Hold It!
As always, I’ve got another trip on my mind. For the past few months I’ve been mentioning to Randy that I’d love to go to Europe again this spring/summer. As always, I’d use Paris as a home base and like to pop over to another nearby country for a few days. Of course, the economy and the value of the dollar have been playing a factor in making this trip less and less of a logical choice.
However, various factors are coming into play that could make this an affordable trip after all. First, I have enough frequent flyer miles to get me there without having to pay for a trans-Atlantic ticket. Second, I have free accomodations in Paris with my friend, Mark, so I don’t have to worry about lodging expenses for a bulk of the trip. Third, Randy may have to visit Munich or Dresden on business so if we incorporate that into the vacation, his company can play for the bulk of his airfare plus a bulk of the lodging in the other city/cities.
Unfortunately, I have a tendency to dwell on things. Yep, I can get pretty anal (dare I say annoying?) when it comes to planning. And since we were hoping to plan this trip around the Memorial Day holiday, there is only a month left to plan. And as I’ve been tracking ticket prices and options over the past few weeks (back when I was considering purchasing a ticket instead of using frequent flyer miles), the prices of tickets were going up while availability was going down. Consequently, I can only imagine what it must be like to be partnered to somebody like me constantly harping on this or that. Poor Randy. I think we almost had our first fight on Monday night.
I suppose it wasn’t really a fight since there was no yelling. There was also no physical abuse. And neither of us belittled the other. HMMM, maybe it wasn’t a fight after all. Perhaps it was just the first time we’ve both been substantially annoyed at each other simultaneously. Either way, it sucked.
But things may be working out in the end (as they always do). I’ve got a ticket on hold around the dates that I want (I’m having to stay one extra day to use frequent flyer miles, but I can deal with that). We have until May 6th to confirm, which means that Randy has until then to finalize the dates of his Germany business meetings. If they can be incorporated into a vacation, great. If they can’t, then I can cancel the ticket that is on hold and we can plan something else. In the mean time, I just need to learn to relax. Poor Randy – he really does have to put up with a lot.
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You being anal, I guess if you call checking your IRA account daily and then plane tickets. I can just picture you, having Fidelity on one window and Travelocity on the other, clicking back and forth. It’s quirky and cute, don’t worry.
Hey, Jeff!
Believe it or not, I never view my retirement accounts online. I just wait for my quarterly statements to come by U.S. mail. And it’s a good thing, too! If I looked at the fluctuations on a daily basis I’d be back in therapy. At least now I only stress out every April, July, October, and January.
Just how much vacation time do you HAVE, exactly? And you used to crack on ME and my ‘townie’ benefits, sheesh! I hope your trip plans work out , even if I am blind with jealousy over your freuent flier miles….
How much vacation time? I get 20 vacation days and 3 personal days per year. I’m also allowed to carry forward up to a total of 40 days.
Since I didn’t travel much with Matt in my first years at Harvard, I accumulated a nice stash of days. Currently, I have about 28 days saved up.
Your benefits were pretty specacular, too. I only mocked you out of jealousy!