Thursday Random Rambles : Going Places

Temperature and pressure remaining constant I have some travel coming up.  For a decade I seldom went without pending airline and hotel reservations, then well along came the past 2 years.  

I have a trip coming up very soon to where I was born and raised, the land of perpetual gloom, Michigan.  My sister messaged me recently that my brother in-laws health has "taken a turn for the worst."  He has been battling cancer for several years, he was in remission, and it is back with a vengeance.  I have not seen them since 2019 (or was it 2018?)  I think my sister needs some family time.  I will fly into Detroit, rent a car, and drive out to the middle of nowhere, I am staying in the best hotel in the county - in other words I will be roughing it for a few days. Having a car, and staying in a hotel, gives the the ability to manage my stress.  

In September I am speaking at a conference in Kentucky.  We are planning to drive, stopping to visit family and friends on the way back.  I can also make a stop at Justin's for a little specialty shopping. 

A professional friend is organizing a conference in Boston in October, and actually dropped planning the substantive agenda on me.  I am recruiting speakers, and will make sure I am included in the mix. I have been to Boston twice.  The first time I had 3 hours to explore. The second time I planned to have most of a day to explore, and it was just above freezing and pissing down rain. Outside is was like a drag queen ugly crying, but colder. I didn't go outside that trip.  I am hoping for better weather this trip.  I have this thing for Harvard, I was recently quoted by a Harvard Law Professor - I swooned; a couple of years ago I interviewed a Harvard Medical School Professor as part of a research project we were doing.  I need to go get a selfie in Harvard Square.  

I booked airline tickets to go to Spain in December.  So far that is all that is planned for that trip.  We fly in and out of Madrid.  We need to decide how much time in Madrid, and how much time down south near Mitchell and San Geraldo. I would like to go to Gibraltar for lunch, just so I can say I have been there. Our travels tend to be very unstructured, we will book hotels, and probably buy train tickets before we leave, then let things happen as they may from there. The best made plans of hamsters and penguins often go astray.  

There is a laundry list of places I want to go, bloggers I want to visit, things I want to see.  I am hoping that things are starting to be doable again.  I have decided I need to do at least one major trip every six months until I retire to fight back against being a grumpy bunny.