Wanderlust

Life has finally begun to slow down after the rush of Spring Breakers ebbs and I settle in with some new students. Andrew has been flying steadily for the last couple months, racking up multiple overnights (counting tonight) in the out islands of the Bahamas (occasionally glamorous, frequently a little third world) and building up his flight time ever closer to the 1500 mark. I decided on a proper scheduling change that wouldn't cause me to work every day and, thankfully, with the addition of a Motivator position (it's a slightly different approach to teaching/tutoring), I'm getting new students each week that will hopefully keep us afloat through the inevitably slow summer holiday season. I say holiday, I mean vacation. I don't know anymore, I talk to way too many Europeans.

Speaking of Summer vacation, it has to happen. The last "proper" travel Andrew and I did was, well, two years ago. Of course, we've had our fair share of local excursions for a long weekend (St. Augustine, Naples), but we've not "truly" traveled for a long time. Initially, I wanted to do a roadtrip up the Pacific Coast Highway, but it's ever clearer that we're poorwe just don't have the means for such extravagances at the moment. Instead, we've been thinking a little more locally again. Part of me is disappointed with the idea of never getting out of Florida, but there's also the possibility to spend time on a sailboat and that's sweetening my feelings towards it.

See, I've yet to go to the Keys and I had this idea that maybe, just maybe, we could find someone that might not just be able to host us, but possibly give us sailing lessons. We've both been wanting to learn to sail and with how expensive the sailing schools are, I've been investigating alternative means of finding a teacher and a boat. I began to rummage through CouchSurfing and AirBnB and I've found some definite prospects. I have one long weekend hesitantly arranged with an AirBnB person, a message out for a guy from CouchSurfing, and I'm putting out feelers for more (no one is jumping out at me yet).

It wouldn't be a roadtrip on a historic stretch of road, it's technically still in the state of Florida (once you enter, you never leave), and I'd still be looking at palm trees as my main source of flora and lizards as my fauna (I'm used to finding spiders under things, not lizards, but this is my life now), but we could also sail on a boat, see Hemingway's cats-with-thumbs, and I bet we could eat some good seafood.

So, for now, that seems to be the prospect we're looking at. Of course, with that will come a trip to KC, and the usual trips to visit family. I suppose that can count for getting out of Florida. It may not be new, but at least it will be a change. I'm looking hesitantly forward to when Andrew joins the airlines and I can hop on a plane (almost) any time I want to (almost) anywhere. We may pay for it with time away from each other, but at least in that time away I won't be stuck in South Florida (sorry, SoFlo).