Itchy Feet

I guess I was born with it. This affliction my husband calls my itchy feet. I can't stay put longer than a month with out "going somewhere." I used to travel 100 percent of the time for my job. I got to "go somewhere" all the time. When I quit working that job I found another that allowed me to travel about once a month. This satisfied my "itchy feet" for several years. However I returned from Mexicali on March 29th and although I have gone to the lake etc. I haven't "gone somewhere" in over a month.

According to handsome hubby here are the symptoms of "itchy feet":

• I start talking about going out of town a lot.
• I start craving a restaurant that is at least 800 miles from here.
• I start dragging out pictures from vacations.
• I won't stop talking about Belize.
• I get irritated and stir crazy.
  
• I try to get other people to go out of town with me if hubby can't go.

In the last two weeks I have exhibited all those behaviors. Hubby is practically sick of me. I didn't even know about the "itchy feet" until he explained it all to me. In his defense he has had this FBI thing hanging over his head. In my defense I didn't even know I did this. So lucky me I realized that this weekend coming up is Memorial Day, and hubby and I are going out of town. I was allowed to pick. It was a tough choice....The beach where I love to go, and always want to go or New Orleans where I love to go and haven't been in years (I actually went last year, but it was only for one day so doesn't count). I am looking at hotels now, and will make my decision shortly! I am so excited I am FINALLY going out of town. :D

Tips for the Online Prof and traveling.

• Spend extra if you have to...to get a hotel with wireless. You are wasting your time if you stay at a hotel that doesn't have wireless. Even if there is an Internet Cafe across the street ....I have been there you want wireless in your room. Who wants to sit in the lobby at 2 AM to work? Not me! I would rather be in my PJs curled up in my room working. I usually stay places that have free wireless. Like for example if you stay at the Hampton Inn they have nice hotels, free breakfast, and free in room wireless. They are owned by Hilton which are a bit nicer but charge 10 bucks a day for wireless.
• Plan! I will spend Monday - Thursday this week working double time so I can get by with the most minimal amount of working necessary while I am out of town. For example, I will grade things early, and not procrastinate. I like grading assignments after the due date, but before I travel I generally grade whatever I have before I go.
  
• Once you are wherever you were going figure out when is the best time to work. Some places dictate early morning work (these are places you do a lot of night things) such as Vegas, New Orleans, Memphis, New York. Some places working at night is better (this is where you need to be out the door in the mornings early) the beach, DC, etc. Then there are vacations when there is just no good time to work and it is best to break it up i.e. a little early morning work a little night work, Europe, Asia, anything where you want to see a lot and you start off at 8 am and aren't back until well after midnight. However since it must be done make it easy on yourself.
  
• Discuss the fact that you have to work before you go with all your travel companions. Nothing is worse than listening to a bunch of whiners while you do your job. The answer is NO you can't take this one week off. Yes it is really necessary that this get done now, and you hope it won't take long but the fact of the matter is it takes as long as it takes.
• While on the cruise in the Internet cafe I ran into an online faculty that hadn't checked into her class from Monday - Thursday...it was Friday night and she was just checking in! I would wager that is one online faculty member that is no longer employed.
  
• Be flexible. When at home I like to sit down and work in one giant six to eight hour chunk. However that is just unreasonable when I am traveling. So I typically try to break it up. I keep my Blackberry charged so I can answer emails throughout the day. This saves SOOOO much computer time! If anyone I am traveling with complains I just remind them that I explained this before we left...
• Have a plan before you go. If you have wireless in your hotel you are good to go. If not Shame on you! However have the internet cafes through out the city mapped out. This way you don't have any unpleasant surprises when you get there. One of the worst things to discover is that you can't get online.
  
• Try to plan your vacation or traveling when you do not have any synchronous chats.
  
• Figure out before you leave what the time change is for your destination. For example, the United States did Daylight Savings early this year so Mexico was an hour behind for a few weeks. One reason this is important is you want to keep up with your required postings.