so i am nearing the sort of burned-out state that comes with not having taken a real vacation in years– i’m all cranky and tired, and pretty much every bad thing that happens at work is another reason to claim that everything sucks. and, i mean, i know the solution is to take some time away from the computers. and i don’t even really mind spending money to do so. (well, i care, but i don’t /mind/, if that makes sense. not that i’m going all wild and crazy here, but i really want to take some time away and i am okay with spending some of my savings in pursuit of that.)
i don’t know what i’d want to do. i want to travel somewhere. i thought about going up to ontario or quebec. trains feature heavily in all my plans, and i thought about taking VIArail across canada from toronto to vancouver, then amtrak back. i thought about going way up to northern manitoba to see the northern lights. i thought about getting an amtrak pass and just riding around the country for a little while. i’ve thought about getting a eurail pass and just riding around europe for a little while. i’ve thought about renting a cottage in some village in scotland somewhere, and buying some local wool and borrowing a spinning wheel from someone and spending a week just sort of holed up blowing off the world and making yarn at the source. really, any of these things i am good with doing. there’s just one problem.
my cats.
i cannot figure out what to do with the furballs. i can’t ask a friend to catsit for two weeks, coming over twice daily to inject tiger with insulin. if i boarded them at my regular vet, that’s $35/night per cat — almost a grand for two weeks, before i even get on an airplane. a friend of mine has a vet he boards his cats at when he travels, which is ten bucks a night per cat (though that’s not necessarily their same price for a cat that needs medication), which is “only” like $300 for two weeks, but i hate the idea of leaving them trapped in tiny cages for two full weeks — they would feel so abandoned. a catsitter to come to my place? i don’t know that i could find someone — craigslist is full of dog-walkers, but that’s a little less skilled than cat medicators (especially since i would want someone to watch tiger for any signs of sluggishness or other symptoms).
but i can’t just take time off work and stay at home; i’m going completely fucking nuts for want of a change of scenery. it’s seriously been like 4 years since i’ve had vacation that was longer than a couple days and/or did not involve a dear family member’s death. i know i’ll need at least a week to unwind, and then i want at least a few days to really be on vacation, before i have to return to the slog. i just can’t figure out what to do about the cats. :(
