept terribly that night. Which is to say that he only really slept from midnight to 2:30. But the next day was calmer and he caught up on sleep some.

That evening we flew to Phoenix on what was the longest flight of my life. Even though it's less than 2 hours. It was so bumpy that the fasten seatbelt sign never turned off and the flight attendants didn't even do a drink service. Then Gavin pooped about half an hour in, forcefully enough that it got all over his onesie and blanket and Boppy. Then when we finally landed we had to sit on the runway for a while before we could taxi to the gate. It was awful, and just about all I could do to keep Gavin from screaming the whole time.

Our time in Phoenix was pretty low-key. It helped that we stayed in a hotel there rather than with my family. We went over to my aunt's to visit in the mornings, then to my grandmother's in the evenings, and back to the hotel after dinner. We also managed to get dinner with one of Kevin's oldest friends who's lived there since college.

I was worried about flying home, but it ended up going very smoothly. On the first leg, the plane was empty enough that we were alowed to bring Gavin's carseat on and put him in his own seat, which made a huge difference. And on the second leg he once again slept almost the entire flight. He did get cranky during our layover, and I gave him a bottle in the airport. Which led to me having to pump on the plane. But at least we had carried the pump on so we could do that.

The trip was fast, but it was nice to have the opportunity to show Gavin off to everyone. And he did great on 3 of the 4 plane rides, which isn't too bad. Next up I get to take him on a much longer plane ride all by myself. But I think I can handle it.

First Road Trip

When Gavin was almost 8 weeks old, we drove him up to Boston to meet Kevin's extended family. We broke the drive up as much as we could, using it both to introduce Gavin to as many people as possible and as a dry-run for his first flight the next week. Overall it went really well. It was nice to see so many people. Though the trip was a bit of a whirlwind, and we ended up spending more time in the car than we'd really intended. Also, my boobs were not happy about how long we ended up going between feedings, though Gavin seemed fine.

We left around noon on Friday, with the intent of getting to Kevin's aunt's house, just outside Stamford, CT. This was the longest leg of the journey, and we hit some rush hour traffic near NYC that added some time. But overall it wasn't too bad. Gavin slept almost the entire trip. We pulled off at a rest stop in Delaware so I could wake him up and try to make him eat, and he went back to sleep right after. Then with about five minutes left in the trip he woke up, pooped, and proceeded to scream for the rest of the ride.

We got to Kevin's aunt's and had to go right upstairs to change and feed Gavin. But once he was sated we were able to come down and have a nice meal and visit. Unfortunately, in my desire to visit, I only had Gavin eat on one side, and I ended up with a clogged duct in my still full boob. I spent the rest of the night pumping, applying warm compresses, and massaging to try and get the clog out. I even used my electronic toothbrush at one point to try and break up and move the clog. Somehow it worked, though my breast was tender for a few days. And my breasts continued to be uncomfortably full for the rest of the trip.

The next morning we woke up to a lot more snow than was in the forecast. We spent some time hemming and hawing to try to figure out what to do. Kevin went to investigate the roads and was relieved to discover that outside of his aunt's neighborhood the roads were clear. So we decided to push on to see his family in Massachusetts. The snow did slow us down. What was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour drive extended to over 4 hours. By the time we got to Kevin's grandmother's I had to pump for almost half an hour and ended up getting 8 oz (as compared to the 4 oz I usually pump).

I realize that I'm spending a lot of time talking about my boobs, but this was the real takeaway from this trip for me. Gavin just sleeps too well in the car, so I wasn't feeding him often enough. If we decide to do another road trip, I'm going to have to come up with a different strategy for feeding the baby.

We had a nice, if short, visit with Kevin's grandmother and other aunt and cousins. Then it was in to the city where we met some friends for dinner and games. Gavin did great with all the commotion, mostly chilling in his bouncer in another room. When he did start to fuss, we took off for our hotel outside the city.

Staying in a hotel went much better than I'd been expecting it to. It was nice to have our own space, as opposed to cramming in to Kevin's cousin's room. It was nice to not be worrying about Gavin waking up other people in the middle of the night. Having a couch made the middle of the night feedings much easier.

In the morning we got up and headed down to NYC where we met up with a bunch of friends for a late lunch. Becca knew a place with enough room for us to park the stroller and meet with a big group of people. It was sort of like an upscale food court, with a bar and a nice, big table tucked away in a corner. We spent a few hours visiting with a bunch of friends. Then it was back on the road so we could get home that night. But not without buying batteries so I could use my breast pump in the car, which made a huge difference on the ride home.

We got home a little after 10. In the days before having a baby, I would have just fallen into bed at this point. But those days are over. I was up for another hour, unpacking and doing dishes and making sure Gavin was good to go before I could go to bed. But I did eventually get to go to bed. The trip was quick and involved a lot of driving. But Gavin did so good traveling that we were feeling a lot better about putting him on a plane a week later.

Leaving Vermont

While our weekend in Vermont was fun-filled and relaxing, the trip home was not. A snow storm hit Baltimore, which resulted in quite the adventure for us.

