So the verdict is in. I will be flying the following route at the end of next month:
Maputo / Johannseburg / Paris / Houston / Albuquerque
I am tired just looking at all the cities I will have to pass through to arrive in New Mexico. I am waiting for my final itinerary so that I can count up the total hours of travel and complain here using concrete numbers. The good news is that I have enough miles on Continental that I'll be able to upgrade on at least one of the long-ass international flights on Air France.
By the way, I have never been to France. Not even to CDG airport. I am excited about this first trip to the country, even though I will likely not make it much beyond the transit area. I think there is a lot to be said about observing a country and its people via airports, and I am looking forward to some quality layover hours having a look at who is passing through Paris, what they are eating, what they are wearing, and what it feels like to communicate in below-elementary level French.
I realized in my obsessive re-reading of my own blog that my post from last night isn't very coherent. Let me sum it up...
Ricardo will be in Rio from late July to early December taking care of some stuff. He will stay part of the time in the Casa Rosa, the funky pink house my mom and I picked up back in 2001.
The Casa Rosa is one of the places I love most in this world, but there are also a series of obligations - not so fun ones - that I feel in association with the house and the people that help us take care of it. It's hard to manage a house in another country, and I feel like each time I stay in the Casa Rosa I have to use every possible minute to "fix things." I talk to workmen, assess any new leaks in the roof, look over the bills that have been paid, try and do some basic accounting, buy furniture, arrange to have whatever pump or light fixture or telephone wiring is on the fritz, deal with the housekeeper... So for me to even feel like I'm getting a vacation and enjoy the many good parts of the Casa Rosa, I need to be there for a minimum of 2 weeks.
Obviously, with Ricardo soon to be in Rio, I would really love to stop by Brasil on the way to the US for my step-sister's wedding. We'd hang out together in Rio for a week, fly to the US and visit my dad and then my mom, fly back, and spend another week in the Casa Rosa before I'd catch the plane back to Africa. This had been our plan up until the point last night when I actually started to work out the details...lots of lost time in layovers, questionable opportunities for quality time with anyone, expensive tickets, jet-lag, and the impossible to ignore feeling that if I'm going to fly so freaking far and spend so much money (although a good part will be contributed by my parents), having only 5 days with my mom and 5 days with my dad is INSANE AND UNJUSTIFIABLE! Especially when I'd be away from Maputo for nearly a month - away from my responsibilities with our consulting company, away from the kittens. It's just too much...
So I bit the bullet and made the decision that inner voice of mine knew I was wanting to make the entire time: skip Brasil, spend more time with my family. Life is short, health is not guaranteed, money runs out. I would be crazy not to take advantage of the opportunity and spend an extra 10 days in the US. The way it stands now, Rico will fly from Rio and I will fly in from Maputo, we will be in the wedding and hang out in NM for a few days, fly to California to visit my mom, then Ricardo will return to Brasil and I'll spend a couple extra days with my dad.
I'm a bit bummed that my decision to postpone Brasil until December means I will miss out on a few things, namely Rico's mom's birthday, extra time with Rico, the chance to catch up with my carioca girlfriends, and the opportunity to be in the Casa Rosa for a few days...but so it goes. I feel solid with my decision, and know from the bottom of my heart that it is one that I won't regret - even if it does entail a torturous flight across the world all by my lonesome.
Family is worth it. And damn do I miss mine.
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