Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I Don't Want To Talk Anymore

As 2010 comes to a close I thought I'd wrap up the year in a blog but instead of doing a month by month recap I'm just going to sum it up in a few sentences.

The Jewel of the Seas took me to Panama, a Boeing 777-200 to London with our moms, and the Caribbean Princess to Bermuda.  A few too many Embraer 190's didn't get us to Charlotte but a trusty Boeing 737-700 took us to Raleigh where a not so cute Nissan Cube finished the job. The Liberty of the Seas voyaged to St. Maarten and back and a Boeing 767-300 got me to London. A bright orange Airbus A320 whisked me to Barcelona where the Norwegian Jade showed me around the Mediterranean. Finally another Airbus A320 got me to Dublin where an Airbus A330-300 was waiting to fly me home.

It was another great year and while current plans call for a sharp curtailing of travel in 2011 who knows what the year has in store for me.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Lose It

Growing up in a very small town in Northeast Ohio I couldn't wait for the day when I could get out. When it came time to consider what college to attend I didn't look at a single in-state university. All I remember thinking is that it had to be outside of Ohio. I don't think this had as much to do with Ohio as it did with my still present longing to travel and see new places. In the end I chose Eastern Michigan University for two reasons: 1) They gave in-state tuition to Ohio residents and 2) I waited so long to choose a school that they had the latest acceptance date and I was pretty much left with EMU or the local community college.

Whenever I go back to the Buckeye State I am amazed at how different it is from Illinois even though the two are just a state apart. From the way people drive to the way they talk it's as if it's a different world. When my visit comes to an end I can't wait to get back onto an airplane and head west and I always smile when I see the Chicago skyline come into view on our descent. My family will always be in Ohio (unless i can convince my mom to move closer) and it will always have a part of my heart...a small part. The other part of it belongs to the Land of Lincoln...unless it's the part that is basically a Hoosier now, but that's for another blog.