Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Still here!

Though the teaching term is over, I have now a MOUNTAIN of exam papers to correct. Thank you so much for al your comments and suggestions and I still have not booked my flight to Boston or the hotel there!
We are planning a few days in Yosemite with the help of Mike's cousin, but after an initial wave of info things are at a stand still. Of course the time difference doesn't help when you want to set up a call, and we have no idea how the booking works, which are the best place to stay etc. The cousin mention it'll be very busy and probably booked up, and to look for a cancellation list...she may as well have spoken Chinese...it's not like we know how it works...anyway, I'm sure we'll have more info at the weekend.

As for you my fantastic friends, send me an email to let me know which dates suits you better for a meet up! Also how do we contact each other? Email? I'll have my iPhone but I don't think I'll have data cover (is free wireless common?) I'm sure I'll have internet access in the house anyway.

4 weeks to go!!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Back to holiday planning

6 weeks till we leave for the holiday of a lifetime! I am so excited! Mike's cousin has been amazing, she has offered us all the things we were looking for so we can travel quite light for what concerns Oliver's stuff at least!  She also has offered their third car (do you guys not trade in a car when you buy a new one? Where do you keep all these spare cars??) which sounds fantastic. I'm currently looking at making sure our health insurance will cover us in the States also, just in case. And I cannot wait to do a bit more serious planning.
One question I still don't have an answer for is if there are mosquitoes in San Francisco. Italy would be a nightmare from that point of view, while Ireland on the other hand is mosquitoes free! Let me know.

And I'm also deciding on my trip East after Mike and Oliver have gone back to Ireland. Here's what I'm thinking. I will fly into Boston probably on the 6th of July, I can take a night flight which will mean I'll be in Boston early morning (and jet-lagged!) of the saturday and spend the day looking around. I think I may be better staying at one of the hotels at the airport and then just travel into the city, what do you think? I will be picked up at the airport on sunday morning by a shuttle bus to go to the conference. Or I can get an afternoon flight to Boston and stay 2 nights. Also, any of you happy to meet up let me know, I'd love to catch up with you but I'm afraid I don't know anyone in that area and I am not sure how feasible would be for the New Yorkers (or others!) to make a day trip to Boston. If you have been there or you have advices, I'm all ears! I'll be travelling on my own of course and I will have about a day.
Oh another thing on the internal flight. I definitely want to fly direct and for some reason SFO-BOS seems to have only two company that do so? JetBlue and UA? Is this correct or am I looking at the wrong airport?? I could fly out of Oakland also (suggestion of the Ultimate Vet Hero) as I'll be at that side of SF, but from there the only flight I can see was with JetBlue at about midnight of the 6th, landing in Boston at 8.30am. Also, I never heard of JetBlue of course, but I suspect it's ok. I look forward to hearing from you all and don't be shy!