vacation planning

i know, i know, i should probably go on my current vacation before i start planning the next one.  al laughed at me this morning because i was trying to make sense of the european train system and figure out the best way to maximize a future italy/france vacation.

but ... i'm already done planning our greek isles trip.  (or everything is 90% nailed down and paid for, save the 10% of time i scheduled for relaxing and spontanaeity).  all that's left to do is to go! 

i think vacation planning is the trifecta of how i enjoy spending my time:

1)  planning
2)  maximizing
3)  travelling

taking the vast array of options and flow-charting them down to the best way to spend my time and money, while getting the best pictures. 

that being said, while doing research, i came across some good tips and insights.  i liked this blog because it had a pretty diverse range of places visited:  http://www.thecitytraveler.com/

i think al also thinks i'm weird because i start packing for vacations 2 weeks before we leave.  (inevitably i still end up forgetting something) - but our suitcases have been ready to go since last weekend (save our electric toothbrushes and stuff that you have to pack at the last minute).

that being said, here's the run-down of the upcoming trip:

day 1:  depart from nyc

day 2:  arrive in rhodes (evening), pick up car, relax and settle at the hotel.

day 3:  northern rhodes:  ancient kamari, rhodes town, faliraki beach, possible horseback riding

day 4:  southern rhodes:  lindos, southern beaches, monolithos castle

day 5:  valley of butterflies, fly from rhodes to santorini, dinner in pyrgos

day 6:  explore fira, caldera cruise (volcano, hot springs, thirasia, sunset over oia)

day 7:  pick up car/atv, black beach, red beach, explore oia, hike from fira to oia, sunset picnic on the beach in oia

day 8:  last swim at hotel, ferry santorini to mykonos, mykonos town

day 9:  south coast cruise (dragonissi, frangias, kalfati, paradise beaches), mykonos town


day 10:  delos, rent car/atv, explore beaches around island

day 11:  relax at hotel, explore island, possible horseback riding, return car, ferry to athens

day 12:  depart athens to nyc

yay!  :)

paper anniversary

jungkryu told me i should have a blog, and then i realized ... i do have a blog!  i just haven't frequented it in awhile.  and i'm pretty sure that almost no one reads it, though i have to admit, it's nice to have a record of my thoughts (however nonsensical they may be) to look back upon.

our first anniversary came and went this weekend - hard to believe that just a year ago there was utter madness, an impending thunderstorm, and a bevy of mishaps (including our primary officiant being stuck on a tarmac in chicago). 

i was informed that anniversary gifts have themes - now, who came up with these themes, i don't know, because they're somewhat outdated, but alas, tradition is tradition.  so for the 1st anniv, the theme is paper. 

huh.

what to do about that.  so my cousin gave me the brilliant suggestion (or so she thought) to get him tickets.  cuz tickets are made of paper.  except we just went to see a show last week, and a play the week before that.  i have a tendency to just buy him stuff when i see it (on sale) and so having to think of explicit gifts has been somewhat difficult. 

so one thing i noticed recently was that while al and i spend a lot of quality time together, the specifics of how we spend that time is usually dictated by me.  mostly because i tend to have very definite opinions on what i do/don't want to do, and he tends to be ambivalent or just generally much more flexible.

that being said, i wonder if that sometimes means that he doesn't get to do what he wants to do. 

one time he made an off-handed comment that before we met, he used to go to a lot of concerts.  it's no secret that i'm not really a fan of rock, alternative, or otherwise loud music venues, and since he hasn't really pushed for such things, we've never gone.

thus my idea - i gave him a gift offer of 2 tickets to any concert of his choice, with the condition on myself that i wouldn't complain about how loud it was, and i'd even pretend to like it even if i didn't.

my cousin promptly yelled at me for being unromantic (thanks unnee).  but i don't get it - isn't love about sacrifice?  i thought it would be more meaningful that i was willing to do something that i probably wouldn't enjoy, just because it would make him happy. 

in any event, when i presented said gift, his response was interesting.  he thought it was thoughtful, yes, but then he said something along the lines of "well, when i was single, i wanted to go to concerts and meet people and be in a crowded place and all that.  i kind of don't need that anymore".

huh.

maybe pastor danny was right ... he said to us the other day that for most men, when they get married, all or most of their emotional and social needs are met by their wives.  (the reverse is apparently not necessarily true, which is why women need to have friends outside of their spouse).  but i suppose that makes sense why guys tend to fall off the face of the earth when they start dating or get married...

anyways, i hope he picks a good concert. 

t-minus 4 days till greece!