Where is "home"?

My job is moving to Minneapolis. The question for me is - do I move with it? People move for jobs all the time. I travel quite frequently so moving around is nothing new to me. But this decision is bigger than that. It's more than a matter of traveling, moving around, not sitting still. It's a question of home.

The Boston area has always been my home. My schools have all been there, my jobs have all been there, most of my family and friends - my people - are there. It's my comfort zone. It would be a huge risk for me to pick up, on my own, and move to the mid-west. 

I'm on my way there now for a site tour. An opportunity to see the area as a potential new home. I've been to Minneapolis multiple times for work, but my experience there was limited to hotel-office-food-hotel-repeat. This weekend I'll be looking at things differently. Questions like "can I see myself living here?" and "can I see myself living here alone?" are going through my head. 

The idea of home is undefinable because it is defined so differently for everyone. I am focusing on what I feel is home for me. My favorite bookstore, my favorite pizza, seeing friends whenever I want. Routines and familiarity. Traveling helps break that up for me but it is comforting to know it's there when I return. I can make new routines and become familiar with new places, but do I want to? 

Stay tuned...I'll be making my decision soon. 

Who really benefits from “custom” airfares?

Good read. Could this be the future of airline ticket pricing??


Who really benefits from “custom” airfares?
By Christopher Elliott

Rockport. Train.

San Diego

When did the flight to San Diego get so long? I love to travel and accept flying as a part of that, but sitting, confined for hours on end is mind numbing. Even on Jet Blue - I gave up cable so JB is the only chance I get to watch TBS and HGTV. But it gets old, fast.

Once on the ground, all is forgotten. San Diego is really a lovely city. My visit has me mainly in the Del Mar area, but I prefer to stay in La Jolla at the Hyatt Regency. It is a comfortable hotel with a Starbucks that opens at 5:30 am! Perfect for me as I don't adjust well when I fly west. There's lots to do in the area, including the Westfield Mall at UTC, plenty of restaurants, and it's close to La Jolla cove which is gorgeous.

Dinner this trip was at Flemings steakhouse. I always enjoy it there. They have a nice selection of steaks, even some smaller cuts for light eaters like me. We had a family style side of creamy, buttery mashed potatoes. For dessert, creme brûlée. As always, enjoyable.

Now I'm sitting on a packed Southwest flight to Las Vegas. This is an easy, short flight. Two days vacation with family await!

Happy Father's Day

Celebrate with ice cream! Ron's Gourmet Ice Cream shop on High St. in Dedham has amazing homemade ice cream and makes the best and thickest frappes. They were always my dad's favorite. He used to bring me to the bowling alley in Hyde Park where they served there until the shop in Dedham opened.

What a treat! An incredibly thick and chocolatey frappe. In Massachusetts, a frappe is ice cream, milk and flavoring (such as Hershey's chocolate syrup). 

Night Train

Waiting for the Metro at Silver Spring. I love freight trains.

How do you get to the airport?

Travel can be stressful and sometimes a big part of that stress is just getting to the airport. My preference is to drive my own car and park at the airport. The flexibility and control it gives me is worth the cost - usually. At $27 per day, the main parking garages are only comparable to a cab if I'm traveling for less than 3 days. Longer than that and I have to start considering other factors.

Public transportation is usually ruled out as there is no convenient way to do it with luggage. If I have to drive to a T station anyway, I may as well just go all the way to the airport.

Enter the economy parking lot. I've always seen the signs for economy parking - I mean, I've been going to the airport regularly since high school, my dad paving the way for my "on the road" lifestyle - but those signs evoked images of unpaved lots, disinterested parking attendants, and a long haul back to the airport in some kind of barely legal shuttle bus. But not anymore. 

Some time in the last couple of years the airport facilities (buses, rental cars, and economy parking) underwent a makeover. I've never taken advantage of any of these so this transformation went largely unnoticed until recently when I read that they were moving wait/pick up spots around in the terminals and touting new, electronic signage. 

On my last short haul trip in March I decided to try out the economy lot. At $18 per day, it was certainly an attractive option. When I arrived at the airport, the signs were pretty clear. You drive towards arrivals and then turn off after Terminal E. It is a straight shot from there to a big, clean, and clearly marked parking garage. You leave your car and head towards to shuttle buses that bring you back to the terminals. The buses are big and seem new, with ample stowage for luggage, and they seem to run fairly frequently.  This bus serves all terminals and then the economy lot, no other stops, making it a pretty quick trip. I would estimate about 10 minutes (maybe longer during peak airport traffic hours) to Terminal E, the last terminal.

On the bus. 

Getting back to your car is quite easy, just reverse the trip. There are plenty of signs directing you to the correct stop and one at the stop informing when the next bus should arrive. I'm heading to DC this time and decided to park here again. I would recommend it over the off airport lots. Those are decent and you can get good online weekly rates, but my experiences with them are similar to those unpaved lots, disinterested parking attendants, and long hauls back to the airport in some kind of barely legal shuttle bus.