We set off for the three hour drive to the Boston airport in two cars: four people plus snowboarding gear in a van with Kevin and I following in an Elantra. Google pointed us to what should have been the fastest route. But we were quickly thwarted by a closed road. We pulled off to get gas and directions to the airport and elected to head south to the highway instead of trusting to the back roads.

It wasn't long before we reached the highway. And shortly after that we got the message that our flight had been canceled due to snow in Baltimore. We pulled off to get lunch and figure out what to do.

By the time we were looking up flights, the soonest available ones were three days out. None of us could afford to miss that much work, so we decided to try and drive. It's only eight hours from Boston to DC under normal circumstances, and we were sure this plan would get us home sooner and cheaper than attempting to find another flight. Next came a series of phone calls as we attempted to change our car rental reservations to carry out these plans.

The end result was that Jen and Steve drove the van and all the gear back to Boston, where they already had a flight for the following morning. Kevin attempted to find something bigger or better suited to the snow than the Elantra, but we had no luck with the next three Enterprise locations on our route. So Sarah and Zach joined us in the dinky car.

It was as we were attempting to get back on the highway that we realized Vermont didn't want to let us go. The on ramp was under construction and we got sent on a detour through some back roads in pursuit of the next highway on-ramp. We did eventually make it, and we all cheered when we finally crossed into Massachusetts, certain that the journey would be easy-going from then.

In Connecticut, I took over driving from Kevin. The weather had been up to then, and I was still naively confident that we might make it home that night. Then it started snowing, and I was sure we would at least be able to make it past New York City and get an early start the next morning. Then it got worse and worse. Somehow I survived one of the more harrowing driving experiences of my life, going 10 miles an hour and refusing to change lanes. We eventually found a place where I could pull of and let Kevin take over. But we only made it one more mile before we found a hotel and stopped for the night in Yonkers.

The next morning it was almost like the storm had never happened. The weather had warmed up enough that the snow had turned to rain. The roads had been plowed. We waited for the sun to come up fully, to make sure that the parking lot was clear, then hit the road again.

Kevin took the first driving shift and got us through New York and into New Jersey. After a couple of hours we switched so he could take a nap and, once again, I got hit with awful weather. This time it was rain instead of snow, so it wasn't as bad, but visibility was nearly non-existent. It didn't let up until shortly before we got to Baltimore and found our car at the airport.

We eventually made it home about 18 hours after we had planned to, safe and sound and with almost no evidence of the snow that had thrown such a wrench in our plans. Vermont wasn't able to keep us there permanently. And now there's enough distance that I can look back on this trip and see an adventure and a good story, rather than the most stressful drive of my life.

Let's Do the Time Warp

There comes a point, when you are traveling a quarter of the way around the world, that you just give up trying to figure out what time it is. Your Fitbit says 10, that clock says 5. You just woke up, but now the sun is setting. A beer seems like the most reasonable solution, although you quickly discover that you are no longer as adept at combining alcohol with sleep deprivation as you were in college. When's the next flight? Do we even have a gate yet?

Kevin and I flew to Venice via Istanbul. The first leg of the journey was a red-eye with two free meals, unlimited free alcohol, and a staggering amount of free television and movies. I watched Book of Life during dinner and Mad Max during breakfast. Between the two I watched a few episodes of the ill-fated A to Z because the mother was in it and a sitcom seemed like an appropriate thing to drift off to. I think I slept for two or three hours. Kevin slept for less. We arrived in Istanbul for our five-hour layover bedraggled and scrambled.

The Istanbul airport is enormous, although it did not seem that way at first. Off the plane we were ushered into a fairly small, overly bright, incredibly dingy waiting area with only one bathroom. Half the stalls were backed up, there was a distinct lack of toilet paper, and even the line for the men's room snaked out into the lobby. We made the best of it then decided to go in search of a better bathroom, which we thankfully found.

Once there I managed to make myself feel somewhat more human. I'd had enough foresight to pack some dry shampoo, deodorant, exfoliant, a toothbrush, and toothpaste in my carry on. It was actually a decent substitute for a full shower, especially since I was just going to get on another plane soon. Then we wandered around the enormous mall inside the international terminal in the Istanbul airport and found a place to get a beer.

We went in search of our gate much too early. Five hours is an incredibly long layover time. But we did eventually make it on to the next plane. They served us dinner again, which I ate even though I couldn't decide whether or not I was hungry. The second flight was just long enough for them to screen Ant Man, which I watched while listening to the Hamilton soundtrack on my tablet. They didn't really mesh, but I can tell you that the movie looks pretty ridiculous.

Flying home was the same thing in reverse, with a shorter layover, and day and night reversed. On the way to Venice the sun was up about 4 hours that I knew of. On the way home it rose as we were boarding the first flight and didn't set after we'd gotten our bags in Dulles. My point is that trans-continental travel is not so different from time-travel. Everything all goes to hell, and you just have to hope you can readjust to the new clock quickly enough to get back to life.

By the time I fell into my bed, I'd been awake for a solid 22 hours (not quite the 24 I'd initially calculated, but you try doing math on no sleep). The good news is that my jet lag affected me only enough that I was an hour early for work the next morning. And then I was right back on my normal schedule. Turns out my dad was right: flying west is much easier.

