Travel Notes

Our holiday trip to Boston was a lot of fun and I am glad we went. The travel sucked, but it usually does (the only exception was flying first class to Mexico this summer; the first class trip home wasn't as good). When we go on long trips, we usually take our horseshoe pillows which actually work pretty good at enabling sleep. We got these on our way home from Costa Rica last year and they were cheap construction but pricey and worth it. When we retire these, I'll invest in a good quality pillow. I recommend them for long travel when you want to nap.

Before the trip I also loaded up my iPod with a bunch of NPR podcasts (mostly Fresh Air). That, along with Crichton's State of Fear (a very timely Christmas gift from my dad), made the flights so much more tolerable.

This winter we've been using our slippers a lot more than usual (it's cold in CA). So I decided to pack them for our trip. I am soooo glad I did because that's all I wore at my in-laws' house. They were great. When we went to a friend's house for a New Year's Eve party, I took my slippers with me and changed out of my uncomfortable boots as soon as I walked in the door. It was great. If I lived in New England, I would take my slippers everywhere with me.

One culinary note: New England knows how to cook burgers. Most of the burgers we had on our trip were cooked correctly when we specified medium or medium-rare. Plus, New England likes to use grass-fed, free range meat, so they made some tasty burgers. Kudos.

Everything here is back to normal. I had an indoor game last night (at 10 pm!) and it went well. I was extremely tired from the late start time and lack of fitness (that's what happens when I travel), but I still managed to play a good game. I played forward and one of the players on the other team kept yelling at his defender to mark me tight: "Wherever she goes, you go. I want you less than 5 feet away from her." I love it when that happens.

Our grad school friend keeps a good journal of all the places he travels. And he's been everywhere: Greece, India, China. Check out his latest Thailand trip journal and pics.

I'm off to New Mexico tomorrow on business travel. Happy Tuesday!