A whirlwind of international travel

I *finally* got all of my work travel sorted out (yet to book, but dates are now confirmed) through the end of the year. Somehow, between myself & the husband, we have the following coming up:

• I'm heading to Portland for our annual 200 mile family relay in late August
• M, a trip to Dubai to see his family (it's been 10+ years since he's been able to see his sister, niece, nephew, etc) in September
• Right after M is back, I'm heading to London (work) for 10 days. Way too long of a trip for me.
• Then I'm back for two days & head to Hawaii with M for our 10th anniversary. Super fun, but wish it wasn't wedged in between everything.
• Back from Hawaii, heading to Taipei, India, & then China. Long, long work trip.
• Home for a few weeks, heading to Sao Paulo (work, of course) for a week

And, that's it for the rest of the year, minus visiting the family for Christmas. By that point, I may say no to traveling for any reason whatsoever. I'm flying to Tokyo right after the first of the year.

Heaven help me. I know none of you know me in person, and may look at international travel as an amazing gift. Which, it most definitely can be. But, not when it's a whirlwind of airports, hotels & meetings with no sightseeing. It's exhausting. I also can't sleep on planes, and don't enjoy anything about work travel. 

But, looking on the bright side, I've been absolutely dreading get the dates & trips locked down. Now that the time has come & everything is confirmed, I can deal with it & move on. There has to be a bright spot, after all. :-) I'm an eternal optimist.

And, it's FRIDAY! TGIF. Plan to have a glass of wine while I make dinner, spend some time snuggling some little boys (and M, of course), and read a book.

In fun news, we finally managed to grow melons in our container garden! I'm not a huge cantaloupe fan, & didn't even know we planted any, but the boys are thrilled. We are trying the watermelon tonight!