Traveling Everywhere w/Kids in Europe

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I tried furiously to get a paid writing gig for this trip, but several things held me back, if not made it impossible. First off, I had no idea what I was doing, a situation that still persists today. Second, I waited until it was really too late, and subsequently, I probably won't hear from any mags in time for our trips. And finally, I'm a big nobody, so who the hell is going to take my writing? Can't say I blame them.

Either way, we are on the cusp of our big trip to Spain and Italy, and needless to say I'm a bit of wreck trying to anticipate all that needs to be done. Call it a control issue, but the thing that gives me a the biggest anxiety is trying to entertain the kids on the plane. If not for them and my wife, Ruth, however, I would never leave this house, and I'm grateful that Audrey and Nicholas get to see so much of the world.

In lieu of the fact that I didn't score a gig before our trip, I'm going to try to keep a blog and hope that an article will come out of it. I've got to at least try.

We live in about five days, on election day, of all things. Fortunately, flights across the Atlantic leave late in the day, so we're hoping to have time to hit the voting booths before we leave, then bail out before the shit hits the fan on election day. It's a pretty exciting time, when you get down to it, though I doubt that a lot of people (conservatives) feel that way. I NEVER thought I'd see the day when we'd even have a black candidate for president, much less one who might win it all. It's amazing.

So we'll vote, and I know we'll kick ourselves for making it that way because the first day of travel is always hell. We are slowing trying to get our minds around this trip, the tickets and hotels have been arranged, and that's the most important thing. The rest is where the adventure begins.

Before we go, we have to contact the bank to let them know what's up, and that's pretty much it. I think. By next week, the full extent of our lives will be Spain and then our first trip to Italy. We never know how it will be, but it is always interesting.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

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