Day Fourteen: Berlin

Travel Whores

Yes, that's what we've become. New jobs (or other moves) aside, there are two weeks in the beginning of August that work for travel. If we keep it cheap this time (hostels and the like) I think we can pull off 10 days somewhere.

The problem is the "where." Right now, Madrid is looking like the first contender - a city we're both interested in, with relatively cheap airfares - but I wouldn't know where to go from there. Would it be silly to spend 5 days in/around Madrid and then go over to Portugal and spend 5 days in/around Lisbon?

The other option is going down to Morocco from Madrid, but in my head that would take a longer vacation than we have. (Plus, my mother spent tons of time in north Africa, and I'm not sure the places can ever hold up to the stories... it worries me a bit, but underlines the idea that I'll need more time than, say, 4 days in Morocco.)

After a bit of a flight delay that landed us near home at 2am this morning, we're back.

Speaking of back(s), here is Mr. Squirrel's back, next to some Very Large Trees. (Guess where?)

...and more

I've promised Mr. Squirrel that if he gets the tenure-track job, we can go to Amsterdam for a few days this spring. I was thinking how silly that was, financially, even though fares are dirt cheap (flight + hotel = $500 each) until I remembered: I'm saving at least $2000/year from not smoking.

Shouldn't there still be rewards for not smoking, this early (less than 2 years) into my quit?