No Travel Blues - The Cocoon Breaks

No travel blues

For the month of February, I did not have any desire to travel. That is, knowing when Spring Break was from the university, I had no thoughts about saying to Ron, “Where are we going?” There was a travel weariness surrounding my aura and I could not get a grasp of why it was there, how to shake it, or even if I did want to come from under it. I knew there was something wrong for sure when I booked B and B guests for the exact week of my vacation from school in April.

Normally, I have notes plastered everywhere reminding me of when an upcoming week off is, so we can black out the dates. I just took it as a sign that I had no desire to fly off somewhere.

Then with all of the problems surrounding the computers and the anxiety worrying about what was lost, what was saved, how much time it would take me to resolve the problems, not to mention restoring all of the software, I was at a breaking point. My only escape is to plan a trip. As I thought about this, it occurred to me that Ron was consumed with his trip to the States. Sure, his 80 year old sister is getting remarried after over 25 years of widowhood, but still, there is life before and after that three weeks. I had not chosen not to go with him. Three weeks with family, his, mine, or a stranger’s is more than I can handle. The last time he was back there for two weeks and came home and said it was too long, but he has memory loss over this comment, so it serves him right to live it again as a refresher course.

However, I decided I needed to get away during the break. After all, I had no idea where my next trip would be thereafter, since he was not making any suggestions for the summer. Last year, we did three trips. This year, nothing was even spoken about.

With all of this in mind, it seemed fair that I should take off for some time over my break, so I looked at the two places where I knew the city, language was not a barrier, and I had a reasonable idea of what I would want to do and see. If I were going for just a few days, I did not want to struggle with languages, maps, and other things that can take too much of your precious time when you are trying to relax. This narrowed it down to two cities: London and Amsterdam. Then looking at lodging narrowed it even further to Amsterdam. One night in London, even at a budget place was two nights in Amsterdam. I love Amsterdam and have been there nine times in the past. I know the city; I love the city.

When looking for cheap flights, I was shocked at the cost of the taxes, though the fares were reasonable. The taxes for some flights were almost double what the airfare was. As crazy as that is, I did find Wizz Air the most reasonable, yet still not a bargain. They are now charging for using your credit card to book the ticket, but if you call them versus using the Internet, they charge you more for using an agent.

Here was a breakdown of the fees:

From BUD to AMS 6990.00 HUF

Passenger Service Charge 2420.00

Security Tax 930.00

Insurance and Facility Charge 1310.00

Fuel Surcharge 3050.00

From AMS to BUD 3490.00

Passenger Service Charge 3340.00

Security Tax 3150.00

Insurance and Facility Charge 1870.00

Fuel Surcharge 2910.00

Credit Card fee 1590.00

Subtotal for Airport taxes and fees 19070.00

Subtotal for fees (credit card) 1590.00

Subtotal for fares 10480.00

Total 31140.00 Huf

This seemed to put some bounce in my step once again. My flight out is on the 7^th of April and I return on the 11^th. Not a great deal of time, but since I know the city, I can target where and what I want to see and do and not feel cheated.

It felt good to have plans and now the addiction was not going to be satiated as easily as the last month. I told Ron, I wanted to return to Edinburgh either with him or without him, so I am planning that trip too. We also have wanted to go to Riga, Latvia and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Those are on the search list also. Using budget airlines, I have found 22 different combinations of getting from here to Edinburgh by flying from here to various cities and then changing planes or carriers. There are so many options, it was necessary to make an Excel spreadsheet to do all of the rates. Then the complication comes of what month. I am finished with school on the 18^th of May and he does not leave for the States until June 12^th, so there is some travel leeway there. He returns on the 5^th of July, so we still have almost all of July and all of August until September 5^th to plan around. Oh, the work that is going to be involved, but I love it! I feel Spring in the air once again and my mood is brightening as the days are getting longer.

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