ok some thoughts about 2012 travel plans etc.

1)  kim has offffff.... in july i believe (however she has to study/take her boards).  she wasn't super-excited about me going to france 1.5 years ago, and still mentions it from time to time (as if i purposely took a trip to spite her, even though she could have came if she didn't commit to doing summer-research which i advised AGAINST!).  so in july i'm sure kim and i will do something together/go somewhere, and she'll be expecting a trip of reasonable quality (although she has to study/take her boards in this time).  i MAY be able to push back a quality trip to the FOLLOWING summer (2013) after she graduates from dental school.  now that i'm thinking about it though, i believe 'residency' starts within 2 weeks or so after graduation.  the IDEAL time for a kim/xander SUPER vacation will be the summer of 2014 when she finishes her residency and has to wait one month or so for her licence to come in the mail (this is the time when i took the france-trip).
potential kim trips for summer of 2012 (from most to least likely):
 a) a road-trip (kim loved our NYC trip last summer visiting our mutual friend christine) probably to a big city, although florida is an option (although the temperature will be hot as hell)
 b) a one-week caribbean cruise (this would be a bump up in price, and with kim, since she's a student, i would be footing the bill for the two of us).
 c) a big trip overseas to either europe (hiking the 'west highland way', or to asia to visit or travel with my brother.

2) alden (DE user: nedlaT): my brother is in china until i believe early june?  then he's returning to the USA, only to go back to china in september... hmm.  there may be a way that i can coordinate a trip with him that coincides with his coming/going to the US (since he doesn't have a ton of disposable income for flight-tickets etc... it would be good to piggy-back on a return flight to or from the USA).  he has mentioned that he would like to visit 3 new countries this year and is thinking about southern asia countries such as thailand, vietnam or eastern countries like korea or japan.  hmmm.  this sort of plan would probably only involve me and my brother (although our friend alex may be interested in joining)... astrid, and anna will be busy with school, as will kim.  it would most definitely involve two straight weeks at least... any less time and you can't get adjusted from jet-lag.  here is a link i'm going to explore for affordable trips to japan:

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/01/05/fly-to-japan-cancelled/

3) trip with old friends... why not another repeat of the france trip except to a new destination(s)?  alex sent me a message indicating he may be up for something sometime in 2012.... floyd just started a new job, but he does have the opportunity for vacation time i believe... i don't think he could take more than a week at a time though (i better give him a shout).  sounds like alex is looking for something sooner than later though (to optimize weather conditions).... i donnnnnn't think that is going to pan-out (ie. a trip in the next few months).

i'm taking a week off in march that coincides with kim's spring-break.  so far nothing has been arranged, no plans made at this time.... ::cringe:: i'm kind of under the gun though to do something with kim during this time... so i couldn't sayyyy take two weeks off and go on a fancy trip because her one-week time-off is absolute/unchangeable. 

 

 

okay what i need to sort out this week is:
talk to kim about her week off in march.  maybe i should pull-out of taking this week off work... maybe she could just do something with her friends?  i mean, one week off doesn't really allow for a lot of time for us to do something.  if she INSISTS on doing something together during this time, i'm not against it... but let's plan it now, and make it something worth-while... a cruise or whatever.  however if i do this, then i think a compromise will be that the summer is 'mine,' in that, if i want to take off more time to do my own thing... i can do it (including travelling with friends).

thankfully with my current job i have a decent amount of vacation & personal time, so i have the luxury of taking the time off without it killing my bank-account.

ah well, anyone have any thoughts?  how about any vacation destination suggestions?

~xander-man