Another vacation

I'm off tonight on another foreign trip. It seems like not long ago that the planning of an overseas trip was all-time consuming and involving large amounts of discussion with most everyone you know, relaying details about where you are going and how long it took for your passport to come through. The whole concept of going some place that required a passport was somewhat mystical.

Alas, here in the land of five-weeks annual leave, people go on like two of these trips a year. And by 'these', I mean trips to far-off lands that require at least a week (if not two!) off of work. Therefore when you do go on what would be a hugely long trip by American standards, it's really not that big of a deal in these parts and it's almost expected that you do so a couple times a year. In my mind my Paris-Seattle endeavor is somewhat major. However, of the 7 people in my little group here at work, 5 people are taking at least a week off in the month of May. One guy is taking 3 weeks off. My leave is the second to shortest of the lot.

Personally, I always find that the build-up to a trip is nearly as exciting as the trip itself. While trip planning is obviously a major hobby of people in these parts, at the same time you don't feel like you need to be as selective in your choice of location, given that so many desirable locations are not too far from here, the general cheapness of flying these days, and the fact that even if it's not that great, you can give it another whirl in a few months (as opposed to the following year, as things are the the 2-week American system).

Anyways, I'm off to Paris this evening. Leaving work an hour and a half early to try and get to Heathrow in plenty of time so my bag doesn't end up in that Terminal 5 lost baggage pile with the 15,000 other bags. Like, really really hoping. Just in case, I do have a few clothing items in a backpack that I'm carrying on. Although now that I think about it, if I was really wise I might put an extra pair of shoes in there as well...

I'm looking forward to Paris. It should be, by lack of a better word, really neat. Although one major downside is that French does not manage to attain the same level as silly word-ness that the Germans do with their Ausfahrt business!