Tuesday, February 7, 2012

California here we come!

What is better than planning holidays to unwind from crazy working days?
And so I started looking at flights, dates, places to stay etc. and as of yesterday we have booked our flights and we have a place to stay!

Here are the details. Between Mike and I, we will be attending two conferences when in the US so the timing was crucial. Mike has a conference in San Francisco (CA) around the 15-16th of June, I have one near Providence (RI) from the 8th of July till the 13th. Mike doesn't want to be away for more than 3 weeks and so our journey back is going to be different.
We are all flying out of Dublin on the 13th of June, Mike and Oliver will travel back from San Fran on the 4th of July while I'll fly out of Boston on the 13th of July! Wow! One month in the States! We have been so so lucky that one of Mike's relatives lives just outside San Fran and has insisted we stay at her house when we go there. She even said that she can go and stay with some friends if we want more space and freedom! Can you imagine? On top of this she has also offered us her second car to go exploring. So our budget has suddenly increased for the whole holiday and we decided to spend a bit more on the flights and travel Premium Economy with British Airways (direct flight from London to San Fran) with a bit more room and a carrycot booked for Oliver. We'll see how it goes. I just cannot wait to see again our Ultimate Vet Hero and another dear friend who just relocated there in Januay, meet one of my long time cyber friend BWUB and hopefully a few more! I also have some time to spare between the 4th of July and my conference, I have not booked yet the internal flight from San Fran to Boston, I could stay with a friend in San Fran or just go to Boston on the 5th (no way I'm missing whatever will be going on on the 4th!), but I'll be on my own and with no real contacts that I can think of at the moment. My sister, who was at Brown University for a while said that actually Providence is not a place to stay at all so Boston would be way better if i decide to spend a few days on the East Coast and to make sure I get myself a place on campus when I'm at my conference (Bryant University).

Soooo I cannot tell you how excited I am about our trip, sure occasionally I'm thinking "oh my God how on hearth are we going to manage a 12 hours plane trip with a 17 months old AND 3 weeks away on our own AND Mike doing that mammoth journey back on his own?" but mostly I'm super super excited.

Please let me know if you would like to meet up if you happen to be somewhere near where I'll be!

6 comments:

Christa said...

Hooray!!!! Brandon and I are only about 2 hours from Boston or Providence, RI (we live in Norwich, CT if you want to check it out on the map). I'd love to see you again if you have the chance! We've been living here for almost two years but have only been to Boston once and didn't see much so I don't have many suggestions. Hopefully you'll be in Providence to see a Waterfire show. Check it out here at www.waterfire.org. You're going to have so much fun!

BB said...

Will you be stopping my NYC? I want to meet you! :)

Life Happens said...

Wow, sounds like it's going to be an awesome trip. And staying with family is the best (and cheapest)! I'm sure you have lots of planning and packing to do, but I'm sure it will all be fabulous!

Alex said...

What an amazing trip that will be! I can't believe you're talking about a future 17 month old - where has the time gone? But it will be so much fun to take him all those places.

And thanks so much for your thoughtful and sweet comment on my blog. It's so very nice to have you in my corner!!!

Anonymous said...

I am so excited for your trip and the fact that we will get to meet at last! I actually live about 2 hours drive from SF, so we'll have to do some planning because by that time I don't expect I'll be able to travel that far. If I can travel at all, we can meet halfway - maybe in Napa Valley! - or if you and Mike would like to make the trip here or to Lake Tahoe, we can meet in my city. The good thing is that we have time to plan!

junebug said...

I was I was nearer to one of those locations so I can meet up with you! Sounds like fun! Although I would be a little stressed about the plane ride with the baby. I'm considering a two hour flight but it seems so long - I couldn't imagine 10 hours+ long!