Going on Vacation

Yes, that's right. It is that time of the year again.

Usually, somewhere around late August, my son and I go on a trip together somewhere. In 2011, it was the Midwest. In 2012, it was Niagara Falls and the Midwest again. In 2013, it was Niagara Falls and Toronto. In 2014, the tradition was broken, but only because it did not happen in August, but rather in June. And it was not one trip, it was two. The first was a trip down south, with both my son and my girlfriend. None of us had ever been there before, in states like North and South Carolina, as well as in Georgia. Then, there was a trip trhogh New England and eastern Canada, particularly New Brunswick (with a side trip to Prince Edward Island), and the eastern part of Quebec province.

Then last year came the trip out to Arizona, with a sidetrip (for an afternoon and into evening) into Nogales, mexico.

Last year's trip was so enjoyable, that we decided to do something similar (although not exactly the same) this year.

Yes, we are going out west again.

This time, the trip will begin in Las Vegas, where we landed at the airport last year after the airline Then, it will be out to California, particularly to the Sierras, to Yosemite, the Redwoods, and San Francisco. I had hoped to go to southern California, but due to the airline changing our schedule once again, and cutting the trip out to the  far west by a day, we had to scrap that.

Still, this will be a big trip - the biggest and longest since the trip to Poland that my girlfriend and I took three years ago! And at that point, not speaking Polish and not being at all familiar with the country, I relied heavily on her, and besides, we spent most of the time at her family farm. So, I was well taken care of.

Here, I am the only adult going. My son is relying on me, and so everything has to work out well, and that falls on me. That, in turn, makes me a bit nervous, and I have been going over and over again in my head, thinking that surely, there is something I must have forgotten that will suddenly rush to memory once we are on the plane, or something. Probably something crucial, at that.

Of course, that could just be the normal doubts creeping in. The nervousness of uncertainty, and that notion that something will go wrong. What if we get provided with a crappy car that breaks down somehow, in the middle of the Nevada desert? What if one of the hotels proves to be very bad? And I do not even want to think about some possible emergencies that could arise.

So, there is nervousness. Yet, I'm also looking forward to it, and designed the trip recently to include more relaxing days towards the end, so that the last two or three days will have not that much driving, and more opportunities to go at a more relaxed pace, and even to chill by poolside for at least a decent part of the day.

Despite all of the obstacles and limitations, last year's trip proved to be largely a success! We both had a blast, my son and I, and he even considers it the best trip that he was ever on! That is high billing, and so I do not know if it would be good to even try and top that this time around, or what. Probably, it would be best not to think about it, and to focus instead on exploring the new things that there are too explore.

In any case, as I write this, this is all in the future still, while sitting here in New Jersey, really just a few hours away from boarding that plane that will send us out west, to Las Vegas, and the real beginning of the trip. Well, actually, that first plane will land in Chicago's O'Hare, and then after a brief layover, we will then be heading to Las Vegas.

It is exiting, and it should offer something new, a definite change of routine and scenery, at least for a little while. It should be very, very good, and refreshing, hopefully!

Obviously, I will not be on here nearly as much over the next couple of weeks, although I will try and post a little bit - but they will likely be brief messages, hopefully accompanied by pictures and by videos, if all works well.

Until a couple of weeks from now, hope all is well on both sides of this blog page!