Not thtat I am that good at it, just that I tend to

analyze and re-analyze, and over-analyze.

Currently I am trying to decide the best duration

of the trip.  Let’s say it is Europe that I go to.

How long should I go for?

Maybe I have thought about this, but if I have

considered this issue, I do not remember what

my conclusion was.

If I go for a week, I could afford to spend more,

since the duration of the trip would be shorter.

If I stay a long time, cost becomes a major issue

unless I find a great deal some place that makes

it as cheap as staying at home.

The one problem I see with a short trip is that just

traveling within America, I have been subjected

to the rigors of jet lag and it was not pretty.  Just

imagine if I had a major time change like going

to Europe.  It could take me days to recover.

And by the time I was in the right time zone,

my body and I, it would be time to come

home. What a waste of a trip.

One idea might be to do some kind of an

interim stop-over en route to adjust to the

time change.  Perhaps in Iceland?

Of course, that might mean that I would need

to buy 2 sets of tickets. One ticket to Iceland,

and the next ticket from Iceland.  That might

double the cost.  Besides, is there anything

to do in Iceland?  It could be ruggedly

beautiful, but I admit I have no friends from

Iceland and no knowledge about it.

actually worth seeing in Europe?  By that I mean

that usually we think of great architectural

elements like the Coliseum or the Vatican as

being the things to see.

What if it is not that?

What if it is not cities?

What if it is the countryside?

What if it is the people?

Who is to say what it is that makes overseas

travel worth doing?  Maybe I would get as

much out of sitting in an italian kitchen with

a farm wife who knows no English, trying to

help with the main meal of the day, as I would

get out of visiting some fancy museum.  Having

never done this, that is, having never been to

another country, it is difficult for me to know

what I might prefer.

I have been reading some guidebooks.  They

tell me lots of facts, but they do not always

draw a true picture of the spirit of the country.

Of course, it would be nice to the the Mona Lisa

and the Eiffel Tour, but is it possible to see all

of Europe’s great attractions on my first trip?

Somehow I need to prioritize what it is I want

to acocmplish.

may not be much variation or choice with regards

to the meals. You either eat it or you starve. No

substitutions.  

What if the food is not something I consider edible and I

starve on a tour? 

I do not think of myself as having food fetishes, but

the more I thought about it, the more I figured there

might be a chance that I would not want to eat

the food.

Of course this depends on where I go, which is

still up in the air.  I like German food.  French food

is okay. Italian is good.  I do not know anything

about Dutch or Swiss or Austrian food. Then there

is English. Also don’t know.

Perhaps it is possible that I can pick a tour where

I can eat on my own a bit more.  That would again

explode costs, but perhaps it is worth it.

I had not really seriously considered going on a

tour of Europe.  Now I am starting to rethink that.

Going on a tour would cover lodging and meals

and make them a fixed expense. Most meals

anyway, depending on the tour.

This would be a great advantage, as one would

not be at the mercy of changing monetary rates.

I am thinking about this.

One of the liabilities appears to be that most

tour prices are specified based on one sharing

a room with somebody else.  Aren’t I a little

too old for that?

In one sense it might be fun to be able to

discuss the events of the day with a fellow

traveler.  However, the value of a good

night’s sleep should not be underestimated.

What if they snore.

I know one lady, a widow, who after recovering

sufficiently from the death of her husband,

decided to go on a tour.  She had a roomate

to save on costs.  The other lady would take

her shoes every night and actually place

her dirty shoes right up on the top of the

dresser.  My friend regarded this as quite

odd and unsanitary as the shoes were dirty.

All this goes to show that humans can be

quirky, and you  could have your whole

vacation ruined by having a bizarre or

odd roomate.

One idea I have considered is seeing if there is

anyone within my own circle of friends who

might be interested in traveling abroad on a

tour.  That way I could know what exactly

I might be getting into.

While there is no assurance the person would

be okay to live with, at least I would have

done my best to prevent “bizarre”.

The problem with any of this is that travel

in and of itself is potentially stressful, and

different people respond to this stress in

different ways.  The person who looks

sane and sweet in America may become

Travelzilla once overseas.

All of this is somewhat overwhelming

for me to consider, but I am doing

my best to evaluate all options.

Depending on the tour, perhaps it is possible

that I could spend the extra money for a

private room.  Depending on the cost of

the tour this might be affordable. As long

as I was not looking at a private room on

a ocean liner, this might be the best way

to go.  At least I know that if I am the roomate

of myself, that i am with someone I like.

I actually go or not.

If I do go, there is the issue of whether I should get a

rail pass, or drive on my own. 

Having not been to Europe before, and also I have

not driven at high spped ever, I am wondering about

the wisdom of driving myself.

At least from photos and movies, it looks like some

streets in Europe are very narrow.

Then I see pictures of hundreds of vehicles in Rome

driving around a traffic circle.  That looks like a

nightmare for the uninitiated.

I have not done very much train travel in my life.

Well, unless a few trips on the subway are to be

counted.   

I suppose I could also go from airport to airport.

In Europe, though, all the anti-terrorism measures

at airports could mean that any travel day would be

a day of no touring, *and* I would still have to pay

for a hotel room.  So a lost day, but still a day that has

to be paid for.

The least difficult for a first-timer may be to either

stay in one place, or to travel by train.  If I were

only visiting one country, that might be another

reason to skip the plane or car rental.

I can just see myself renting a car in Europe and

then getting into an accident!  What I have heard is

that if your car has an accident you still have to

pay the daily rental for all the days it takes for the

car to be repaired. That could be another big hunk

of change.

