Planning, planning

There's really no defense, except it makes me feel better.

First, good news. I got another grant that I really wanted (downside: that's probably the end of my 6 week leave. Oh well). And actually, another one earlier this week to travel to Scandanavia at the end of August. Clearly I won't go if I'm not supposed to, but I'm really hoping not to have one of these 20-week limits imposed on me (presuming of course we get that far, but I am thinking positive thoughts). Of course, 20 weeks is particularly humorous because right about at that point we'll hopefully be moving about 1000 miles from JD's current residence back to NYC and I may actually have a semi-permanent base.

But, the real question tonight, for all my internet friends, is where should JD and I honeymoon? Because of his schedule we can't honeymoon directly after the wedding so we're looking at August or September. Possibly 2 shorter trips because of a conference and 3 weddings we have to attend. But where to go????

[And first a disclaimer. I know that talking about vacations can come off as incredibly elitist and spoiled and exclusive. That is not my intent. I did almost all of my traveling in college while working 30 hours a week to pay for my expenses. Between JD and I we speak 8 languages, so part of our travels were while taking language classes. We do not travel in style. We have never been on a cruise and rarely eat out when we travel, so please don't take this the wrong way. Also, we've been saving for IVF for quite a while now, and I want to use our little nest egg to do something for our relationship before even more stress arrives].

Since our, um, 'lifestyle' (?) will hopefully be changing in the winter, we both want to go someplace that's not particularly kid-friendly. Someplace that we won't be able to get back to for a while. But still, someplace with fabulous medical care. To start you off, here are some trips we were considering:

Getting rail passes and taking a train across Canada
Driving the circle route in Iceland
Visiting New Zealand
National Parks in Utah
Istanbul and Turkey
Croatia
and in our fantasy world, the Galapagos Islands or Easter Island

no longer on the list for obvious political reasons: Tibet
delayed, but not canceled: India

So, vote, or give us your own suggestions. I would love suggestions for a 2-week trip in the U.S. if I have restricted travel options by then.

Speaking of which, how/when exactly do I meet this mythical ob/gyn? Cause I won't be 'home' until September (something like 5 1/2 months), but I'm guessing that's a bit late to be relying exclusively on my mother and the advice of the internets. But do I really need one, if I'm going to have to switch? And how in the world do I find out whose good in NYC?

In other news, I called my father. And he has one of those little video cams so you can see his face on skype. And he was super-excited. And told me, quite simply, not to worry about telling my sister, that she won't be upset. And then said something about 'not being that embarrassed about the situation at the wedding' and cracked himself up because my family really doesn't stand on formalities like out-of-wedlock.