booking the dream

Well in the middle of doing filing and bookeeping and preliminary taxes which is a particular kind of hell for any artist, there is a ray of light that enters into the stacks of paperwork.

I booked plane tickets yesterday.

Not just any tickets. Dream tickets. Being the long term planner that I am is actually paying off because this summer my little family is going to Europe.

For four weeks (high pitched screams of joy in the background).

Granted this is going to be on a shoestring like no other but isn't that befitting artistic types anyway? The last three weeks I have poked away at all the internet info I could find and when looking at the cost of flights I got slightly depressed as I watched the prices go up while the US dollar went down and that was truly discouraging. This weekend I broke down and bought one of those guide books because the ones at the library are at least a year old and I figure 20 bucks for one of these books might actually avoid a more expensive mistake like finding out that museum ticket costs of last year are now double. So after reading enough to feel like I could book a loose itinerary I began to check on flights again. Just sort of keeping track of any "deals" or watching if tickets were incrementally going up. I knew that if gambled and waited too long I risked us missing out completely. This summer is the thing. If we wait, who knows if the opportunity will be there next year. And the reality that works in my favor is that this kind of travel falls under my job title which also helps galvanize any doubt brought on by a deflated US dollar.

Well, yesterday I found the flights that wouldn't break the bank. Holding my breath I clicked my way through expedia and booked them. It is amazing what a little creativity and some really good information can do. I highly recommend Europe Through The Back Door as a resource if you are a euro travel newbie like me. I saved a chunk of change just yesterday due to one of the unconventional tips found in this book.

There is still much planning to be done, but you know that the first step is the hardest and now we are committed. So here I sit, slightly anxious, excited and feeling like someone needs to pinch me. I am forty and have dreamed about seeing Botticelli's Primavera face to face since I was sixteen. Now, barring the end of the world before June, I might actually get to take her picture.

wow.