i used to love airports.
when i was little, going to the airport meant going to dinsey world. as i got older, going to the airport meant a school trip to london, a family vacation, college visits. it meant packing bathing suits and eating junk food from the food court. it meant trashy magazines and bubble gum. and going to the airport was fun in the same way that getting ready for any special event was fun -- the anticipation was part of the adventure.
when i went away to college, i chose a school that was almost 1,000 miles from home. airports were exciting because they were just a small stop between two very different lives. and when i chose to study abroad in south africa, the airport was a place to collect myself and think about what i was about to do and later, what i had just done.
and then i started working. having {some} disposable income of my very own meant that i could go the airport any old time i wanted. so i did. i visited friends from home in boston. i went to london for the weekend. i went to thailand with some work friends...a year later we went to kenya and tanzania.
then i got promoted. and i started traveling for work. and all of a sudden, airports meant traffic on the way there and traffic on the way back. airports meant squeezing my liquids into ziploc bags, and sitting on the tarmac for three hours. airports took me away from the people i loved. they meant another night alone in a hotel room. they meant delays and cancellations. they meant power point presentations and expense reports.
i haven't taken a nice, fun trip in a few years. i guess i've been feeling pretty burnt out on work travel, and of course i've been lacking some of the things necessary to take a nice vacation like "money" and "vacation days."
but it sort of makes me sad that i gave up trying...that i gave up even dreaming about places i'd like to see. because there used to be a time when you could ask me where i'd like to go next and i could rattle off a list of 15 different options. and lately when people have been asking about where jim and i would honeymoon, i've been all, "i don't know. maybe we'll go somewhere later. maybe we'll just come back here and work."
ummm...who am i?
i think my sense of adventure is a big part of what makes me me. and i want it back.
so fuck it. it might be the worst possible time to take a vacation as far as work is concerned {is there really ever a good time for vacation?}, but we're going on a honeymoon.
YOU BETTA BELIZE IT!!!!
