Skipping Trips

So we're on Spring Break again. And it came as quite a surprise to be honest. Last week on Friday, a class-mate got my phone number and then called me because she needed some info. In the transmission of the info and some of her statements I realised to my utter glee that Spring Break started from Monday March 16th, and not Wednesday March 18th. Oh did I dance around a bit on receiving that bit of unexpected news. Since then of course I've been pretending that I can finish my dissertation because of the three whole holidays while reading The Order of the Phoenix, watching all the Lord of the Rings movies, and finishing at least some of the other books which have been stacked in a corner, and which I've been gazing at with fond eyes while on my frequent trips to the kitchen to make coffee in between...

Guha and I bought daily planners this year in February so that we would know about dates and days and months. I haven't had a calendar in six years - and the only time I did, because somebody gifted me one - it never got put up and the year was through before I knew it. Right from December of last year, Guha and I had been wondering whether we should take a trip during Spring Break or during May when the Spring semester comes to an official end. Of course once we bought the planners we pored over them and I said "Oh, goodie. Now we know when we have holidays and all..." I don't know where my Planner is anymore although I kept putting in time-lines for things to be done - and some things got done early and some not-so-early - and the planner is now wasting and dying slowly out of misuse and non-use (and I keep looking at the wrong month or keep finding the wrong dates for holidays anyway...).

Once we came back from India in January, I think Guha and I knew that the chances of going out for Spring Break were pretty remote. Nonetheless we hadn't dismissed the idea from our minds. Guha suggested Southern Indiana where he had been doing some field-work last year. I'd gone there for some bitty hours, and it did indeed come across as a beautiful place with a breathtaking view of the Ohio River, lovely lush forests all around and a hilly landscape. Guha noted that there were some caves that we could explore and that there were horse-riding stables as well...so all in all it would be a fine trip. We could leave on Thursday early morn', stay at a "Bed and Breakfast", have a wonderful time for a couple of days and then leave on Saturday afternoonish or on Sunday morning.

Every Spring Break, I have every intention of going if not everywhere - at least somewhere (that I end up going all over the place is a different story). Even before I knew Guha, I would plan elaborate trips in my head, pore over maps, look at some inns and places on google....but of course I never once physically moved out of Lafayette apart from this one time (and it wasn't during Spring Break but a random weekend in February), and only because my brother threatened to come and stay in Lafayette for a weekend unless I accompanied them (him and his wife) to California. Yes, I had to be threatened to visit California for a weekend.

Anyhow, as I was saying: every year for the last 3 years now - Guha and I have made these plans of going somewhere during or around Spring Break. But as the date approaches nearer - our plans get taller. First we say Indiana dunes, then we say Yosemite, then we say Grand Canyon or move North, right to Niagara and I keep moving North Westish over to Alaska, if not further onto Greenland. Guha will pipe up with "Mexico" at least once (although neither one of us really wants to go to Mexico). I'll say "Ireland" at least once because I once heard (many years ago) that tickets were going for as cheap as $99 round-trip (and because a part of me would really like to visit some parts of Ireland). Then we'll say "why not go to Rome. Why not go to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Why not go all around Europe and visit all the art museums ...gugga-wugga-mugga."
Vra-voom.
As you can guess - we end up going nowhere. We stay in Lafayette and potter around...and there aren't any excuses really. It's because we are just lazy Lazy-Bones.

This time around though both of us were determined to "just do it". Not once had Ireland popped out of my mouth. And not once had Guha said, "Brazil" or "Mexico". We both stoutly and stubbornly kept saying "Southern Indiana".
So Guha and I spent the better part of Saturday on google looking at places, prices, and dates to go over to Southern Indiana for a three day trip.
We've decided to postpone our Spring Break trip.
We're planning to go to Ireland in early August.
Did I say "Ireland"? Oops, sorry. I meant Arizona.