Marti Reads a Book

August 2013
So there's this thing that I like to do sometimes, which most people haven't heard of or if they have, they avoid it at all costs.  In fact, in my job, I kind of get paid to do it or at least to get other people to do it.  It's called reading and I highly recommend it!

As I was pondering the eternal question of how to go on vacation with my sister in Iceland but trick my husband into thinking I was really on vacation with him in Ireland, I stumbled upon an Iceland travel book.  [READ: I grabbed every Iceland travel book out of the travel section of Barnes & Noble and sat down with a grande latte and read until they kicked me out.]  And I'm so glad that I do know how to operate those things called "books" because with them, I found the answer to life, the universe, and everything.  Ok, actually just the answer to my problem.  I know what you're thinking:  She's going to "accidentally" book tickets to Iceland instead of Ireland and then tell Mark, "Sorry, it was an unfortunate typo but we'll have to go now because the tickets are non-refundable and, oh, look, Erica's tickets are for the same dates!  Yes, I know we wanted a romantic trip alone but, really, we should just make the most of it."  

Ok, that might have worked too but, no, what I found out was that, according to the Iceland travel books, one can find fairly cheap flights from Scotland and England to Iceland...  "Yes!" I thought, "Mark will be much more likely to believe that Scotland is Ireland and by the time he's figured out that we're not in Ireland, I'll be away on my cheap flight to Iceland!"  <insert evil laugh here>

Actually, what happened next is that I raced home, after trying unsuccessfully to put back all the travel books in their correct spots but without my friend the Dewey Decimal system to help me out, really, how could I? Anyway, I got home, walked up to my husband with a big smile on my face and said, "You know where would be cooler to go than Ireland?  Scotland!  It is the land of your people afterall!"  Surprisingly, he seems to know when I'm trying to manipulate him.  I thought I'd have at least 30 years of marriage before we got to that point.

"What did your sister put you up to now?" he asked.

"Ok, look!" I said, deciding it was time for some truth. "I found out that I can get a cheap plane ticket from Scotland to Iceland.  So we could do our anniversary trip and then after a week or so, you fly home, and I fly to Iceland."  He was not looking impressed so I knew it was time to break out the big guns.  "And guess what else I found out about Scotland?  There's this mountain called Ben Nevis, which is the highest in the UK and people run it all the time.  It would be perfect for your OCR* training!"  His eyes had glazed over and I think there was a little drool so I knew it was time to go in for the kill.  "And guess what's at the bottom of the mountain, waiting for you when you come down?  A whisky distillery."

"Scotland it is!" he said.

*OCR stands for obstacle course races, which Mark is fanatical about and pretty good at too! 

SIDENOTE: The Best Traveling Companion Ever!

Spring 2009

Erica was planning to move from our hometown of Louisville, KY to Moab, UT, to start her first adult job after college graduation.  I had previously helped move a friend cross-country years ago via the northern U.S. states and was itching for another cross-country trip, this time through the southern U.S. states.  Based on previous roadtrip experiences, I fully expected that Erica and I would hate each other somewhere around Arkansas and be plotting ways to leave each other stranded in the youth hostels, which could have easily been mistaken for meth houses. But I was willing to risk our familial bond for the chance at checking off a few more states on my "To Do" list.  Imagine my surprise when, after a week in her fully packed Honda Civic, we were closer than ever - literally and figuratively!  ;)  While on the road, when she would say, "Do you have to..."  "...go to the bathroom?" I would finish.  "Yes!" she would say.  Or if said, "Hey, are you..."  "...hungry?" she would ask.  "Starving!" I would reply.  

I was especially surprised at how well we got along during the trip considering how I had somewhat hijacked it before it ever began.  Erica had to report to her new job by a particular date in April of that year and had been planning to take a leisurely roadtrip out West.  I desperately wanted to go with her but due to my full-time job and the graduate class I was taking at the time, I could only get away for about five days.  I remember telling her over and over, very apologetically, that I really wanted to come but we'd have to make the trip in less than five days and I understood if she'd rather take someone else but please, please, please choose me because I'm more qualified than anyone else because I've already successfully completed one cross-country roadtrip!  She agreed that the dates I was available for weren't ideal but she was willing to... "Great," I said, "Here's the travel route we'll take.  The first night we'll stay with an old college roommate of mine in Arkansas, second night in a hotel in Amarillo, Texas that my friend who works at a Hilton will arrange, third night in a teepee on an organic farm in Colorado with another old college roommate, and the fourth night, eh, I'll let you handle that one, because it is your trip and I don't want to take over, ok?  Awesome!"  And away we went...

Here's us not killing each other,

quite a feat after four days in a Honda Civic!

How it All Began...

July 2013

My husband and I had just celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary the previous month and wanted to do something special for our 10th next year.  [READ:  I wanted to make sure that our anniversary plans didn't revolve around the Spartan Death Race as it had for the past 2+ years!]  I had begun working in public eduation the previous year so I knew I could count on a long summer vacation, my step-daugher would be with her mother, and our son was old enough to go off to Grandma's while we took a long non-U.S. vacation, the first since before he was born.  Ireland, the mystical land of our ancestors, was at the top of our list.  And then... Erica happened.

My sister Erica - my free-spirited, twenty-something, yoga-teaching, massage-therapy-practicing, acupuncture-receiving, knitting, chicken-sitting, nation-wandering, barista sister Erica said that she was obsessed with elves.  Specifically, Icelandic elves.  She was going to Álfaskólinn, Icelandic Elf School.  "When?" I asked.  [Notice that "what," "how," or "why" were never asked.  With Erica, the only question is, "When?"]

"June," she said.  "I read that after that, the tickets get insanely expensive.  Want to come with me?"  

To say that her offer made my internal Trip Tik start to flip, was an understatement. After a lifetime of various trips via plane, train, boat, bus, and car, with everyone from friends and family to colleagues and classmates and everyone in between, my sister is hands-down the BEST traveling companion I've ever had.  (See this entry for more about that!)

While the Google Map in my head was already plotting destinations for my sister and I to visit in Iceland, somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered that I was married and wanted to stay that way.  Leaving my husband at home in the states while I celebrated our wedding anniversary with Erica in another country was a one-way ticket to the land of divorce lawyers and alimony.  I couldn't possibly swing two international trips in one month on a teacher's salary.  Could I?  Or could I...