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Like a Teenager
06/10/10
Like a Teenager
When I was a teenager, I wanted to grow up to become an adult who was an expat, who had a decent job, who felt comfortable financially, had a great partner-in-life, and who traveled widely.
Last week, I whined to Diana that I wanted to go somewhere this summer and wouldn't and couldn't and whine, moan, bitch. I told Diana I wanted to go to Iceland and that she needed to talk me out of it.
Diana instead decided to talk me into it. She claimed I tend to stockpile money and not actually spend it.
Hmm. Well.
An hour later, Good Man and I sat down. On paper we maxed out our Roth IRAs for the year, finished my gifted and talented endorsement, accounted for my missing August paycheck (since we're switching from modified to regular calendar, I end up losing a paycheck), etc etc. Diana's point has been made.
Iceland it was!
Except...not so much. With the crash of the Icelandic Kronor in 2008, Iceland is a lot cheaper than in the past, but because we were getting a late start on trip planning, we could only afford to sleep if we refused to eat.
The alternative was to only spend time on the southern coast, which we didn't want to do.
My mother suggested we try Alaska. She also said, "I keep hearing about the east coast of Canada, they say it's a lot like Gotland."
Good Man and I did some research and decided to go to head to Newfoundland. Apparently the rest of Canada hates Newfoundland (which means I'll probably love it). And it's an island. Gotland, Fåro, and Jeju-do have proven that we do islands well.
We'll be heading out for just over a week in July. Diana again offered up some great advice, telling me to check out the flights from Newark and taking Amtrak there. It ended up costing nearly the same as flying out of Baltimore and actually saves us travel time in the end.
We considered getting a package self-drive tour, but I am too cheap for that. The trip is mostly planned out I'm so excited to go! (Thanks for being a great friend and not supporting me, Diana! ^^)
I woke up after deciding that we could afford to go somewhere and realized that the life I dreamt of as a teenager? I've gotten it (and more!). And I'm not sure I actually expected that.
12 comments
You'll both love it!! Glad to have you come and visit Canada, it is a beautiful and diverse country.
Helena, so far the plan is two nights in St John's (although we arrive around 11 pm, so that doesn't mean much), two nights in Witless Bay, one night in I-Have-to-Find-a-Place, three nights right outside of Terra Nova National Park in Port Blandford, and one night in St John's again before leaving (haven't booked that part either).
We're staying at a mix of B&Bs and self-catering cottages/cabins. We really wanted to make it out west, too, but I want to ENJOY the trip and not be driving all day (since Good Man still doesn't have his license) so this time we're basically focussing on the east.
Other than a whale watching trip planned near Witless Bay, and a few other plans, we're keeping our schedule pretty open. Good Man wants to play "GPS Roulette," as he says. Our most fun in Jejudo was probably the drove to and fro, getting off the main road and just stopped wherever looked good. The best day on our honeymoon was the trip to Fåro, where we just drove and accidentally found Ingmar Bergman's grave.
There's an Italian restaurant called Cioppino's in St. John's at 240 Water Street. My husband and I painted half of the mural upstairs. (It used to be called Bruno's--Bruno died right after we left. Very sad.)
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