Travel Schedule

[cjsmith]

Must resurrect PalmPilot soon. Want to plot out all travel through end of 2003. Since I don't have a job, I want to take advantage of the free time and travel a huge bunch... the last four years without much vacation time have made their mark, and I'll be @#$!d if I dither around and pass up this opportunity. So:

Germany. Can't be rescheduled: square dance booking.
Have been saving my pennies for Cairo since roughly last summer. Really really want to go.
Have been saving my pennies for Scotland since roughly I was born. Might be able to attach it to Germany trip - one set of tickets, one set of jetlag.
Many local square dance bookings are starting to make the summer and early fall time-schedule look kind of tight.
Fill in interstices with hikes, camping, backpacking, mooching plane rides, everything I never had the time to do while I was working.

Then there's 2004, which might, just might, contain Japan (another square dance booking) and Sweden again (yep, square dance booking)... but I'll be employed by then, I devoutly hope... hrm, must plan ahead.

Want that durn PalmPilot back.

Comments

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Hey girlfriend, when are you going to Germany? I've already been tossing around the idea of a quick trip to Germany -- my professor's going to be there for a few months in spring/summer.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Looks like 16-20 July. I'm embarrassed to admit I had to go ask Google. ("ipac germany dance", scan for 2003.) What did we ever do before Google?

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

- searched through mounds of paper for the flier that had the information on it
- called a friend who you hoped had the information
- checked the calendar hanging on the wall
- ...
: )

Enjoy the Scotland trip when you get there! What part(s) of Scotland are you thinking of seeing? My mother & I saw some of Edinburgh and the highlands when we visited in fall 2000.
--- Shadopanther

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Darn, my prof will be back in Indiana by then, and I'll probably be in Indiana too, or maybe England -- we'll see how things work out.

What did we do without google? I think we were supposed to be more organized ourselves. And maybe actually go to the library every once in a while. :) Perish the thought!

I know that because of google I no longer feel the lack of the encyclopedia we threw out (after many a soul-searching session). The encyclopedia was a 1960s hand-me-down. Using google, I can find out what happened *yesterday* in Eritrea (which I used to think was pretty impressive when I lived further away from Eritrea... ;)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

In other words, we had to be organized and resourceful! Yikes! :-)

No idea yet about what parts of Scotland. Better think about it soon, I suppose! How was Edinburgh/the highlands? Did you enjoy it? What did you like best?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You'll be in Indiana (maybe)? Surely you're not moving back so soon?

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

No of course not! Just back for a visit. Rondo's job pays for us to fly back to the states once a year. We've decided we'll be flying to Indiana. See Cyd, and some other friends, take the kids to see their Indianapolis specialists (doctors), and that's probably when I'll be doing my qualifying exams towards my Ph.D. So I'll be a nervous wreck. But yeah, it's temporary. Then we all fly back to Egypt. :) Sorry to startle you!

Scotland

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

How was Edinburgh/the highlands? Did you enjoy it? What did you like best?

Edinburgh was interesting, the highlands beautiful. I enjoyed my visit, however, I would have enjoyed it more had we more time. I would have liked to explore Edinburgh further, and to have finished the double-decker bus tour. (We didn't finish it as we needed to get up to the Castle to see it before seeing the Tattoo performance.) I especially enjoyed exploring the Castle, I wished I hadn't been so tired.

The highlands we first saw by bus tour. We were blessed with clear days to see their highest peaks (the names escape me at the moment) not shrouded in clouds. It felt odd to only be about 2000-3000 ft above sea level and yet view the rugged alpine landscape (the result of being much farther north latitude). After the brief stops in Edinburgh and the bus tour of the highlands, we went to a small town in the Highlands (the name of which I'd need to go look up). We stayed at a nice little B&B there and spent a few relaxing though windy moments by one of the lochs. Btw, highland cows are smart... the alpha female got one of the calfs up out of the way of vehicle traffic. (Unlike cows I've experienced in the US which refused to get off the road.) ...and it's not "hiking" there, it's "hill walking". *grin* ...I have photos from the trip (not yet in their binders) stowed in a bag near my desk. [For more details, I'd have to ferret out my trip notes.]

-- Shadopanther

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That's a GREAT benefit! Any time you get just overwhelmingly homesick for some simple thing, you can reassure yourself that you'll be home in a matter of months...

Yikes, your quals. Good luck with those. (I thought you'd already done them? Silly me, I had the idea you were All But Dissertation.)

Re: Scotland

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the information! That gives me something to go on, when I start reading tour books. :-)

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

When I took my leave of absence, I was "All but ABD" -- all but all but dissertation. :)

Specifically, I did everything towards the Ph.D. EXCEPT the quals, and the diss itself. Because once you take those quals, you only have 7 years to complete the diss, or the whole thing expires. Since I didn't know how long I'd be gone, I didn't think it wise to put myself through quals that might be wasted, and if I came back *before* the 7 years were up, I didn't want my diss time shortened.