Well, I talked to my supervisor today, and she thinks it won't be a problem for me to take my two weeks of vacation consecutively in August, rather than one week in June and one in August. She said she would talk to the big bosses on Monday to confirm, but she was sure that even if this wasn't possible, I would be able to take an extra week off in August without pay. I was excited about this, but then Shweetie pointed out that it's not really a good idea for me to go any weeks without pay. So, I guess I'm holding out till I hear back from my supervisor on Monday about whether I'll be able to put my two weeks of paid vacation together.
I asked Shweetie where we'd go on vacation in August if I can't get two weeks of paid vacation, and he gave me that "oh no" look. He pointed out that he's planned four different trips now for our 2008 vacation - Japan, Thailand, New England, Australia - and that, at this point, he'd rather know what our situation is going to be for sure before planning yet another destination.
We've been planning to go to Japan since 2005, and it keeps getting pushed back for one reason or another. Shweetie had our whole trip planned for September 2006, but then we bought our house and were told that it would probably be done in September of that year (lies!), so we decided to go somewhere closer - Seattle and Vancouver - so that if anyone needed to contact us or if we needed to fax in documents related to the house purchase while we were on vacation, it wouldn't be as hard to do so. In 2007, we knew we were going to Bora Bora on our honeymoon, so another vacation to Japan was out of the question. This year, I can only go on vacation in August or December/January, and the crazy hotness and coldness respectively during those times in Japan is completely unappealing to both of us. I just need to figure out how I can take time off in fall or spring, so that we can make Japan happen in 2009.
After talking to several of my colleagues at my elementary school, who told me how much they loved it, we started seriously considering Thailand for winter break 2008/2009. We figured we would leave the day after Christmas (because I refuse to miss Christmas with my family), and come back the weekend immediately before I had to report back to work. Shweetie did a bunch of planning, including selecting cities to visit and hotels to stay at, but we ultimately decided that nine days wouldn't be enough time. Also, Shweetie's research found that the climate would be incredibly hot and humid and that we would need bug spray in order to not be eaten alive. After experiencing deliriously humid weather and Shweetie's severe allergic reaction to bug spray in Bora Bora (which required a steroid shot to cure when we returned), we decided that our next vacation should be a little bit more temperate.
We finally decided that, financially, it made a lot more sense to travel nationally this year instead of internationally, and we picked New England, specifically Maine and Boston. We've been hearing lots of things about Maine lately - we keep seeing shows on the Food Network featuring restaurants in Maine and the amazing lobster to be had there, and one of the couples at our wedding had been telling Shweetie all about this wonderful restaurant they'd dined at there, called Arrows. In doing some research, Shweetie discovered that August would be one of the best times to visit Maine, since it starts getting downright cold there in September. He planned the cities and sites we should visit, and even found a bed-and-breakfast that would be perfect for us.
Then Shweetie completed our taxes and we realized we'd have a lot more travel money this year than we'd realized, so we decided to take an international trip instead, which is what we'd really wanted to do all along. With that in mind, we started seriously considering Australia, since August is the tail end of their winter. Also, Syndey's winter climate seems to be pretty comparable to San Francisco's, which would be perfect for us. Shweetie looked into visiting Melbourne, and found us a great deal using our Hilton points in Sydney. I started researching the Great Barrier Reef, to see if there's any activities that we non-divers can do there.
And now Australia might not be a possibility anymore either, what with this newest revelation about vacation time. Even New England would probably not be a possibility, as we'd planned that trip with the assumption that I'd have two weeks off in August, too. So, I can understand Shweetie's reluctance to start researching yet another destination. I guess I'll just have to wait till Monday. I hope the news is good.
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