I am trying to control costs as much as possible,

or rather, I am trying to have a good idea of

what the range of costs will be for each variable

like food, lodging, traveling, souvenirs, museum

admissions, etcetera.

on a vacation.

Not that I know where I am going yet, but…

I looked at luggage and am getting a little more

sophisticated about that.

First of all, forget taking two suitcases.  Besides

the fact that I don’t know if I could carry that much,

I see that the airlines are now charging for suitcases.

So I would have to pay to transport my suitcases each

way.

I am trying to imagine how little I could get by with

transporting.  For instance, I could conceivably

use a carry-on with wheels on it.

Some people like hard-sided suitcases, but as I

consider all this, it occurs to me that the hard

sides may add some extra weight I don’t want.

When I have been meeting family at the airport

recently, I have seen a number of folks who

have luggage that is like a backpack. So, that

is to say, that it can be a carryon, a wheeling

carryon, or a backpack.  That seems to have

everything I might want, if I can get all my

things into it.

Several people have told me that half of what

you take when traveling, you may not use, so

it is good to try to reduce clothing.  So I have

been looking in travel catalogs, to see what

clothing might be the most flexible and also

what clothing might be the lightest and easiest

to pack.

Europe.

It is some place that I have always wanted to visit.

However, have you seen the value of the Dollar lately??

Yikes!

A US dollar doesn’t go that far in countries that have

living standards comparable to the United States.

So I started figuring out how much my dream European

vacation might be costing me if I went.

It was a big number.

Now I wonder if I should be considering less urbane countries

instead, simply for the matter of cost.  Maybe I could

go some place else, and be able to stay longer.

Just as an example.  My friend’s son is in Argentina at the

moment. Now Argentina is hardly a 3rd world country.

However he is paying only $800 for his place to stay–

and that is not per night, that is per month. In a country

where I would be paying in Euros, I’d be looking at

a couple hundred dollars a night or more.  Two hundred

dollars a night times 30 days –just as an example–

would be $6000 per month. That doesn’t include

food or anything else.

I’m just saying, it seems like we are talking a big number

for Europe.

Europe is still where I would like to visit, a dream

destination if you will, but maybe I should be

considering other countries instead.  At least

until the dollar recovers.

after what just happened.

First let me explain by way of framing the story.

My friends all call me the absent-minded professior.

I am the person who would forget to eat if not reminded.

That kind of person.

Well, I set out earlier to day to make some homemade soup.

I had a pork bone and some other miscl meat from the

freezer.

So, I reckoned, the first thing I should do is to cook

the meat down off the bone to make a broth.  That

sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?

Well, that’s what I thought too.  And I went back to

the study and got absorbed in all the latest details

of current events.

The cat kept scratching, or so I thought based on the

sound that I was hearing. 

Finally, I heard something pop, and I figured that the cat

had goten up on the counter and knocked something

over.  I had it all analyzed, based on previous cat

behavior and history. Or so I thought.

As I started to walk out to the kitchen to check on

the cat, uhoh, it hit me. I had totally forgotten

about the soup. All the water was gone off the bones,

and they were buring to the bottom of the pan and

the room was filled with smoke. A fire waiting to happen.

The fire alarm had been taken down previously because

it would not stop chirping, so thre was no fire alarm

to go off. I would simply have burned the house down

and myself with it. 

Now can you see why I am so shaken? 

It is all my fault for being too easily absorbed by

other activities and forgetting what I am doing.

I guess I have really earned the nickname absent

minded professor now, for sure.

travel overseas.

Apparently, from what people tell me in passing, I

need a passport. 

I cannot simply use my drivers license or birth certificate

to get out of or back in to the United states.

Someone told me to go to the post office, but at

my local post office, they told me I need to go

to a bigger one.

I wnet there and got the application form, but now

I need to get photographs taken that are of a certain

specification. You cannot do it yourself.  Or you could

try to do it yourself, but you might likely mess it up.

Your eyes have to be visible for color.

Your head has to be a certain size.

You have to be facing in a certain prescribed

direction so they can see both sides of your

face or something. I am not really sure.

Then there is the money.  Do you know how

much a passport costs these days?  Not only

that, but if you want the application expedited

you have to pay even more.

I wish I had known all this long ago when i started

thinking about traveling, as I would have tried to

get it done then.

As it is, I guess nowadays the news is getting out

that everyone needs passports, and the line today

was probably a few dozen people long, and it moved

very slowly.  All I was doing was getting the application,

so I get to go through that line all over again when

I return my application.

I have looked around in the phone book for who can

take passport photograps.  I am thinking I will go

with AAA.  You still have to pay, but I think AAA

generally gives reliable servi ce, and they are used

to helping people travel.

I was also thinking that they may have some ideas

about what I need to go to Europe and some information.

Where I will travel I am not quite sure at this time. 

 I have always wanted to go to Europe.

Since I have never been outside the United States before,

I have alot to learn. 

But ever since I was a young child I have wanted to go

places and see things.

I remember watching Captain Kangaroo when I was young.  

Captain Kangaroo had a recurring segment about Winnie

the Pooh.  I am somewhat unclear about the details,

but I think the substance was that –oh wait, NOT

Winnie the Pooh.  I remember the lyrics now.

It said Christopher Robin went there with Alice,

and where they went was Buckingham Palace,

and they saw the Queen’s Guard.  I have always

wanted to do that.

On a plane recently I watched the movie The Bucket

List.  Two characters plot out what they want to do

before they die.  Well, traveling is part of my bucket

list, if you will.