I didn’t sleep nearly as long as I thought I would. I was fully prepared for a 22-hour Rip Van Winklian experience.
As has been the custom for a while now, a big day of travel requires a day of staring at the walls. I did laundry and started catching up. After the 17 days out of the country I have more than 150 Emails and 798 items in my RSS reader through which to navigate.
I spent all day on that and, well, at least I’m making a dent. I’d post links, but most of them are now a bit dated.
But I’ll give you this, mentioned yesterday, the Small Things I’m Looking Forward to At Home list.
- Private dining tables with space between you and the next customers
- Evenly paved roads
- Not walking everywhere
- Cheeseburgers
- Drivers who obey a few of the traffic laws
- Being in a structure that isn’t moving
- The gym
These aren’t criticisms, but rather appreciations of our own routines.
It will be nice to relax a bit more in my daily travels. It will be lovely to have a private conversation at dinner. Every we were was very compact. We walked on so much marble and gravel and cobblestones that we wished, after a day or two, that we’d brought a pedometer — and ankle braces.
I’d longed for cheeseburgers very early on, which is ridiculous because we were eating incredibly delicious meals everywhere we went. Still, you just want a cheeseburger. We’re grilling out tomorrow night.
You think traffic is bad in your town? Drive in Istanbul.
I’m ready to be stationary. Aside from the last night in Rome we have to think hard back to the last time we weren’t inside something that was conveying us one way or another. This, isn’t a bad thing. We had perfect seas for the entire trip, on only one night could you really feel the ship swaying at all. But sitting still has its own pleasures.
As for the gym, I mentioned the food, right?
Wendy came over for dinner tonight. She wanted to go to Olive Garden. We just came back from Rome, and so we laughed at her.
I mentioned the Auburn people we met in Rome, Athens and Pompeii, but it was still nice to hear a familiar accent. Maybe that should have made the list.
Speaking of Auburn people, did I mention that the guy in the stateroom next to ours was an Alabama graduate? Small world, indeed.
So I’m trying to catch up. Expect this to be a very redundant read until I get back up to speed. But enough about me: How’ve you been?
