Vacation travel

I just got back from a trip that was *shocker* for fun!! 😮 

Not that travel for work isn't fun, but it is different. I mostly see hotels, church buildings, and airports. I meet a lot of people, but don't see a lot of the country. And while it is a work vacation (no meetings, just me, my team, and the work!), it is work.

Anyway. This was personal travel AND not to visit family. I did go with family, but we went somewhere where we had no relatives. So, like, a for realsie vacation. And it was a different travel experience: 

• I didn't have to pack half a suitcase full of work equipment.
• I didn't go through immigration or customs. Not even once! (That was originally on the table, because we had planned an international trip, but things happened, and there's a baby coming, and plans changed).
• It was way easier to change the schedule. Not completely doable, because some things we had to book in advance, but there were lots of things we could shift around.
• We actually used the hotel swimming pool.
• And I took a swimsuit (2 actually, but ended up only using one).
• I did share a hotel room, and that doesn't happen on work trips...
• I didn't have to carry around paperwork everywhere I went.
• I slept better than I do at home, which is weird. But it was amazing.
• One hotel for the whole trip! (That has happened on a few work trips, but not often).
• And I only visited the airport to arrive and depart. Twice! Admittedly, I was in 6 different airports, because I left from one, had a layover in another, and arrived in a third, times 2 (for there and back). But on my last work trip, let's see: 12. In 8 days. And I was in some airport on 5 of those 8 days. This trip was 7 days and I was in an airport on 3 of them (and only 3 because I had a redeye flight home, so that trip extended over 2 days. Technically). 

Honestly, it was kind of amazing. I had forgotten/didn't know travel like this existed, and might become addicted. Or I might just decide staying home is where it's at. Depends on the day. I still like the work travel and feel really lucky, but this was definitely a nice change!

Possibility

There's something about a good staircase that really draws the attention. I don't know what it is, but a grand staircase feels like an invitation to explore. It's hard to not want to climb this baby, right?

I do love a good staircase anywhere. My sister had a house that had two staircases, which was amazing. It was like a TV house. And they were nice staircases, very well built, wide, inviting. 

The staircase in my house growing up was tucked away in the back of the house. There were 3 steps, then a landing, and then to make the curve, triangle steps but they seemed cramped and begging for caution. And then there was a low overhang at one point. I was rushing down the stairs once as a teenager and smacked my head on it, which drew blood. So that was fun.

I don't think I'd want a big ole staircase like the one in the picture there (hotel Barceló in Guatemala City) in my house, of course. It's a bit much for the day to day. But you gotta admit, if you walked into a hotel and saw that, you'd be impressed and think "This is a ritzy hotel." (Same for a house, I'm sure, and then I'd be wondering what I was doing there!) But a good staircase is definitely a bonus in any building.

Central America

Guatemala

I have been to Guatemala City several times, and someday, I hope to see more of the city than views from my hotel and where I'm working. But, for now:

The airport is in the center of the city, so you get lots of flyovers

View from the rotating restaurant

El Salvador:

We didn't do much sightseeing, so it's mostly from the road or from the places we were working. We spent time in Ahuachapán and Santa Ana. These are from the trip to Santa Ana.

San José, Costa Rica:

Panamá City:

There's lots of photos here, because there's the views of the city, the views of the canal, the nature...yeah, this is where we took a break from working. You guessed right. 

The city:

The canal:

Another one of the city, specifically the architecture:

The nature:

The ocean (not the canal):

Dreams do come true

We went to Panamá, and I SAW SLOTHS!!!!!

Travel season

My travel season has begun. Well, begins, tomorrow, very early in the morning. It will be fun, but also whirlwind (4 countries in 8 days, 3 of those days all in one country). 

I never feel prepared for trips--none of us on the team ever do really, which is funny because we actually have a lot of it down to an art. We have grab bags with all our stuff (not sure what happened to the stuff part of it since the last trip. Things seem to have disappeared!) which makes things pretty easy, and I have my own version at home. No joke. I have two of certain things, one specifically to reside in my suitcase for trips so I don't have to worry about forgetting. And we've actually had a good bit of lead time on this trip. I have my presentation done, I have been piling up what I'm packing for a few days, it's all just sitting waiting to be put in a suitcase. Heck, even the airports have been sorted out quite a bit!

But I still don't feel ready. On reflection it is probably that mentally I'm not ready, to which I say, that is totally fair!!! Mentally, 2026 has been throwing non-stop curveballs and I'm not sure I can keep up! And it feels like ages since I've traveled (it has been 6 months, which considering that last year I went on a trip every 2 months more or less, it kind of has been ages!). It's gotta be like riding a bike, right? Once I get going, it will all come back to me? I really hope so! 

Anyway, one way or another I'll be at the airport bright and early. (No joke--we leave a 7 am. I cannot express how grateful I am things are better at airports!!!) Let the adventures begin!

Elephant escapes

I was delighted to read in the news that an elephant at the Albuquerque Zoo, name of Alice, managed to get out of her habitat. The employees showed up to open the zoo and Alice was just moseying around the zoo, I guess. 

The city where I currently live used to have an elephant named Princess Alice who also went walkabout sometimes. In her case, she'd go walkabout around town, not just the zoo. She was apparently a pretty sassy elephant, according to some of the newspaper articles I've read about her. 

Honestly, I think the Alice the elephants maybe are onto something. Sometimes, you just need a break, a little change of pace, some new scenery. 

Just out of curiosity, I checked how frequently elephants make an escape. AI says on average, 6 times a year (at least between 1990 and 2017). So that's fun. Also, be careful if you see an escaped elephant. It doesn't say why, but escaped elephants can be a risky situation. Not sure if it's just that they are big, but also not sure it needs to be anything else. 

Anyway, here's to all the elephants shaking things up, and to anyone else who gets to escape for a bit. 

Overheard in the hallway

So I work for an international organization. That makes it interesting when global politics go a bit sideways (or a lot sideways. Any amount of sideways. It all makes it interesting). For example:

We have an team that covers the US and a team that covers Europe/Africa. (My team covers Latin America and the Caribbean. You likely already figured that out). 

I was walking down the hall a week or two ago and overheard this conversation between a member of the US team and the Europe/Africa team: 

US guy: Hey, Europe/Africa guy! How's it going?

Europe/Africa guy: Well, y'know, my area is just trying to start WWIII.

US guy: Hey, so is mine!

For some reason, it is the most hilarious conversation ever while also just being kind of depressing. And that is just one example. 

In my own travels, I know that there have been worries about whether we'll be able to travel, whether we'll be allowed back in the country after traveling, how people in the countries we are visiting will react, ticket prices, and myriad other concerns.* I have friends in other countries who are definitely impacted by global politics. The news isn't as remote and far away as it used to be. Although, I suspect that is true for most of us, not just people at global organizations. 

Anyway, here's hoping that WWIII gets postponed indefinitely. We have too much to do at work as it is, without the apocalypse getting in the way!

*I should note, for an archivist, this is a pretty unusual problem to have. Like, a statistically insignificant (statistically non-existent, probably) number of archivists likely have to deal with this. At least in the US. Which on the whole, I think makes me pretty lucky.