As some of you are
aware, I’m on a journey to reconnect with friends/relatives from the Pacific Northwest. Not a task for those with iffy organizational
skills. I have thirteen groups of
friends and family with whom to connect in less than three weeks.
I’m watching myself
taking on this task with a measure of pride, because my mother never taught me
the skill. On our many trips
cross-country (we followed Dad, an Army officer, everywhere), my mother’s modus
operandi, was to call the friend or relative as we approached his/her
residence…about 50 miles away from his/her home. If the person answered the phone, my mother
suggested a drive-by (an hour stop at the most). If the friend or relative weren’t home, Mom
would shrug her shoulders and say: “I tried.” Later she’d jot a letter to the
person we’d failed to see, saying she’d been in the neighborhood, as if that
excused her lame try at a contact.
Nope. Not me. I started working out our itinerary months
ago, checking to see who was in town and when the best meet-up times would
be. We even set up a hotel-stay in a
location that made it easy for us to go visit friends. A step further: we were invited to stay overnight with two
different couples…something we do rarely.
Such an itinerary isn’t
easy, especially when planning rendezvous points. Which restaurant is lovely, not too
expensive, and central to each particular group of friends? What do the reviews
say about food and service? Is there
parking? Do they serve wine? Is the food generic so all would find something on
the menu to like? Is the restaurant quiet enough to allow comfortable conversation? (I picked this restaurant because it had a gorgeous side-room...and if we met here at 4:30, we'd have it to ourselves...wouldn't need to pay rent!)
And I forget to mention:
If friends come on a ferry, what’s the best time for us to hold the lunch/dinner,
and who picks up the ferry passengers and drops them off? (We’re in ‘ferry
country,’ and in high summer season, with big crowds and days of fog that delay
the ferries, we’re talking complications! Forget about driving on a ferry…foot
passengers have the only chance to make it to the other side on time.)
So far we are doing
well. Six groups visited…seven to
go. Ferry rendezvous tomorrow. I’ll let you know if the last half
of the month (including a one-week family reunion) goes as smoothly as the
first half.
How
about you? What’s the most intricate
trip you’ve ever planned in an effort to connect with friends and family?
Speaking of intricacy. Here’s my story about tourist itineraries
that go wrong, very wrong…in Aix-en-Provence France: CÉZANNE’S GHOST http://a.co/bQdl7jp
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