To Tennessee and beyond!

You know what I miss most about living overseas?  The traveling.  Because living in Europe was temporary, I knew I had to make the most of my time there by seeing every single thing I could.  And I think I did pretty well.  I visited 25 countries and 4 continents.  That still didn’t seem like enough, but with the limited time I had off of work and, let’s be honest here, the lack of the “1%” cash it would have taken to do even more, I felt pretty good about my traveling accomplishments.  Once a month we had what was commonly known as a “four day weekend” with the military (thank you, Uncle Sam!) and with the super cheap Airfare by European budget airlines (holla, Ryan Air!), the world (ok, most of Europe) was my oyster.

Needless to say, my jet-setting has cooled here in the good ole US of A.  I’ve gone to some fancy place in California for Thanksgiving (no sight-seeing, just in-law family stuff), Jacksonville, FL for work (where it rained every single day), Branson, MO (don’t laugh…I didn’t know!), and Denver, CO for a funeral.  Throw in a couple of weekend trips to Chicago and Indianapolis, and that’s it.  Needless to say traveling has been kept at a minimum.

I’ve decided to change that up, folks.  Now that I have saved up some leave, and have decided to stay local for the upcoming holiday season, I am tentatively planning on some pretty exciting places in the next year that will hopefully kick the butt of the last year’s (lack of) traveling.

Only one has been set in stone.  Well, two technically, but one is more than two days.  So I will start there.  We will be heading to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg this October for some hopefully relaxing R&R.  I plan on hiking, shopping, eating (duh?!), and taking it easy.  We rented a cabin at the top of a mountain, complete with our own Jacuzzi and wrap-around porch.  I totally need this little get away, too, although I am overwhelmed with school, life, etc.  Hopefully it will be exactly what I need to re-charge.

The second trip is to Indianapolis for the Colts vs. Dolphins game!  Hopefully by boys will show the Colts what’s up in their brand new fancy pants stadium, (that, as a continued resident of Indiana I am sure I somehow paid for).

And then, in no particular order (as they aren’t finalized yet because we haven’t spent any moolah on them) are Ecuador and the Galapagos (any advice would be great if you have any!), a cruise to Alaska (a request from the hubster), a trip to Portland and other various sites in Oregon (again, a trip for Joel), and possibly a little NYC action (once again people, advice would be great!).

I am a travel freak, and I think the lack of adventure in my life is what is keeping me so un-motivated and blah.  Can’t wait for the recharge to begin!