I really ought to stop doing things that scare the crap out of me.
. . . Nah, who am I kidding? This is too much fun.
So I just bought plane tickets to Istanbul. I’ve spent the last few weeks stressing and avoiding and procrastinating. My grandmother, my husband, and I are going to visit my uncle. And explore. Because Constantinople Istanbul!
This is on top of registering for World Fantasy Con 2015 in Saratoga Springs, NY and reserving a room for the con this fall in DC. 2014 is going to be an expensive year for cons and travel, but much of this has been planned (or at least anticipated) for the last two years so it’s not quite the gouging it might have been. Huzzah for being fiscally responsible! (And privileged. There’s a great deal of inherent privilege in all this.)
But maybe next year, I’ll have to keep the travels a little closer to home.
In case you haven’t noticed — and if so, I assume you haven’t been here long — I have an incurable case of wanderlust. It’s one reason why I majored in cultural anthropology in college, and nothing enriches my stories and the worlds I create like traveling.
And the best part of all is that I may have infected one of my nieces. She may very well have come into it without me, but I’m more than happy to take at least some of the credit.
Melissa Burkart 