First trip of the year!

The first trip of the season here in Croatia was designed by moi (with a ton of help from Lynny of course!) This is exciting because it is part of that "promotion" I accepted back in April. I am part of the decision making process now, which is great because I have a hard time keeping my big mouth shut about my opinions of the trips I run anyway. It might as well count for something.

Overall it was a smooth run! We had a VERY rainy first day and third day, but it let up just in time for all the crucial boat crossings and all the guests were great sports about it. I took a few pictures along the way for a slideshow presentation at the end. This is a little of what the guests see.

The best part of the week was my coleader: The Magic Lynny Bean. We have quite literally spent every waking hour together for the last month and I never once wished it any other way. I am so impressed that she can wake up without the snooze button and a smile on her face every day. We shared so many laughs that my face still hurts and she sincerely made every day better for me. She reminds me to loosen up and have a good time. It doesn't have to be perfect. Sure it's our job, but it's also FUN. How lucky are we that we can have fun when we go to work?

She's game for anything (ie last minute ferries to Bari for birthday parties) but she is also organized and efficient and gets things done. I am not really sure I could have done it without her. Actually, I know for a fact I could not have done it without her.

Let the separation anxiety begin...

Puglia Take 2

Paolo celebrated his birthday on the 19th and Scotty will have his official birthday today (the 24th). As a compromise they decided on a join birthday extravaganza Friday night.

We had joked last week that we'd come back for the festivities and every day this week we would start by researching options to get there (flights range from $570 to $5864...very reasonable). After we decided that was out of the question, we would continue on with our day and then by about 6pm it would come up again, "well....maybe we could make it work".

And this is how we ended up boarding the ferry Friday at 1, spending 7 hours working on our computers while we commuted back across the Adriatic to surprise them at dinner. We stayed until about 8:30pm the next day and then re-boarded and took the same overnight ghost ferry as one week earlier back to Dubrovnik. This time, however, it was less ghostly with screaming drunk college spring breakers and no van to retreat to.

The ferry ended up being a reasonable ratea nd we were able to push through some extra long days (with a few more to look forward to upon our return). We can take a mini-detour/adventure and still get our work in on time. That's the definition of a win-win situation. Despite the travel tiem to time with friends ratio, there is no question that it was worth every penny. If only I had a video of Scotty's face!

It is clearly outlined in the Team Awesome Adriatic manual that all members must rendezvous as many times as possible throughout the 2011 season. It is noptional.

I truly love these people like family.