Oh, Amy, normally I would totally run away to Fiji with you, but I’ve never been anywhere in continental Europe before and will get to see bits and pieces of Spain AND Italy over the next ten days, so I’ll have to take a rain check. I’m so fortunate to be able to tag along with ND on this trip. It was far from a sure thing when he first got the contract. Whee!
The only downside is a rather hellacious travel day(s) to get there. My school paid for the round trip to Boston from LA because of this seminar, so those travel plans were completely separate. Then we used FF miles to get me to Spain, and the only option was JFK to Madrid, so I had to buy a BOS-JFK one way and a Madrid to Barcelona round trip on little bargain airlines...which means I am going to go through three airports, three security lines, and three baggage claims in the next day and a half. I drive to Boston airport in the morning from my seminar hotel, and I won’t actually get into Barcelona until Saturday afternoon. It’s about 26 hours of travel. I’m hopeful I will sleep on the flight from JFK to Madrid, but since it takes off before 6 at night tomorrow, that might be tricky. I am going to be a very tired Pix by the time I get to Barcelona.
But...who cares! Spain! And Italy!
ETA: Tom Scola! Can I still stay overnight at your place on August 2nd between my Madrid to JFK and JFK and LAX flights? I will email you with details.