Vacation

After juggling around many possible vacations, it looks like a trip to China is now the most likely. My parents found a trip that visits mostly China and also Thailand, scheduled for the last two weeks of September. I had to wait to clear it with my boss, and after a bit of consulting with schedules, it was deemed OK. That's how it always is - I'm not sure there ever is a 100% perfect time to go on a long vacation, except immediately after finishing a product release. But the trick there is that dates tend to move slightly so if you need to plan a few months ahead...

Anyway, the major stops on the itinerary are: Shanghai, Giangyin, Yangchow, Nanking, Hangchow, Chugiachiao, Bangkok, and Pattaya. No stop in Beijing or Xian, but this actually good for me personally since sometime I plan to take the REI Treasures of China trip which does visit in those two cities. This trip is contingent on Dad's health - if he is up for it we'll go, otherwise if he can't then I don't want to go either. Mom and I checked with the travel agent and she assured us we can back out of the trip and get our deposit back in this case.

So if I do the China trip in 2006, then perhaps I can do the Prague-Budapest bike trip in 2007, which leaves the Treasures of China trip for 2008. I've got a tentative big trip planned out for quite some time!