This will be my last blog post for awhile. I left Mexico nine days ago to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve with family living in the U.S. I am posting this from Memphis, where Christmas will be celebrated, same as last year, with NYE being toasted from Eastern Tennessee. My first stop, however, was Chicago, where I stayed with old friends and attended the wedding of my cousin Jessie. Prior to Jessie’s nuptials, the last time I saw her – or any of my cousins, for that matter – was over 11 years ago! I also visited The Herr, a Facebook friend from the travel world whom I had actually never met face-to-face. Our afternoon of suburban adventures included Gene & Jude’s Hot Dogs, countless brewskis (that’s “beers” to you non-Chicagoans), and sofa time with the world’s friendliest cat, Rusty. I must say, even with the zero-degree temps and subzero wind chill that overtook Chicago during the week of my visit, I rather enjoyed myself. In fact, I had a blast.
Last year I posted a series of “Holiday Travel” entries in which I posted favorite memories from holiday travels over the past dozen or so years – Thanksgiving in Stockholm and Copenhagen (2010); New Year’s Eve in Rome (2008-09); a Smoky Mountain Christmas (2011). Give them a read; they’re fairly short and the writing holds up well.
I thought I’d add one more entry to the series. I was still a corporate drone in 2008; come November I had used up my vacation time for the year. Spending Turkey Day in Europe or Asia was out of the question as a result, but I consulted airline timetables carefully and came up with an itinerary that let me make optimal use of the four-day weekend that was already a guarantee: red-eye flights from LAX to/from Québec City and Montréal!
GringoPotpourri 