Nov 15, 2007

This is like planning a wedding!

Getting ready for this trip to India has been like planning a wedding; here are the similarities:
  1. There has been a great deal of family involvement and coordination; lots of phone calls, conversations, and planning that started months ago. I found a great travel agent, and next thing I knew, I was booking 12 tix to India. I bet/hope she got a great bonus just from our trip! Now, the big talk is about how to get everyone to the airport (renting a cab is out of the question!).
  2. I am keeping a big, spiral-bound notebook with all of my lists... things to do before we leave, things to buy for the trip, things to buy/get done in India, people for whom I want to buy presents, etc. It's not nearly as big as my wedding-planning binder but almost!
  3. M and I are taking 1 week out of the 4 and going off on our own (= honeymoon in my wedding comparison). That requires its own special planning, including vendors who don't respond, and looking into flights, hotels, tours.
  4. Keeping a calendar of what to do and when, including once we get there. My Dad and I have already outlined every single day of our trip. I'm hoping it will still feel like a vacation even though we'll be on the move every 2-3 days.
  5. Buying presents for family/friends in India, which is like giving presents to your wedding party.
  6. Appointments to schedule for things to get done before we go.
I think you get the point. And amidst all of this, there's Thanksgiving to plan for, and X-mas presents to buy. My friend T recently said something to the effect of wishing she had a personal assistant. Me too!

I wonder if it's any better if you go more frequently. I hope I'll get to find out one day, but so far, I've gone after long increments: 1995, 2000, and now 2007.

<4 weeks to go!

1 comment:

noyski said...

Re: your personal assistant comment ... Mike told me a funny story.

He was talking about the holidays with another man. Mike said something like "yeah, I just wait for my wife to tell me what I need to do." The guy he was talking to responds with "Yes, wives are great. I told my wife she should get a wife."

True story!