I'll talk catalog the rest of our vacation in the coming entries. You know, the parts you probably actually care about. But the actual act of traveling is just so surreal, I had to write about it. It's so cool to think about how small the world has gotten, that we can make the trip from DC to Venice in less than a day, even when you account for time changes (we took off at 11:30 pm DC time and landed at 11:20 pm Venice time). And it's astounding the things we put up with to do this. The searches and tiny seats and smelly bathrooms and complete lack of personal space. There have been some new horrendous plans put forward recently for mashing more people on an airbus. Perhaps you've seen the honeycomb seating and the two-level ones. Personally, I'm hoping that they just start stacking us in cubbies that we'd at least be able to lie down in, a la The Fifth Element.

Weekend in New England

Kevin and I traveled up to New England last weekend with his mom to spend some time visiting family and friends. We were there for almost three whole days, and we managed to cram in a whole bunch of people. Some were out of town, but it's probably for the best. We might not have gotten any sleep if we'd really attempted to see everyone we know who lives in that area.

We landed in Providence mid-morning on Friday. We actually had some time to kill before we could visit Kevin's great aunt, so we spent some time exploring Roger Williams Park and downtown Providence. The city is adorable, much smaller than cities I'm used to. We got some great burgers for lunch, then found a brewery and had a few beers.

In the late afternoon, we headed over to the rehab center where we spent some time visiting with Kevin's great aunt, who will soon turn 100. Everyone caught up on the family gossip and we shared our wedding pictures. Then it was out to dinner with some cousins at a delicious Asian restaurant. After dinner we drove up to Massachusetts to spend the night with Kevin's aunt.

Saturday was mostly devoted to visiting with Kevin's grandmother. We took her out to lunch then showed her our wedding and honeymoon pictures. In the evening we drove in to Boston and got dinner with an old friend of mine who just started graduate school there. Then we met up with other friends for beers and went back to their place to play board games. Of course, I only made it halfway through the first game before I fell asleep. All that traveling takes it out of me.

The next morning we got up and went to brunch at a cute little restaurant with live jazz music. Then it was more board games and the beginning of the Patriots football game. We finished watching that game back at Kevin's aunts before heading back to Providence to fly home. Everything worked out perfectly timing-wise, and we made it home shortly after 10:00.

While we were gone, the cat tore into a brand new loaf of bread and ate some of it. This is the third time a loaf of bread has been eaten by one of the animals, and I've always blamed the dogs before (either Kina or Lily). But this time it was definitely the cat. They must all be in on it together, with the cat initiating and the dogs finishing off the loaf.

Honeymoon 3: I'm Inclined to Like Anyone Who Gets Me Free Champagne

Our train arrived in Paris a little before 11 in the morning. We spent some time trying to figure out whether we could actually get reimbursed for the train ticket we had to exchange (fingers crossed it all works out), then got a taxi to the hotel. The taxi ride was a little terrifying. I'm not convinced Parisian motorists respect lanes. Our cabbie was weaving in and out of traffic and even went up on the curb a few times. But we made it to the hotel in one piece and got settled there.

We'd known this would be a cheapish hotel, since we'd splurged a bit in Barcelona and would mostly be staying in nice places in Ireland. But it was practically a hostel. We weren't allowed to have food in our room. We're still not sure the door to our room even locked, though thankfully nothing was stolen. The elevator wasn't big enough for both of us plus our suitcases. And the staircases were uneven and each contained a different number of stairs (ranging from 17 to 22) But it did have a bed and a shower, and that's ultimately all we needed. At least the toilet wasn't down the hall.

Once we'd deposited our bags and cleaned away the grime of travel, we headed out to enjoy Paris. Our hotel was near the Gare du Nord train station, pretty far north of the interesting stuff in the city, and definitely not the station we'd arrived at earlier that day. But walking is good for you and way simpler than trying to figure out a subway system in a foreign language. Of course, after walking about 10 miles a day every day in Barcelona in flip flops, my back was beginning to complain mightily about all this walking. But more about that later.

We stopped in a little cafe for lunch where I got the best pasta carbonara I've ever had in my life and Kevin got a rather mediocre chicken fried steak. Then we continued walking down to the river, stopping to take a picture of the Opera House and check out a couple of shops. We wandered down the Champs-Elysees and found a bench to sit on. There was an adorable dog who was so small his belly grazed the top of the grass. He was playing fetch and every time he took off running after the ball, it looked like he was just skimming along on top of the grass. Then we headed back to take a look at the river and walk up to the Lourve.

Guys, the Lourve is massive. It's roughly the size of the National Mall in DC. This place just keeps going and going and however close you think you're getting to it you still have so much farther to go. Along the way we saw a trampoline park, a statue of a tree that looked exactly like a tree that had just fallen over, a couple of goats, and a strangely disproportional statue of a woman. We stopped next to the last one to play cards for a bit and were accosted by a couple of ducks. They walked up to us, one on each side and stood begging for food. They had that same look in their eyes Kina gets, except a bit more insistent. And they refused to go away. It was honestly a little scary.

When my back was feeling better we continued on our trek to the Lourve. We finally made it to the plaza where everyone is selling cheap Eiffel Tower keychains. We kept walking until we finally came to the glass pyramid and I sat in awe at the massiveness of this building. Neither words nor pictures can really capture how truly huge it is - you'll just have to go there for yourself.

