How to Get Lost

Wow, I don’t think I slept more than 4 hours last night. Sandra and I are staying at the Villa Florence near Union Square for my last night in San Francisco. I’m not complaining too much, because it was a Priceline find, but last night we had pipes clanking, the fire escape scraping against the building, a steel drum player, and this morning, something that sounded like a million wine bottles clanging together for about an hour. Even with earplugs, I slept fitfully at best.

So it’s now 7am and I’m in the hotel lobby bar, which is thankfully closed this early in the morning.

I have to finish off that one pattern and then finish packing the previously unpackables – glasses and contacts.

But right now, I’m on hold with British Airways to see if we can get on that earlier flight.

(See how tired I look? I know Geoff had to get up at probably 4am to make his 6:30 flight, so we’ll be in the same boat.)

8 minutes later, no dice. There is no standby for economy and any official changes have to be booked and paid for through the award reservations line.

Ah well, it was a nice though.

So, in 12 hours, we’ll be winging our way across North America. Weird. It’s hard to believe today is already here. I had that moment of panic last night where I pretty much had myself convinced that this is the stupidest idea that ever occurred to man. I mean, 7 weeks? 7 weeks would be great to lounge around various islands in SE Asia, or get a rail pass and see a lot of Western Europe. Or stay home with the girl and the kitties who I already miss desperately. (The baby cats!!!!)

I don’t really mean that. I’ve wanted to do this trip since I took that summer Russian language course in Junior High. (It’s just too bad I don’t remember more of the language.)

It’s just hard to think of leaving.

On the other hand, boy do I need a vacation! It’s been nearly 4 years since I took a vacation longer than a weekend, aside from holidays like Christmas with my family. Can that be right? Wow.

So, now it’s 7:32 and I’ve successfully procrastinated enough that I should now finish sizing this pattern and maybe go find a Starbucks. Mmmmm. Vanilla Latte….