travel frenzy

How things change... eh? I guess we just have to roll with the punches, what else can we do? I began this week shopping every chance I had for my Paris/Holland trip. Today, I woke up feeling almost certain that the trip won't happen. Nick and I were supposed to leave for Paris on Tuesday afternoon. This stupid volcano had to erupt altering all air traffic to and from Europe. That is sort of a pretty picture though! Pretty amazing! Because Nick works for the airlines, we were going to fly standby. Under normal circumstances, we would be on a flight most likely. Now... they are saying that even BOOKED passengers may be put off for a long time. Airlines could be backed up for months!

So anyways... I have so many thoughts and feelings going through my head right now and I am trying to keep them all straight. There are options. I talked to my boss and I CAN come in next week if I want to. That is nice because it gives me flexibility in my plans. Any decision will be last minute but at least I know I can still work next week and take my vacation another time. Options for a later time may include visiting Holland next month with my parents, or possibly going to Italy with Kristen and Heidi in July. Options for next week are pretty limitless. Nick suggested I pack for either a Europe vacation AND a South American vacation so when we get to the airport and hear the prognosis on standby seats to Europe... we could always hop on a flight somewhere NOT along the path of the hazardous ash! I got really excited at first. That meant adventure... almost limitless! Just hop on a flight and be adventurous for a week! Wow - who really gets to do that? Then I got to thinking... I may have to pay more for my ticket... also we would have to pay for housing as opposed to Holland having a free place to stay. That could REALLY add up. It would be OKAY... but I don't know how eager I am to spend that much money on a place I 'sort of' want to go. I REALLY want to go to Holland. We could also head over to Jackson Hole... San Fransisco... there are so many options. What to do, what to do. Nick also seemed to think that if we waited a couple days in the airport maybe we could catch a flight straight to Amsterdam. We'll just wait and see! That's all I can do. At least I have options, right? I can't complain too much.

Heidi and I are also trying to find a new place to live by June and that is slightly stressful. Why does $$ always have to be an issue? We are starting to HAVE to look at places out of our price range just so that we'll be somewhere where we feel safe. I guess I'll just have to babysit some!