After we had properly admired the Lourve (without going inside because we didn't want to spend the time or money) we found a little cafe for Kevin to get a fruit tart. Then we found a different cafe where we split half a liter of wine and played more cribbage while we waited for the rain to stop. Then it was time to head over to Notre Dame, another hugely impressive building. Between the height and the stained glass, it's no wonder people used to fear God as much as they did. Also, does anyone know the interior ceiling height of Notre Dame? We were guessing maybe 100 or 150 feet, but had no way of checking this. The internet mostly concerns itself with the height of the building and it's spires.

We had a couple of hours to kill before our dinner reservation at this point, but that wasn't enough time to find another monument or anything. So instead we found a bench to sit on, and I read while Kevin napped. While we were sitting there I saw two couples in wedding dress arrive to take pictures outside Notre Dame. I guess it's a pretty popular spot for wedding pictures, even on a Tuesday afternoon.

Kevin woke up and we decided to wander a bit more. I'm really glad we did, because right by Notre Dame we came across a memorial that I had no idea was there. The Deportation Memorial is at the tip of the island that Notre Dame is on. You go down a narrow staircase to a white courtyard. Then when you turn around there's this dark crypt that has hundreds of lights representing the Jews who were sent to concentration camps under Nazi rule. It was incredibly powerful.

We still had an hour and half until our dinner reservation at this point, but we figured that it would behoove us to at least figure out where the restaurant was, and maybe get some drinks in the meantime. We found the restaurant, which didn't look open, and retraced our steps to get some wine in a cafe at the end of the street while we waited.

Dinner itself was pretty amazing. Kevin got escargot, which he'd been hoping to find since we got to France. I had this weird avocado thing that contained the same ingredients as guacamole but tasted absolutely nothing like it. Then we had lamb and duck while talking to a woman who was sitting by herself at the table next to ours. She was spending a month in Paris to celebrate her 75th birthday. When we told her we were celebrating our honeymoon, she got the wait staff to bring us complimentary champagne with our desserts. She was a pretty excellent lady, and I'm glad we were able to talk to her a bit.

After dinner my back was still killing me. The chair was wedged against the wall in a way that required me to sit crookedly which did not help things. We briefly tried to figure out the subway system, but I decided that I could power through and walk back to the hotel. We only had to stop once for me to rest while we drank beers in a bar district we stumbled across.

The next morning the plan was to get up, get breakfast and head to the airport. Our flight to Dublin wasn't until 1, but we figured that we might as well sit and read at the airport as anywhere else. So after finding some crepes, we headed out to the Charles de Gaulle airport, which is officially my least favorite airport in the world.

Getting to the airport proved pretty easy. The subway ran from the train station right by our hotel all the way out, and we managed to get on an express line that didn't stop anywhere else. I was surprised that not only does Paris allow food on their subway, they actually sell it there. It made me miss DC's relatively clean metro.

We were at the airport by 11, at which point we entered hell. We were flying on Aer Lingus, which only had one flight out of the airport that day, so there was only one person manning the check-in desk. A second person came at one point, but only stayed for half an hour. We stood in that line for over an hour. When we finally got to the front, we discovered that we had to go somewhere else to pay for our checked bags. There, we discovered that the weight limit was lower than we'd expected - 20 kg as opposed to 23 kg (50 lbs). We ended up paying 80 Euro to check our bags, which we hadn't been expecting. And they didn't even give us a chance to repack things into our carry-ons and get the weight down or anything.

With tickets in hand, we wandered through the massive airport, found the right security line, stood in that for another eternity, and finally made it to our gates minutes before the plane started boarding. It's a good thing we got there as early as we did. While we sat at the gate (Kevin was engrossed by Kvothe earning his talent pipes), a little old lady who reminded me immensely of my grandmother struck up a conversation with me and we spent some time complaining about the airport and the French in general. It was nice to gripe a bit after the ridiculous ordeal. Then it was finally time to get on the plane and head to Ireland.

Honestly, the food in Paris was excellent, and it was fun to see the sights. But given the stress of the train and the airport, and my general impression of the city (dirty, smelly, crowded, not unlike NYC except no one spoke English), I think we would have been better served to spend an extra day or two exploring Barcelona and cut France out of the trip altogether. Oh well, next time we'll know not to try and cram an entire city into  single day.

Honeymoon 2: It'll Be an Adventure!

I was really excited to take the train from Barcelona to Paris. I have excellent memories of taking an overnight train from Paris to Rome when I was younger, and I was hoping to replicate the experience. I was looking forward to a fun adventure, one that might not be reproducible with the advent of high speed trains. What I forgot is that adventures tend to be a lot less fun when you're actually living them. They make for good stories after the fact, though.

We got to the train station at around 4:00 for our 6:30 train. The first train took us to Perpignan, about an hour and a half away. The second, overnight train left from Perpignan at about 9:40 and would get us to Paris at 7:30 the next morning. We'd bought a bottle of wine for the journey and getting to the train station so early gave us time to get the lay of the land and find sandwiches for dinner. It also gave us a ton of time to sit and read, which we did until the train started boarding.

