Getting Out of Dodge on a Budget

Jen and I are beginning to plan our Let’s-Get-the-Hell-Outta-Dodge Autumn vaca. We're attempting to pare down our ‘Let’s go here and here and HERE!’ wants list. This is NOT painless.

All things being equal, (they never are though), I’d want to go to Vienna again. Why? Oh for dog’s sake -- all the insanely fab museums, of course! I want Jen to see Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, Breugel’s Wedding, Vermeer’s Painter in His Studio, Schiele’s Embrace, Kokoschka’s Bride of the Wind and SO much else.

What’s the prob? Eh, not only are the advertised plane fares crazy expensive (over a grand round trip) but the travel time is 15 hours, not including getting to and from the airport and the two hours spent within each one. This wouldn’t be so bad if we were going for a week or more. We’ve got five days.

Why just five? Jen doesn’t get much time off from her job and, frankly, I have one hell of a time being away from The Amazing Bob for any longer than that. