Sunday, May 25, 2008

5/25/08 Waiting at the Manchester Airport

Here I am sitting in my favorite spot at the Manchester Airport waiting for my 7:15 a.m. flight and the start of my 25-day vacation. Once you've paid to get to an airport outside of Maine, you might as well keep going (to save time and money), so that's what I'm going to do. First I'm off to Virginia for a week (a short hike on the Appalachian Trail, my 30 year college reunion at Hollins, a wedding in Falls Church of a Hollins buddy), then Albuquerque for 8 days with family and friends, then Dallas for 7 days with friends, then 2 days in Old Orchard Beach working and playing. I got all 4 one-way tickets on Southwest for a total of $488. In this day and age, that's an amazing bargain.


Now imagine packing for all of those trips! But I did. I got everything into 2 suitcases. Essentially, one was for hiking and the other had everything else. Fortunately, I have access to washing machines in both Albuquerque and Dallas so there can be a lot of repeat of wardrobe. I'm wearing my hiking boots because I still want to keep breaking them in and because that left more room in the suitcases for other things. They are rather bulky. But they are rather attractive, don't you think? These are the ones I bought over spring break while going between New York and Florida (see, there's that multi-tasking approach to travel again). I stopped at Kittery Trading Post (well, I had to go a little out of the way to get to it in southern Maine just at the New Hampshire border) on the way from Long Island to Manchester Airport to fly to Fort Lauderdale. Hmmmm, what was I saying about Manchester being my home away from home?

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