At abut 6:10, when the line had died down a bit, we went up to the counter to present our tickets and board the train. We were not allowed to board the train. Our tickets were for the following day.

I'm fairly certain that at this point my heart stopped beating as it plunged into my stomach. I couldn't believe I'd made such a stupid mistake when booking the tickets.

I proceeded to panic, barely holding it together enough to follow Kevin around as we tried to first exchange our tickets, then scrap them and buy new ones. I'm not lying when I say that I was barely holding it together. I was beginning to hyperventilate, and was having trouble thinking clearly enough to figure out a next step. But Kevin is completely cool under stress and was able to follow everyone's directions and get us into the correct line.

I should also mention that it's a damn good thing he trained me like a dog. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time with us will have noticed that Kevin has a specific, two-toned whistle that I respond to almost subconsciously. (He trained me to do this without my knowledge.) Like a dog, I can even hear it when almost no one else can, because I'm so attuned to it. But it's especially useful when, for example, we get separated in a crowded French train station. I can always find him almost instantly and with very little conscious thought. Handy when I'm panicking.

We made it to the counter with about seven minutes to spare. The man helping us was old and cranky and didn't speak a word of English. He got really mad at us for not understanding the credit card machine when it came time to pay. But we got the tickets, ran back through security and up to the counter. The man who'd rejected us before recognized us, waved us forward, and called down to ask them to hold the train for another minute. We made it on right in the nick of time.

At this point I began to calm down, but we still needed to figure out the second leg of the journey. Luckily we'd have about an hour and a half at the next train station. We figured that would give us plenty of time to work everything out.

But the train station in Perpignan was closed. There was a lady at information, but she couldn't really help us. Not for lack of trying, I should note; she just didn't have the power to exchange our tickets. We figured out the electronic ticket counter after several tries, but it claimed that the train for that night was fully booked. The lady at information said that it was worth waiting for the train to arrive and talking to the conductor. Sometimes there were cancellations or no shows that meant we still had a chance of getting on the train.

So we waited.

Finally the train pulled up and we found someone official looking. He seemed optimistic about our situation and directed us to the front of the train. The man there also seemed optimistic and sent us back along the train a bit. We talked to a couple of more people before we finally found the correct person in charge. He immediately shut down our request. We didn't have the right tickets, nothing he could do. The train left without us.

On the bright side, Europe is introducing high speed trains all around the continent. There was one leaving at 5:30 the next morning that we could get on and that would put us in Paris around 10:30, just a few hours later than we'd planned. We exchanged our tickets and even got vouchers for the price difference. We're hoping we filled out all the paperwork correctly to actually get that money back, it will help offset the cost of extra tickets we had to buy.

With the tickets exchanged we went in search of a place to spend the night. There was a hotel right across the street from the station - it was literally closer to the train tracks than the bathroom. They had rooms for 50 Euro so we booked one. Actually, they had rooms for 40 Euro, but that extra 10 Euro got you a shower. The toilet was still down the hall, though.

The room was tiny, the shower was absurd, and Kevin saw a bug early on that made us super paranoid about bed bugs. But we had a bottle of wine, so it wasn't a total loss. We drank it, went to bed, and got up at 5 the next morning to make it on the train.

Thankfully there was food for sale on that train, so I didn't have to go without breakfast which would not have been pretty. I went to buy a pain au chocolat, but ended up with a hot chocolate instead. Then I got made fun of for not knowing French, but the man did, thankfully, give me my chocolate croissant. Back in my seat I read some and slept some and watched the countryside go by while the train slowly filled up. Everything worked out in the end, but I'm still mad at myself for messing up the train tickets. At least we got that adventure I'd been hoping for. Sort of.

Honeymoon 1: I Thought You Didn't Like Sangria

Our honeymoon got off to a great start when I managed to tear my toenail off while carrying my bag from the house to the car. I picked the bag up while I was twisted out of the door and hit my foot at exactly the wrong angle. This in no way set the tone for the rest of the trip, but it did mean I had to wear a bandage for a few days and be extra careful while walking around.

The honeymoon really started when we got on the red eye plane that was taking us to Europe. I hadn't traveled across the Atlantic Ocean for six years, so getting free food on the plane - both dinner and breakfast - was a nice surprise. It was less nice, and really should have been a sign of things to come, when they weighed our carry on luggage in addition to our checked luggage. Thankfully everything was under the weight limit and there were no problems getting on the plane. We didn't even have to go through customs, which was surprising. We'd even allowed for extra time for that, which meant we ended up with a bunch of time to kill in the airport.

After a seven hour flight, during which I watched The Book Thief and largely failed to get any sleep, we landed in Brussels, where we got our passports stamped and awaited the second leg of our journey to Barcelona. The Brussels airport was under construction, which meant that we had to take a surprisingly long bus ride from our gate to the plane, which we hadn't expected. But that was made up for by the fact that we somehow got bumped into Economy Plus on the second flight. Not only did we get extra legroom, we got free hot pockets and free soft drinks on the second flight. (nothing is free on planes in Europe, including water. This became a theme.)

