Decided

Last night I received a call from my best friend Jamie, who lives in Kentucky. We met in North Carolina during undergrad, and became fast friends in art class. We have continued to bond over our love of travel, among other things!

I visited Jamie after college when she was living in Alabama, and Jamie came to Maryland to see my new townhouse. At some point she moved to Kentucky and I flew out to see her first KY house, although now she’s in new digs and I am trying to figure out when is the best time to visit her there.

But more importantly… Jamie is my go-to person for international travel. Indeed, she is the BEST TRAVEL BUDDY IN THE WORLD! In 2002 we did three countries in 10 days (Ireland, Scotland and England), and in 2004 we traveled through three cities in 10 days (Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome). The best part about traveling with Jamie, other than the fact that she has a sense of direction, is that where we aren’t similar we respect the other person’s preferences. For example — I *heart* photography, while abstract, modern art trips Jamie’s heart trigger. But we find an appreciation of these other mediums through each other, and make sure to find exhibits that we’d both enjoy while exploring the world around us.

Another bonus to having Jamie as my traveling partner is that we run about the same pace… I’ve found that we both get up, get hungry, get tired and get revved up at mostly the same times/points during our trips… and if, at the end of a trip, one of us admits to being footsore and wanting to just stroll through a park and get an ice cream, the other one usually says, “You know what? Me too. I’m glad you said that!”

Over the past several years traveling is never far from our thoughts… Jamie even gifted me with a ‘place of the day’ calendar for Christmas last year, so we could be inspired to book something soon. We tossed around the idea of Switzerland, but we also heard that going Swiss might really dent our wallets.

“What about Germany?” asked Jamie.

“I would like to see Germany!” I exclaimed. “I’d like to see the castles, and Rachelle said she really liked living there!”

It’s always been easy for us to pick a place. This conversation occurred sometime last year, but was rekindled last night when Jamie called. As usual, we started lamenting that it’s been four years since our last big trip… buying houses, car payments and going to school can put HUGE delays in international traveling plans!!!

“What about next fall?” Jamie inquired. “To Germany?”

“I think I can make a big enough dent in my debt to be able to afford Germany next fall!” I grinned. “Wanna use the Labor Day holiday, or skip Thanksgiving?”

“Whoo hoo!” she cried out. “We’re going to GERMANY!”