Are we ready yet?!?

The answer is no.  No we are not.  I think the reality hit me just yesterday that I’m traveling next week.  I get on a plane bound for Chicago next Thursday morning.  I’m really looking forward to seeing my second home, my friend Amanda, my sister, and of course Duran Duran at the Chicago Theatre Friday night.  It’s one Chicago “staple” that I’ve yet to see, so that should be fun.  I finally did get a decent ticket to the show, and get this, I’m on John’s side.  That almost never happens for me, so it’ll be good to see the show from a different angle for a change!  My trip is a bit of a whirlwind as I land Thursday afternoon and take off again on Saturday afternoon – I have to be home in time to celebrate my husband’s birthday the following day.  We have a couple of days that are jam packed with plans, so I’m sure to come home exhausted from the trip.

After I return home, I have a matter of weeks before my second (and final!) trip to the UK for this year.  I’m still in a general state of disbelief that I’m making the trip out there again.  It’s funny because typically when Amanda and I make plans, I immediately book my plane ticket, the hotels…and then it’s wait wait wait. This time, we kept putting off making firm plans.  We did buy other concert tickets to replace the shows we could not attend due to timing, but other than that, we left well enough alone.  I think both of us kept waiting to affirm to ourselves that Simon was going to be able to do the tour, and to be honest I kept waiting for something to go wrong.  I think I still am to some extent.  Yesterday, Amanda found out that her leave from work was approved, which made us both relieved and happy to be making plans, so I booked my plane travel, and in addition we agreed to squeeze in one last show in Glasgow.  We have the time, thanks to Amanda’s leave, and since we’re going to be over there – we both feel as though we should go for broke (quite literally, I might add) and do it all.  It’s going to be a crazy trip and I think we will truly be spending more time in transit on a train than we will in any one locale during our visit to the UK, but we will be able to say we absolutely toured the heck out of that region!  I’ve never been to Scotland, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what it is like.

Just as a reminder – I live in Southern California.  We *might* get frost at my house once or twice a year.  I think I might have a ragged pair of knitted gloves in one of my drawers, but certainly nothing that can withstand real cold.  I did live outside of Chicago for a couple of years, but I suspect that the damp cold I’m about to face in the UK are going to be a shock to the old system for me!  This should be amusing for just about everyone else but me.  If you live there and see someone who appears to be a human popsicle – it’s probably going to be me.  Bring coffee….or maybe even Roger and/or Dom…I’m not really that picky!  (see, the fangirl comes out sometimes without ANY warning!)

With that, I think I need to get out and find myself some warm clothing!

-R