My Life Needs a Soundtrack

[ase]

I watched half an hour of CSI: Miami with my roommate, and not so coincidentally guzzled the last half of a hard lemonade in the first fifteen minutes. (I can't play "cliff, marry, shag" with this cast. There's so many candidates for the cliff and so few for the shagging.) Sunday I was watching Farscape, and Monday night I stayed up watching Farscape: the Peacekeeper Wars and now I'm longing to see justice uncovered with a pulse pistol.

But my boredom with freakishly fake and white Miami is beside the point. Two things occured to me today:

1.) the pound to dollar dollar exchange is now 1.44 pounds to $1.00, a nice change from the days it was pushing 2-to-1. How long can this last?

2.) I'm rolling over two full weeks of vacation time from 2008, and will accrue another three weeks (plus comp time) if I work a full schedule in 2009.

Therefore, I think it's time to declare Road Trip 2009. Tentative outline:

Memorial Day weekend: Wiscon!

Some time in summer (or not):

1.) BEACH!

I miss the Outer Banks this much.

(pre- and post-season also acceptable; in post-season the water will be warmer)

2.) EUROPE!

(the economy has crashed, the dollar is falling - I'm making hay)

(actually, the date on this is pretty flexible too)

Any time I feel like it:

3.) American road trip?

By "road" I mean "travel" and by "trip" I mean "where I can get crash space cheap or free". Though buying/renting a car and driving sounds really appealing - for about an hour. That doesn't even get you to West Virginia. The "American" part is pretty flexible too. Basically, my travelling feet are itching.

I'm, um, actively soliciting crash space, if anyone wants to offer? All plans are contingent on not sobering up and freaking out about my savings balance. But yeah, I need to get out of Dodge and preferably off the East Coast, or out of the country.

Comments

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

Do you have a passport? I'm going to Belgium for work in Feb or March. You can totally stay in my hotel in Brussels, and that would cut a huge amount off the $. Plus I can probably feed you on my expense account (well partially, if we do it right).

Only downside is I won't have the exact date for a month. But oh screw it, let me call you.

[ase.livejournal.com]

My passport, let me show you it!

[ericavdg.livejournal.com]

Seize the day! And check the expiration date of said passport NOW. (I've had the renew at the last minute adventure and it is No Fun. And expensive.) Remember, some places won't let you in if you are within 6 months of your expiration date.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Since I got it in 2005 or 2006, I'm not worried about the expiration date. Checked anyway, and - ha, yeah, 2016 is more than six months from now. I'm almost afraid to ask if you've found out about the expiration date issues from personal experience.

[ericavdg.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. We discovered Lydia's passport had expired a month or so before we were to leave for Australia for spring break a couple of years ago. After literally hours on hold, I managed to get an appointment to get it renewed for the day before our departure date. We spent a whole day in DC and mucho dinero, but we got the new passport and flew off to Oz on schedule. Don't ask about the tourist visas United had forgotten to obtain for us! All was fine in the end but I was a wreck.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

San Francisco crash space available

[ase.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks. When are plane fares usually good? And how much will my slightly prudish brain explode if I go to the Pride Parade?

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

Plane fares are usually OK except right at major holidays.

Pride...a little nudity, but generally PG. Lately, lots of families.

[weyrlady.livejournal.com]

You can stay with me if you make it out to Tokyo.

[ase.livejournal.com]

When I win the lottery, I will use the first check for a business class seat to your doorstep. Tokyo is not a cheap flight! :-(

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

Ok: Flights to Brussels are $500-600, and if you work it right you can take the train from there to an additional destination such as London or wherever you can grab crash space.

[limnrix.livejournal.com]

You've a twin bed to crash on in a neighborhood with actual parking in NYC, if you're stopping here.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Watch this space for my May breakdown and car-with-AC purchase, followed by my Great American Road Trip (and Great American Flat Tire, and Great American What Do You Mean This is a Toll Road, and Great American Towing Incident, and... ah, the little rituals you miss when you're chained to semi-adequate public transit).

Um, yes: if I go to New York, I will say hi. From your guest room. :-)

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

Regarding Europe, hostels are your friends. And they often have free breakfast! And some of them even have (cheap) private rooms, especially if you go in the off-season!

I know what you mean about itchy feet. My air mattress is yours for the asking, but that doesn't get you off the east coast.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Hostels could be an option!

Hey, I know you're in classes this spring, but - when's spring break? Want to make a dash for Eastern Europe?

The air mattress may get use yet; WAS-BOS air fares are less than $200. (Airplanes, yay!)

[hourglasscreate.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to crash at my place, but since that's less than an hour from your place my guess is you will choose to pass.

[ase.livejournal.com]

I'll probably wind up on your futon again in the future, but Greenbelt doesn't count as travel. I can drive home for my toothbrush without consulting a map - where's the adventure in that? :-)

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to crash at our place (Santa Barbara), though unfortunately it is usually more expensive to fly here than to, say, larger cities.

On the plus side, I can offer a super-comfy bed and quite a lot of beaches, though not suitable to swim in (brr).

[ase.livejournal.com]

Flying into another major city, like LA, and renting a car might be worth the cost. It's probably more than the difference in fares, but my sister is in Irvine, so being able to zoom around SoCal might be worth the money. (For values of "zoom" that include LA highways. And LA drivers. Eeek.)

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Try Priceline! For renting cars in big cities you can get some pretty spectacular deals. We live about 2-3 hrs from Irvine, depending on traffic.

Another cheap (e.g. LA-SB, though general CA travel as well) option is the train, though I wouldn't recommend this unless a) you have a lot of spare time, as it's pretty slow, and b) you have someone drive you to LA Union Station. It is possible to get there via public transport from LAX, and I have done so in my pre-owning-car days, but it's kind of a mess.

[filkferengi]

I suspect you're looking to go further afield, but you're always welcome here.