We finally landed in Barcelona around 3 in the afternoon, got some currency (pro-tip - try not to do this at airports) and took a taxi to the hotel. The hotel room had a number of surprises that we didn't expect. A room key was required to turn on the lights in the room, which appears to be part of a Green initiative in the EU. It took us a while to figure out why the lights weren't turning on. We were also surprised by the lack of shower curtain (how do Europeans manage to not get water ALL OVER the bathroom?) and Kevin was endlessly confused by the bidet.

Once we'd settled into the hotel, there was plenty of daylight left, so we went out to explore the city. Our hotel was just north of downtown, which made it really easy to walk everywhere we wanted to go. We headed over to the Plaza Catalunya and wandered down La Rambla towards the ocean.

We'd been really excited about La Rambla, hearing that it was one of the must-sees in Barcelona with lots of shops. And while we'd been expecting local artisan crafts, something like a street fair, what we got was stores like H&M and Gucci. On top of that, the street was as crowded as Times Square, so the entire thing was a bit of a let down. Luckily, Kevin had remembered that there was a local meat market near La Rambla and we managed to spot it. Wandering through that was a lot of fun, especially seeing all the pig and goat legs and whole rabbits and fish. It would be nice if there was such an extensive meat market closer to home, and it was a shame that we couldn't buy anything there, not having any way to cook it.

Eventually we reached the ocean, which we sat by and admired for a while. Then we decided to head back to the hotel through the winding alleys of the Gothic Quarter. I could spend forever in the Gothic Quarter. The buildings are all stone and incredibly old. The streets are largely too narrow for cars. And there are random cafes and shops everywhere you turn. We eventually picked a restaurant that was nothing more than a few tables (well, barrels with stools) in an alley and got some tapas and half a liter of wine. Then we wandered back to the hotel, stopping for some sangria on the way, and finally made it up to the rooftop, pool side bar of the hotel, where the cheapest thing on the menu was a bottle of champagne. We drank it and played cribbage, trying to stay awake as long as possible.

Unfortunately, we still woke up around 6 the next morning, which was rough, since nothing even opened, let alone served breakfast, until 8. It didn't help that it was Sunday.

For our only full day in Barcelona, the plan was to wander around the Cituadella Park, get some lunch, hang out at the beach in the afternoon, and finish with a seafood dinner at the park. But we greatly overestimated how long all of this would take. After finding breakfast, we wandered through the park, got lost on a random, smelly street next to the train tracks, and still made it to the beach by 9:30. Once there we spread out a towel and Kevin read while I took a nap - I still hadn't had any caffeine by this point. 

When I woke up we wandered over to the pier to get pizza, then Kevin rented a bike for a few hours and I found a cafe to sit in with my book and a pot of tea. After that we got a liter of sangria, which is practically cheaper than water in Barcelona, and by the way I hated having to pay for water everywhere we went. It's interesting the things you take for granted, like freely available drinking water everywhere. Also I'm used to sangria being super sweet in the states, so I tend not to like it. But in Barcelona it had a sharpness that made it much more palatable. Then we decided to go to the zoo, couldn't find it, and ended up finding a patch of grass to play cribbage and nap in until dinner.

Dinner was mostly fantastic. We got a bunch of seafood appetizers: mussels, prawns, salmon, and calamari. Kevin ordered a fantastic lobster dish, which made up for my less-than-stellar tuna. It was probably fine, but I usually eat my tuna rare, if not barely seared, and this steak came out well done. On the way home we stopped for cheap mojitos, then we stopped for cheaper mojitos, and finally got back to our hotel room.

On Monday we packed up and stored our suitcases at the front desk. Breakfast was a lot easier to find that morning - I had a ham sandwich. Ham sandwiches are infinitely more delicious in Spain than they are in America. Both the bread and the pigs are superior. Then we headed north to check out the fancy shopping district and La Sagrada Familia. Sadly the line to get into La Sagrada Familia wrapped around the block. We should have been expecting that, but we didn't, and we decided that we didn't want to stand in it. It was still cool to see the cathedral from the outside, though.

We decided to get paella for lunch, because I was convinced Kevin would love it (he did), but it was weirdly hard to find. All morning long there was a paella shop on every street corner, but as soon as we decided to get some all we could find were sandwich shops. I guess we were walking in the wrong direction. We did eventually find a place with paella and sangria, and it was all delicious.

We'd scheduled massages at a spa around the corner from our hotel for the early afternoon, but when we arrived it became apparent that the place was not what we'd had in mind. There was a bit of a communication barrier, but after the words "erotic" and "happy ending" we pretty much hightailed it out of there. Instead we went back to the Gothic Quarter to wander a bit. This time I was more properly dressed (a dress instead of shorts) and they let me into the cathedral. After that it was time to say good bye to Barcelona and head to the train station.

All in all Barcelona was a wonderful city. I fell in love with it a little bit. It was nice to be so close to both the ocean and the mountains. It was an incredibly clean city, the way DC is clean, with people out sweeping and picking up litter all over the place. There were also these grand avenues every few blocks that intersected at these great plazas. Each avenue had three lanes of traffic surrounded by walking and biking paths, with bus and taxi lanes outside those and then the sidewalks. Once you'd figured those out, getting around the city was a breeze. I wish we'd had more time in Barcelona, and we'll definitely have to go back some day. We didn't come close to seeing everything I wanted to see.

