Tag: vacation.2007

Bridled and sadled and ready to go

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Well, I’m all set. With the exception of a few things I can’t do until I leave the house (lock the doors, turn off the computers, etc.), everything on my checklist is now complete.

This morning, on the advice of kruppenheimer, I scanned my passport and sent it to myself in email. I already have a printed copy in addition to the actual passport, but now if I lose the printed copy, I have the electronic copy in email so I can get to it. Thanks, Lisa.

Thanks to everyone, actually, who gave me good ideas and tips for traveling abroad. I’m sure it will make my trip easier and stress-free.

I still have a few more work-related tasks to complete, including a meeting in half an hour. But after that I’m done. The car to the airport should be here at 1:30 and if all goes well, I hope to be through security and at the Red Carpet lounge by 3 PM.

Stay-tuned…

24 hours

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24 hours from now, I should be on the plane from Munich, Germany to Venice, Italy, an hour or so from my final destination.

I did manage to get a few hours of sleep. I had the window in the bedroom open because it was very pleasant out tonight, no humidity, and a nice breeze blowing earlier. I have some work to do, getting some wiki pages updated. I plan on grabbing a pancake breakfast at around 6 AM. I have a meeting that I have to call into at 11:30 AM, but it should only last half an hour. The car to the airport is picking me up at 1:30 PM and my flight departs at 5:51 PM.

Time to shower!

Napping

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Hours since I have slept: 15

Several people have told me I’m going about this the wrong way. What I should have done, they say, is gone to sleep at 6 PM and gotten up at 1 or 2 AM. They are probably right, but what do I know. This is the first time I’ve ever crossed 6 time zones.

But because I trust the opinions of thse people, and because I’m a flexible, adaptable kind of guy, I’m going to make the most of their advice. I’m going to nap for a few hours. I’m setting the alarm for 2 AM, which will give me about three hours to nap. Then I’ll get up at 2 AM, log into work and finish up those items I need to get done before heading off to Europe (mostly updating some wiki pages on projects of mine so that people covering for me will have whatever is in my head).

I’m not ashamed to admit when I’m wrong. Especially when I am tired!

Heading off to the ballgame

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Hours since I have slept: 4

I’m about to head off to the Orioles/Angels game. I spent most of the morning nearly completing my travel binder, which has everything I need in it at this point. It’s divided into 8 sections: (1) Air Travel; (2) Venice; (3) Cruise; (4) Rome; (5) London; (6) Customs (copies of receipts for stuff like my laptop and iPod, as well as a photocopy of my passport); (7) Reference (important phone numbers as well as photocopies of the front/back of my drivers license, credit cards and medical insurance card; (8) Consular (the most current consular information for Rome, Greece, and the UK).

I also registered my trip with the State Department.

It’s a beautiful day for baseball today; I’m heading out to enjoy the game.

Last day in the office for a month!

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Well, it has finally arrived: my last day in the office for an entire month. The next time I’ll be back in the office will be July 30. I’ve been waiting for this for a year and it is finally here!

A bunch of us are going over to the Crystal City Sports Pub for happy hour after work to celebrate my month-long vacation.

More tasks checked off!

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I completed a whole bunch of work-related tasks today and feel pretty good about where things stand with me about to head off on vacation. I also got several more travel-related tasks taken care of today.

I picked up my suit from the cleaners.

I contacted the local police and filled out a “vacation patrol” request form. This means that the police know I will be out of town and will be keeping an eye on the house.

I called vickyandnorm and left them a message regarding a question about hotel-to-airport transportation in Rome.

I got rid of just about everything in my refrigerator and emptied out a bunch of other trash (tomorrow is a trash pick-up day).

I’ve still got a number of things to take care of tomorrow, and I know that Saturday will be a busy day, cutting the grass and cleaning up the yard a bit. But Saturday is also supposed to be somewhat cooler than it was today–it hit nearly 100 here with the heat index. It’s a good think our softball game was rescheduled.

I’m also more than 420 pages through American Prometheus. I’m going to squeeze in a little more reading tonight and then lights out.

Please don’t freeze my account!

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Thanks to some good advice from he11o_sunshine, I called my credit card company yesterday and let them know that I would be out of the country for 3 weeks and that I would be using my credit card in a variety of places in Europe.

They were very good about it. They took down the dates that I would be gone, and told me that information would be factored into the algorithms used to determine if possible fraudulent charges are being made on the card. So I shouldn’t have to worry about my account being frozen while I am gone.

Thanks, Jen!

More travel tasks

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More vacation prep today. I filled out the online form to put a hold on my mail while I am gone. I also paid the rent in order to make sure I didn’t forget that one. I took my black suit in to be cleaned and pressed. I can pick it up tomorrow. I also started collecting all of my travel-related itinerary information in a binder so that I have it all easily accessible in one place.

The humidity jumped up today. The temps were in the mid-80s but with the humidity it was 90 and even now, at 10:40 PM, the air conditioning is blasting just to keep the house cool.

I”m about 380 pages through American Prometheus and I am really enjoying it. I’d like to finish it before I get on the plane on Monday but I think I’ve got a good chance of doing that.

The softball game we had schedule for Wednesday has been postponed because the Senate office we are playing is busy with some issues on the HIll. It will be rescheduled for later in the season. As much as I love playing softball, it was kind of a relief to hear that it was postponed this week. I’ve got so much to do already that organizing a team for a game was something that I could do without this week. And besides, it was supposed to be well into the 90s on Wednesday.

Another happy hour is scheduled for Friday and I’m looking forward to that. And I’ve got the O’s/Angels game on Sunday to look forward to as well.

Rachel hasn’t been feeling well but I hear she’s feeling a little better tonight, which is good. I hope she feels a lot better soon.

Okay, off to bed.

5 books for vacation

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I finally settled on the five books I am bringing with me while on vacation. Remember that I wasn’t looking for anything too heavy, both mentally and physically and for the most part, I stuck to that dictum.

  1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  3. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
  4. White Fang by Jack London
  5. London: A Biography by Peter Ackroyd

Yes, I will be in Europe and I suppose it’s a little odd that I’m reading a lot of classic American literature. The truth is I’ve been wanting to reread these books for a long time now; it’s been decades since I first read them and I think my experience since will help to bring a new enjoyment of these books. (I can still remember how much I loved reading White Fang when I was in 6th grade.)

The last book is non-fiction, a “biography” of the city of London, which has been sitting on my bookshelf nearly 5 years. I think that reading that book while in London will be an interesting experience, which is why I chose it.

Here’s a minor rant on book club discussions