absence

Right. So I am still alive, despite the weeklong gap in my posting. I'm sure my vast readership (heh.. heh... hmmm) is waiting with bated breath. Or not.

So this entire last week I've been glued to the computer. Mostly all day on the weekends, in the evenings, and any other waking second... planning our summer getaway. My days have been:

-Sleuthing for plane tickets. What's the cheaper way to get to Provence? ORD to NICE? ORD TO PARIS and then TGV TO NICE? ORD TO MARSEILLES? ORD TO LONDON and then pickup RYAN AIR OR EASYJET to NICE? or MARSEILLE? ORD to LONDON and take a paddleboat across the channel and a horse and buggy down to Provence? AHGHGHHGHG...

-Tossing around ideas for how to work our way around Provence. We're planning on renting a car and either doing a few nights in the Nice/Cote D'Azur area and then getting a weeklong Gite in the Avignon Area. But what about the horses in the Camargue? What about the lavender fields in Haute Provence? What about Aix? Hm... how to fit it all in.

-And finally, where to stay. Where to stay? Oh where to stay... This is a big thing for me-- I want it to be *just* how I imagine, and we've always had slam-dunk places to stay when we've booked them before. I just want it to be great here too. It actually seems a bit cheaper to book a "gite" (or small house/guesthouse) for 1 entire week, than to hop about a few nights here/a few nights there in different cities. So that's another thing we're taking into account.

-And then there's the issue of taking the time off. I have my request in, but have yet to hear back.... so FARECAST, you better not budge on prices in the next few days because DUDE I will have some WORDS after that Chicago-to-Paris incident you pulled a few weeks ago ($695 RT one night, $1099+ ever since)...

And then there's the dreaming...