Areas of Unrest

28 December 2005 - Harder Than It Should Be

When I lived in California, I always claimed that, if I lived on the East Coast, I'd go to Europe for the weekend every few months. I've lived in Northern Virginia for over three years now and I've gone to London for the weekend exactly once. I decided that it's time to remedy that and fill in a few gaps in my travels. It turns out to be harder than it should be.

Consider, for example, Paris. There are non-stop flights from Dulles to Paris, including non-stop flights on United, the airline I have way too many frequent flyer miles on. Actually using those miles proves to be difficult. At least for a holiday weekend, which should not really be what going to Europe for the weekend means but, face it, otherwise you have to use vacation time for Monday because it's just not enough time. And it's not that I actually want to go to Paris per se, but Paris is the way to get to Chartres and Versailles. I should also hit a few of the tourist attractions I didn't get to in Paris some 25 years ago, but that's another matter.

Okay, one could pay for a plane ticket. If you go before the end of March, the fares are reasonable. As soon as the weather turns decent, though, they shoot up to $1200 or so. If you're going somewhere for a month, paying that for airfare is okay, but not for two days.

So, consider Barcelona. I'd actually like to go to Barcelona, as I've never been to mainland Spain. And Barcelona is the way to go to Andorra. Alas, there are no non-stops from Washington to Barcelona so it takes longer. And I'd want to spend more time than just a weekend. It also costs $1200 or so.

In the end, I managed to trade in some miles to spend Memorial Day weekend flying to Brussels. Which is one of the least interesting cities in the world, sort of the European equivalent of Huntsville, Alabama, except that it's less humid and you can get better chocolate in Brussels. But there are hourly trains to Luxembourg and while that means another three hours of travel each way, it's pleasant travel on a train and it's to a country I've never been to.

All of this worked out just fine, but it was all much harder than it should be. I'm not actually looking forward to choosing hotels, but I have time to handle that.