Thinking about....

San Diego!  As I loathe winter, what better March trip to look forward to than glorious San Diego?  And their three pandas...  Hold tight till I book it.

Next up...

Finally I seem to have shaken the worst of the jetlag and almost feel normal again.  In order to fend off the inevitable post-trip depression I have booked two quick weekend getaways...hell, not weekend getaways, one day marathons, to big cities nearby.

In October, I'm zipping to Philadelphia for the day to see the exhibition Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I fought off the urge to do this until I read the reviews of the exhibition; now I just have to go.  Not having been there before, I'm going to try to see some of historic Philadelphia as well before meeting an old friend for dinner and jetting home late evening.

In November, I'm zipping (again) to DC to visit the giant pandas, the new red panda cubs and my lion cubbies (before they get shipped off to breed in other zoos) at the National Zoo.  I may try to see the Sackler and Freer Galleries too, since I had my eyes opened to Asian art in China, but my other goal is to finally meet Bev, who went on the panda tour last year and was my lifeline in getting ready for my own China experience.  I suspect there will be a good meal involved there too, possibly something Spanish?

I am kicking other ideas around for early winter but it all depends on the financial damage I suffered in China (shopping tally still not yet calculated, I'm in denial) and how raise/bonus season goes at work.  I'm thinking maybe a long weekend in Atlanta, but who knows.  Thoughts for 2012 include Germany (Berlin/Dresden), Egypt, Peru or Turkey...but seeing the "walk with lions" tour in South Africa yesterday in my Facebook feed was mighty tempting!

Paris T minus in the teens

Honestly it feels like I've just done this: gathered the trial sized items, started to pile up the city map and travel guides, wondered how much really will fit in my carry-on. But here we are, only two more weekends between us and Paris. Can it be? Of course I'm excited about the Monet exhibition, the whole reason we're going, but now I'm growing more excited about seeing Paris at Christmastime, something I've never done. Hell, I've never been to Europe later than early November before! I've seen pictures, so I know what I'm in for. It looks truly stunning. I want to share them with my Dear Sister Traveling Companion but I want her to be surprised. Already she said of one of the Christmas markets "I want to have my picture taken with the French Santa Claus". Oh boy, does he know what he's in for? So on the agenda, we have Monet at the Grand Palais, Monet at the Marmottan, a Louis Vuitton exhibit, a David Hockney exhibit and perhaps a stroll through the Louvre. But other than that, I feel like we're pretty open. I wouldn't mind strolling the markets, drinking mulled wine, finding that foie gras on toast and really drinking in the Christmastide. Now to see if three days of clothes really can fit in my carry-on....

T-Minus a little less than five weeks

Since I last wrote I've had the surprising addition of my Dear Sister to my long weekend excursion to Paris. She lucked out with her three day delay between the time I floated the idea by her and booked the trip myself when she said she couldn't go and the time when she became cash flush and could go. The fare went down nearly $100. So I've changed the hotel room to accommodate us both and bought her a ticket to the Monet exhibition. As time draws closer, I get more excited. I love the fact that we've both seen the main sights in the city and can concentrate on a few art exhibits (Monet both at the Grand Palais and the Marmottan, the Louis Vuitton at the Musee Carnavalet and the David Hockney iPhone exhibit at the Foundation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent). That will allow us time to enjoy all that is Christmas in Paris and maybe just a leisurely stroll from patisserie to patisserie. I've sort of abandoned the idea of taking a day trip to Rouen. As much as I want to see the town, I've found there's more to Paris this time of year than I expected. I did a bit of research and it seems that there are neighborhood Christmas markets during the month of December, one of which is right in the neighborhood where our hotel is, near St. Sulpice church. The three main department stores also have large window displays for the holidays and the Champs Elysses is lit up as well. I've never been to Europe so close to Christmas before and am excited to have a sort of non-commercial holiday experience. I'm also beyond excited to eat. Let's not kid ourselves here, Paris is the best city in the world for food. And wine. And pastry. So I'll be partaking in all of the above, and maybe some crepes and croque monsieurs as well. Diet be damned. You only visit Paris once. Well, maybe seven times...but you get my drift. Last time Dear Sister and I were in Paris, she was dreadfully sick with pneumonia. We (or maybe I) had no idea how sick at the time but I'm hearing now that she didn't enjoy it as she should have. Here's raising a glass (Kir Royale) to making sure she does this time.