New York State of Mind

Kevin and I took a quick trip to NYC last weekend to visit his sister before she moves to the other coast and see a few other friends who live there. We took the bus up after work on Friday, arriving at our friend's apartment near Times Square around 10:30. We got home at about the same time on Sunday evening, making for a really short trip. But we were able to do a lot while we were there. Even though the snow and wind caused us to cancel some of our wandering around plans.

We met my cousin for brunch on Saturday morning at a little Mexican cafe in Chinatown. I'd never been that far south in Manhattan before, and it was a little disorienting to be away from the numbered streets and avenues that make navigation so easy. We'd wanted to go down to the Freedom Tower and Battery Park afterwards, but the snow canceled those plans. So instead we headed over to Brooklyn to meet Kevin's sister and her boyfriend for mimosas and board games.

Later that day we headed back to Chinatown for drinks and dinner at my cousin's restaurant. We had a reservation for 7, but showed up around 4:30 because the snow killed all of our other plans. Dinner was delicious. The fried chicken was the best fried chicken I've ever had; I never figured out exactly what they put in it. And my cousin made brussel sprouts that may have caused me to change my mind about the potential tastiness of that particular vegetable. I always find them a little too bitter, but these had just enough sweetness to cancel that.

After dinner we looked around for things to do, but ended up just heading back to Hell's Kitchen and calling it an early (for New York) night. I was still fighting off a cold, so I was happy to get a ton of sleep.

On Sunday we met up with a big group of former college friends for brunch, then wandered through Chelsea Market and eventually ended up in a bar on the West End. By then our large group had dwindled to four as people had to go take care of other things. Before we knew it, it was time to head back up to grab our bags and catch our bus.

The trip was quick, but it was about as much NYC as I can handle in a single go. That city gets really crowded, sometimes overwhelmingly so. When we were walking home from the bus at the end of Sunday night, I was marveling at the novelty of being the only people on the sidewalk. It was a great weekend, and seeing everyone was so much fun. But I'm happy to be back in my boring, suburban home.

Wicked Weekend

Kevin and I went up to Boston over Martin Luther King, Jr Weekend. The main purpose of the trip was to visit his family, who we hadn't been able to see over the holidays. But we ended up spending time with a whole bunch of Mudders, too.

We flew up Friday after work and got into the city a bit late. After renting a car we found our way to the friends we were staying with. It turns out that GPS is less than useful in Boston thanks to the Big Dig, but I was smart enough to pull up directions before we went underground. Once we'd dropped off our stuff we walked over to a delicious BBQ place for drinks and dinner.

Saturday was a day of drinking and board games. We went to a delicious brunch place with the largest mimosas I've ever seen. Sadly it was drizzling on the walk over which had turned into a heavy rain/snow for the walk back. I hadn't been anticipating this weather and ended up trudging along in my soaked sneakers, which may well be ruined. Then we lost Pandemic a bunch of times and watched Lilo and Stitch, because I still hadn't seen it yet. That night we went out for delicious burgers, then played Cards Against Humanity and Beer-Jenga.

Sunday was the family day, so we drove out to the suburbs for Chinese food and football. Kevin's family are all Patriots fans, so they were pretty disappointed by the outcome of the game. But our hosts are both Broncos fans, so they were really happy when we got back to their place. We watched the end of the Seahawks/Niners game back in the city and then accidentally watched The Following because no one turned the TV off after the game was over.

It was a pretty quick trip. I'm surprised at how many people we were actually able to visit with. It helps that everyone who lives in Boston seems to live within a mile of each other, so no one had to travel too far. Now we just need to get back there when it's a bit warmer so we can enjoy the city some more.

Christmas Vacation

This year Kevin and I went out to Colorado for a whirlwind holiday trip with my family.

We flew out Saturday and got to my mom's in time for a late dinner. Then in the morning we woke up and went out to buy food for Christmas dinner. Then we met my dad at a local Steelers bar to watch the last quarter of the Redskins game. We stuck around for the first half of the Steelers game, which was an experience. I hadn't ever realized that their fight song includes a brag about going to the Super Bowl.

That night we made spaghetti and sausage for dinner and Connor's girlfriend came over. After she left, we opened presents and played some Scrabble on the super fancy board my dad got for Kevin and I. The next day was devoted to Pinocchle and cooking, with a trip to see American Hustle. For dinner we had a pot roast, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and lots of wine.

On Tuesday morning there was more Pinocchle, then we went to my aunt's house for dinner. She always does a big Turkey dinner, and this year there were enough people to warrant two turkeys. After we did presents with her husband's side of the family, we went back to my mom's house and opened presents with her.

On Christmas morning we woke up and puttered around for a while. Then Kevin and I started cooking the leg of lamb for Christmas dinner. My mom's sisters and a few of my cousins came over for more food, wine, visiting, and, of course, presents. We do a bunch of little gift exchanges, which I've come to prefer to one big gift exchange. It's more intimate with each group, it's easier to remember who gave and received what, and there's always a bit more to look forward to.

Boxing Day was mostly devoted to washing dishes and nursing hangovers. We rewatched the entire fourth season of Community while addressing wedding invitations. Then Kevin took a nap while Connor and I watched several episodes of Revenge.

