The Long and Winding Road

Yes, long and winding indeed.


We have not arrived on the eve of this trip easily. As a matter of fact, it has been quite difficult in getting here. It all started back in October...(add your own weird blurry visioning and mystical music here)


We were visiting Jess' family for Emme's 1st birthday party and Jess' mom sprung the idea that they may be attempting to take her Suzuki Violin students to Germany for a workshop. Maybe we could meet up with them over there somewhere if we're traveling. Shortly thereafter, out came the maps and the discussion began about where and when we would meet. The discussion quickly turned to what would you like to see most and what would be the coolest things and we quickly narrowed them down to a few of the major cities - Rome and Paris making it to the top of the list.


The months dragged on and the fundraising began...there was silence on the trip front and it looked like it wasn't going to happen. There were other balls up in the air as well, my annual Mets trip with the boys, professional obligations and our own vacation plans.


Our February vacation yielded a nice surprise and we knew that no matter what happened, this was probably the last time we would be traveling together alone for quite some time. The trip front remained silent through March and even into April and the price of flights began to rise along with my anxieties over pregnancy, professional obligations, and the Premier League.


The kids are going to the workshop. They're not all going to the workshop. Jess' mom is going to the workshop? Jess is going to the workshop? It's May, now, we're three months in on the massive game changer and there's no tickets. There's another potential game changer on the horizon and there's no word on that either. The anxieties are mounting and Liverpool could potentially place in Europe for next season, even possibly CL. Those anxieties lead to a massive anticlimactic end to the season, not if you're a Spurs fan, and I will have to wait for next season with all the other Scousers.


If that's not enough, the conversations (yes, we'll call them that), around the details of the trip are growing increasingly more intense as the the sorta plans start to take the shape of a coffee spill. As they start to take on some form, a form in which I will be home while she is away for two weeks, did I say two, no, it's three now, and I will be home - possibly handling professional obligations, possibly sitting on my ass, either way screwed.


This doesn't really sit well with me for a variety of reasons. My five month pregnant wife will be traveling without me overseas, with her mom who is slightly less intimidating than she is. I may not even have a reason to remain behind for professional obligations and thus would be doing, I dunno, shit. Then there's the Jess logic - "this may be the last time I will be able to do this for a long time."  And while I agree and empathize with her, she may be the one physically having the baby but WE are having it and that means it is the last time I will be able to do this too. So, WTF?


I spoke with a few colleagues who I respect and they told me to plan my summer and everything else will fall in to place.  That being said, we agreed and booked the flights two weekends ago.  Jess and her mom will be heading to Germany on July 6th.  Jess' dad will be flying up here on the 10th and we'll take off that night to meet them in Venice, the love capital.  Or was that Dave's hot tub?  Should be an interesting 11 hour flight.  Yes, 11 hours.  I was surprised as hell too.  I hope he doesn't try to snuggle.


Anyway, those are the plans.  Venice, hiking Cinque Terra, some scenic driving, Montepulciano, Florence, Rome and then Paris on the way home.  We've already got a number of cool tours planned for the Secret Itineraries Tour in the Doge's Palace in Venice, the catacombs inside St. Peter's Basilica including where they think St. Peter is buried, some clock tower there, and the new stuff they excavated under the Coloseum.  Should be pretty friggin' sweet.


So we're off again in the summer, the last hurrah.  Only this time, we're dragging three more people with us.  Five people, four backpacks, three people who have never been to Europe, two iPads, and one pair of jeans.