Scratching the itch

Coming home is always an experience of mixed emotions. There is the joy in getting reacquainted with those whom you missed (parents, sister, cat) and the fun in telling your travel stories to anyone who'll listen and even to those who won't listen. There is the sorting of the photos, making the photo album, getting the watercolor you bought framed. But it always seems that after about 10 days, once the luggage is put away, the jetlag and residual headcold have worn off, reality strikes again. This happened to me last week and it was painful. In fact, it was more painful than I ever remember it being. Is the gloom and pseudo-depression that set in a sign that it was just a really good trip? Does it mean that Russia was everything I expected and more? How is it possible, then, for something so good to leave me feeling so bad? Wednesday and Thursday last week were painful for me. Perhaps it's the combined effects of the bum hip, an irresponsible personal trainer and a lethargic gloom of reality that fell over me at work. It really was over, and I was in a funk. I felt like I was coming down with something, just could not get behind myself. So I did what any rabid traveler would do: I started looking at a quick fix. I have my sights set on a longer trip to Poland in the spring, but I am not going to last that long. I need to address the burn I feel now, now. And that's when IcelandAir sprung an amazing fare on me in its weekly email. And as soon as I said the words out loud -- "I'm kicking around a long weekend to Paris" -- I knew it was virtually certain I'd found the scratch for this itch. I thought about it for a couple of days, reminding myself of the massive, history-making Monet exhibition that is on in Paris until the end of January, and I went to see what dates IcelandAir could whisk me away. I waited another day, confirmed I could get Mom to look after the cat, and I did it. In about 10 minutes I had air, hotel and a ticket to the exhibition. I am going just for three days, but I am going. Immediately, the fog lifted and I was on fire again. Paris is an interesting contrast to Russia. I've been to Paris 5? 6? times before and I know it. I've seen most of it and I know my arrondissements. I can hit the ground running on day one. I just need to decide how and where to spend my time, which is a half day Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. I will fly home at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, so I can get a good breakfast and lunch in Paris before I come home. I picked a hotel in the 6th that is ordinarily $370 a night and got it for $200 a night. Not cheap, and more than my airfare, but remember, we're scratching an itch here. So because it's only 3 days and I've been before and I just want to see the exhibition, maybe day-trip to Rouen and otherwise just hang out, I'm challenging myself to make this trip carry-on luggage and Paris map only. No big suitcase, no pile of guidebooks. I'm going to just go and be on this trip. We'll see how that works out. But for now the countdown is on again. And I feel better.

T-1 day....

Think about this: tomorrow at this time I should be at Logan, getting ready to hop the flight to Frankfurt en route to St. Petersburg. Yee ha! It's been a fairly slow week with a bit of excitement at work but I'm here now with an hour left and I think I've left everything in fairly respectable order. Don't read this if you don't like minutae, but this is what I've learned through various bouts of web surfing during the last few days: -- Lufthansa's Moscow to Munich flight usually arrives early, very early in fact. -- However, should you arrive late and are in danger of missing your flight, Munich Airport officials will pick you and your luggage up at the plane and drive you to your connecting flight (ok, so you can already see that I've been re-thinking the 90 minute Munich connectiong coming home, right?) -- The recommended connection time from Moscow to Munich is 30 minutes. I have 90. I think I'm good. -- Looks like partly cloudy and mid 60s Sunday and Monday in St. Petersburg. Maybe rain thereafter, but that will be museum and palace time anyway. -- There are a decent amount of interesting looking restaurants near my hotel in St. Petersburg, not so much in Moscow. -- The sun doesn't set in St. P this time of year until 8:35! Compare that to Boston's 7:05! In Moscow it's 8:00...that city is that much further south to make a difference. I packed last night, as in actually putting piles of things into appropriate bags. I am mildly disconcerted that the larger bag is half empty (in this case isn't it optimistic to see a half empty bag?). I wonder if I'm missing something significant or have just become extremely efficient packing over the years. Or if it's just that I'm using my Mom's luggage since mine met an untimely zipper death. Well damn, this blog post only managed to kill 6 minutes of my last work day. Off to do one more round of laundry and mani/pedi. I'll blog from the other side, WiFi connection permitting!

A Week Out

Today my friend Shannon wrote "a week from now you'll be in Russia." Good glory, she's right. A few times today I've found myself adding 8 hours to whatever time it is to put myself into Russian time and then wondering what I'll be doing next week at this time. Wow. So far I'm doing well. It has finally hit me, I think, as I pulled out luggage, did laundry and started packing things, a nervous excitement really set in. I am finding myself a bit nervous about getting around and knowing the language (or not, as the case may be). This morning I awoke wondering how I'd be able to order lunch when I get there. I'm alone on Day One, so those two meals next Sunday are up to me. I can just imagine walking in somewhere and seeing a menu full of Cyrillic. And being really hungry....you follow me. But I'll be fine. I know I will. Yesterday I put a significant dent in my packing yesterday and also cleaned the house in anticipation of my mother doing the cat sitting while I'm away. I feel ready and I'm certainly excited. I do find myself getting a bit overwhelmed at the "getting there" part, because 13 hours seems excessively long to me and when you just want to get there, it is painful. But, I suppose, not nearly as painful as the 16 hours it will take to get home! So as I see and say bye to people for the last time before I go, I cannot believe it's almost here.

Just wasting time...

