Finally, at age 54, I've declared myself a bit nuts

And my guess is that I may be the last person to do so.  I suspect others declared me crazy long before this, but today I did something totally non-me.

2 weeks from today, right about now, I'll be standing in O'Hare getting ready to board an American airlines flight to Manchester England to connect to Edinburgh to see Lauren.  She has 2 weeks left after 4 long months, made much more bearable for her mom thanks to cell phones and Skype, even with the erratic movements and disconnects.  So a week or so ago she offered I should come meet her in Prague.  I kind of laughed, but then the regret of not having been to see her and see where she lived and drank :) set in and I figured, WHY NOT?

After hours trying to compare OHare-Prague-Edinburgh-OHare

   or  OHare - Edinburgh-Prague-OHare

   or OHare - Edinburgh - Prague - Edinburgh - OHare

for me.....

and then trying to find corresponding flights for Edinburgh - Prague-OHare

   or Edinburgh - Prague - Edinburgh - OHare

for Lauren....

where we both lost our minds trying to look at 22 pages of flight options (no joke), I finally found one that works.  It allows me to see Edinburgh and Lauren's haunts for a brief time, head to Prague for us to explore together and leave stuff in Edinburgh because she doesn't have to vacate her room until the 16th, and then return to Edinburgh to pack a few things (after 4 months who am I kidding?), we can hopefully get them all home with the least amount of excess baggage fees.  She thinks most of her friends are headed home pretty quick after finals, but if a few hang around for a few days, when we return she can still party for a night or 2 before we head back home.

I'm looking forward to it for many reasons -- first because it's crazy and exciting.  Second because I miss spending time with L on a regular basis -- a 6 hour time difference and video pictures are NOT always our best friends.  Third, I've never been to Prague and since I'm 100% Czech I can learn a few things perhaps.  And, it will be a nice break from the past few very busy months at work.

And so, I hope Lauren doesn't regret the offer for me to visit -- the tickets are pretty locked in so I'm hoping that all her schedules didn't get too messed up with me suddenly appearing.  But it will be fun, of that I am sure!