On Friday my aunt threw a wedding shower brunch for Kevin and I. She made a delicious quiche omelet hybrid and there were plenty of mimosas and pool on their new-old table. That night we took my mom out for a nice steak dinner for her birthday.

As I said, the week was a whirlwind of family, food, and alcohol. It's always fun to see everyone, but it's also nice to get home and relax a bit before heading back to work.

Daydreaming About the Honeymoon

It didn't take too long for Kevin and I to decide that we wanted to go to Ireland for our honeymoon. We've been talking about going for a few years now, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Kevin went once in college, so he has an idea of some what's really cool and what's worth skipping. My main goal is to spend at least one night in a castle.

We've been playing around with our schedules and seeing if it would be possible to extend this vacation to last two weeks instead of one. At first I scoffed at this idea, sure there was no way I'd be able to be away from the office for that long. But now it's starting to seem like a real possibility.

Of course, two weeks in Ireland is quite a long time, and means we'd be doing a lot of just hanging out. I'm pretty okay with that, but part of the fun of travel is doing and seeing new things. Turns out we solved this problem pretty easily by adding a second destination.

On the way home from Ben and Autumn's wedding in California, Kevin and I had time to grab lunch at the airport. The television was playing a travel show that was pretty obviously aimed at children - a group of American teenagers were exploring Barcelona. It was silly, but there was nothing else to watch. And it peaked Kevin's interest. A few days later we tentatively added Spain to our honeymoon plans. With a possible stopover in Paris in the middle. It even adds a nice touch of symmetry to the honeymoon, since I've been to Spain and Kevin hasn't.

Things are still very much up in the air. We have only the vaguest idea of how this is all going to fall in to place. But in the meantime, it's a lot of fun to dream about what we're going to do. Though we should probably start planning this all sooner rather than later. And I should probably start brushing up on my Spanish.

Alumni Weekend: Traveling

This past weekend Kevin and I went back to Harvey Mudd for Alumni Weekend and our five year reunion. The weekend itself was an absolute blast. But getting there and back was an absolute nightmare. It's enough to make me want to avoid air travel for a good, long time. Or maybe just United.

On Friday, we were scheduled on a 7 AM flight to San Francisco, followed by a 3 hour layover and then a quick flight down to LA. On the way to the airport we found out that the 7 AM flight had been canceled and we were moved to an 8 AM flight. The switch meant that we didn't have seats together. Instead, we both had middle seats.

All in all it wasn't the end of the world. But between the flight switch, only getting five hours of sleep, and learning that the restaurant I'd been counting on for breakfast wasn't open I was pretty stressed out. On the plus side we only had to sit in the San Francisco airport for two hours.

Flying home was even worse. The flight we were supposed to take from LA to Denver was stuck in San Francisco because of weather problems there. The Ontario airport is small enough that we there was no possibility of getting switched to a different plane. We just had to wait for the original one to get there.

By the time the flight was two hours late, the lady at the gate made an announcement that some people would be missing their connections. If this happened to us we had the option of staying in California for another night or getting a hotel in Denver and getting on the first flight in the morning. While a night in Denver wouldn't have been the end of the world, I didn't really want to extend our travel time so much.

Luckily the plane finally landed and we arrived in Denver with just enough time to run across the terminal to our second flight. If that plane hadn't been delayed as well, we probably would have missed it, but we got in just under the wire. The flight was even empty enough that Kevin and I had a row all to ourselves.

We finally got home around 2:30 in the morning, and I proceeded to sleep until 10. I can't even remember the last time I slept so late (which is actually a little weird for me). I'm glad I took Monday off from work to have a day to recover from all that stress.

Like I said, the travel was a nightmare, but the weekend itself couldn't have been better. I guess that's a trade off I'm willing to make. Even if I am slightly dreading our next trip to California in August. At least those flights will be on Southwest, which I've had a lot more luck with than United.

Where Does The Time Go?

Every year it happens. I flip the calendar to December and then I turn around and it's Christmas. It's the busiest month of the year and it leaves me with no time to blog.

So what did I do in December? I traveled a lot. I put up the Christmas tree and bought and wrapped presents. I attended a bunch of holiday parties. I didn't go to the gym at all.

I drove down to LeJeune to see my brother before he shipped out to Afghanistan. I'm really glad I was able to see him before he left, and I can't wait until he gets home. I also sent him some cookies which I'm hoping he receives before they all crumble or go stale.

I went up to Pittsburgh to visit friends and go bridesmaid dress shopping. We played Cards Against Humanity which is related to Apples to Apples but as a black sheep. Two of my friends decided to get it for each other for Christmas but I don't think they ended up doing that. Which is a shame as that would have been funny.

I went to Boston for my company's holiday party and to visit Boyfriend's family and some friends from college. The weekend was busy but lots of fun.

Then we went back to Colorado to spend Christmas with my family and celebrate my mom's birthday before finishing out the year in Pittsburgh.

Now we're home and things are settling down. We don't have any plans this weekend which hasn't happened since October. I'm hoping to have time to go the gym again and keep up with this blog. Here's to a relaxing January.