So here we are at T-15 days. Somehow the time has just started to creep. I find myself getting restless and frustrated. I've started doing mini-countdowns in my head: three more Spinning classes, one more Monday at work, one more payday.

In a stroke of luck, I called my doctor to see if he'd write me scripts in the event I encounter some intestinal nastiness while away. In the end I came away with a nuclear arsenal for anything that might bother me, and as a bonus, Hepatitis A shot too. Apparently, Russia has an "intermediate risk level" according to the CDC, so it's a wise move to get a vaccine. Even though it's a two-shot deal, one shot now should cover me when I'm there. I'll get the booster in 6 months, just because it seems like a smart thing to do given the amount of travel that I do. In the meantime, I've got an achy arm to remind me of the upcoming trip. As if I need the reminding!

Trip planning continues, and I believe is almost done. I just received my new Capital One card in the mail (no foreign exchange fees on purchases!), I subbed out the four classes I will miss while I'm gone, and I finally found laminated city maps of both St. Petersburg and Moscow. I've sort of stopped doing historical reading for the trip, as my tolerance for any more history hit overload at the beach last weekend, so now I'm reading fiction, City of Thieves, to be exact, and I've found two possible fiction reads for the plane. I'm stockpiling magazines and making a list of things I can do on the flights, including study for the PT cert and watch past seasons of House, The Tudors and The Office on my iPod. Sudoku is always good for a few hours too. I copied and scanned to PDF my visa and passport, so those at home have it and can send it to me if I need a copy of it while I'm there. I think all that is left is to stop the newspaper, buy the cat food and let my credit card companies and banks know I'm traveling so they don't shut me down the first time I use my cards there.

I am excited. No, I am beyond excited. I feel like a puppy who's about to pee on your carpet if you excite me much more. I'm trying to see past the 13 hours travel time to just get there (and the 16 hours to get home!). I'm still mentally and emotionally locked up in wondering if I'm going to love this or loathe this or just get by. I'm really hoping I'll love it....this would be an expensive trip to not love so much. I think about things like navigating the metro in another language and another alphabet. I think about trying to order lunch or dinner. I think about trying to find a rest room when I hit the ground in St. Petersburg. It's been a long time since I've been personally challenged like this; like I said before, usually travel for me is a no-brainer. I just cannot wait to get there and see how it all plays out.

Wheels in motion

I do not shudder when I realize that I'm now in days 20-something in my countdown. Now I've kicked the departure plan in motion. To that end, I just bought an international cell phone that I can use forever more on my various trips outside the US. I've confirmed my seat assignments with the airline. I've typed up an itinerary for my family so they'll know where I am when. I charged my laptop, did all the updates to it to get it up to speed and made sure I can download photos and such on it. I bought a travel diary, most of my toiletries and have started a staging area in my office at home. I've lined up my mom to take me to Logan and pick me up when I return. She's also taking care of my boy for me while I'm gone. Folks, this trip's a coming! I am still more excited about this than I realize. August has flown so far, which I guess is a good thing. I feel like things are good...if only I could find some decent pants to travel with...all I have are jeans. Argh.

More progress - ATM, camera and laptop

At this point I am of two minds. Part of me feels like these last weeks until I leave are taking FOREVER to get here. I mean really, I am ready to go now. I want to go now. I'm anxious as heck to get there and start seeing and doing. But the other side of me gets a slightly sick, intestinal distress feeling when I realize that in 7 weeks, I'll be leaving. That's 49 days. That's under 50 days, a significant countdown milestone. GULP. With all the fun of the summer that's left (three birthdays, three concerts, a museum roadtrip, the Labor Day weekend), this will breeze by. And I'm not ready. I still have reading to do. I still have to buy my trial sized stuff and sort out clothing. YIKES! But I continue to make progress in small increments. I opened a second checking account and have an active ATM with it, so now I have two different ATMs to draw money from. And as I type, I am updating the mini-laptop with all the security and Windows updates it will need to go with me, as I'm hoping to blog while I'm there. In a cruel twist of fate, I dropped my beloved Nikon Coolpix 3100 3.2 megapixel camera last weekend. This camera has made every trip with me since late 2003 and has really offered up some unbelievable shots. While outwardly it appears to have survived the fall for the most part, the battery door is broken and I don't know what else may be broken inside and I don't trust it. I'm sad, but also slightly excited that I had to buy a new camera. I went whole hog, upgrading to the Nikon Coolpix S8000, 14.2 megapixels and 10x wide angle lens. Pictures are a huge part of my traveling experience and I just could not do without a reliable camera. For my birthday, my sister gave me a FlipVideo camera, which is just awesome. It is small enough to take everywhere and will be pretty cool to capture on the spot video on my trips. Land's End delivered the coat I ordered and I think it's perfect. I stuck with a non-descript chocolate brown, car length, light-weight with no lining. I hope if I layer properly it'll work out. That's it for now. I'm off to either read more about the Romanovs or watch Dr. Zhivago. :-)