Fly by night away from here.

I've tried to get this going for the past week, and just haven't been able to make it work. If I'm getting bored writing it, I'm sure anyone reading will be gone before the halfway mark. Maybe it's the amount of distractions at the times, or a general lack of direction at the moment? I don't know, but well give this a shot.

I just finished a week of vacation. I'm not so much used to just having a week off after the last year of super flexible work schedule and a month off without pay. This year, due to a combination of factors (and a lack of staffing), vacations are harder to extend. But oh well, it's still a vacation right!

Again with the general lack of direction of late, I had no plans for this week off. I had several thoughts, but none of them seemed really appealing. I did have plans to be in Atlanta for the last part for a DCI show and (more importantly) the small reunion of old friends. But what to do for the first half of the week. I was looking around for options, and nothing jumped out at me as being reasonable and feasible. I mean, I can't get to Oz and back in 4 days without wanting to commit murder.

After spending days before perusing the interwebs for last minute deals and see what was doable on the cheap, I came up with nothing. So, I spent Saturday here in Louisville hitting the usual places in town. Still in an indecisive funk.

Sunday morning brought a sunny hot day (again) and a small headache. Per my normal non exciting Sunday morning ritual, I walked to the coffee place iPad in hand, grabbed a coffee and water, turned on the Dave FM Acoustic Sunrise stream, and started reading the paper. About halfway through the second article I totally lost focus... and decided I had to go. Somewhere. Anywhere.

A quick check of the Delta website showed a 2 PM to Atlanta that would get me there in time to catch the evening outbounds to anywhere. In truth I had narrowed down the destinations in my head to about five. The trick was, at 1135 to pack a bag, shower, and be ready to leave and be at the airport by 1300 (including the park and ride from the UPS lot). I did learn it's slightly more complicated packing for an unknown destination.

I made it, and was sitting in the cockpit of an CRJ900 bound for Atlanta by 1415. I only had to commit to the captain that, unlike the UPS pilot that had jumpseated in with him, I would not fall out of the airplane by trying to deplane before the jetbridge was up. What an idiot.

ON arrival, I checked the boards, and checked the service counter with an unusual request. Which of five flights had the best chance of me flying on them, and the winner was... Brussels.

Why Brussels? Though I'd technically been there twice, I'd only seen the inside of a train station and the airport. Oh, and an airport hotel for 9 hours. The other European option that worked well would have been Madrid. Brussels topped out Madrid because of the temperature (the mid 60's versus the mid 90's... I'm kind of over hot) and a better beer selection. As I can't think of a single Spanish beer but 100 Belgian beers easily come to mind... easy choice.

So off I go... after getting my seat assignment, saying hello to the crew, being briefed on opening the emergency exit, then being moved form an exit row to a better seat by the captain, I settled in for the 8 hours to Europe.

This being the first time I've tried an international trip like this, I was a bit worried that I'd be told to "pound sand" (that's a technical aviation term that equates to "get lost" or something more graphic) and get off the plane. But the whole trip went smooth. Except for the interrogation by the customs official on arrival ("No I don't have an onward ticket, I'm taking a company jet home"), no complaints.

I'll do the Brussels travelogue later, but suffice it to say I did a few cultural things, museums and what not. And had several beers, and just enjoyed the cafe culture of Europe.

The trip helped just lift me up for a minute. The whole indecisive planning part had been a real downer. For some reason, I just didn't feel it. Not wanting to deal with the hassle and spend the money. I've been unusually thrifty of late, mainly since July as an expensive month for me. But, as I sat here (literally in the same place I'm writing this) that Sunday morning, nursing a light hangover, I could see how the week would go if I remained in town. That was unacceptable. I've been feeling a lack of adventurism lately, maybe I'm getting old. Maybe the idea of traveling to foreign lands alone is less appealing than in my 20's. Maybe I'm more aware of the dangers and pitfalls of a solo traveler in the world today than I was a decade ago.

Whatever that was driving the reticence to go jump on a plane, destination unknown, needed to be smite down. I had a good time, if a little dull at times, but did meet a couple interesting people and a number of interesting beers. And like the first time I took of to Europe 12 years ago, I can't wait for some one to go with me.. I'll just go solo. I have the benefits to make it happen on a whim. And now that I know it can be done, maybe I'll try more destinations as money and open seats allow.

I'll be posting a more "went here, ate this" description of the week later. But I did have a great time, if only from having a change of scenery. Then a day at home and off again to be in the company of many good friends for the weekend. It was nice to see people I haven't seen in a long while. I say it every time, and I mean it every time, but we shouldn't only meet up once a year. But life makes that harder as we get older and we, as adults, pile on more "adult" responsibilities. Well, everyone else does, I still act like a child for the most part.

I'm going to work om the travel narrative a bit later, and some other things as well. I'm resisting the urge to buy a new Macbook Pro. My laptop has an issue with the battery charging or holding a charge and that bothers me. Add the general annoyance of grinding down when trying to multi task. And I noticed a lack of disk space these days. But since I don't have the cash on hand I am hesitant to take on another debt, even with 12 months no interest.

I'm also settling in for an August involving me working more. At least I'll have the aircon at work to keep me cool. There's some plans on the horizon, but we'll see what happens with that. Until then, I'm just trying to stay cool.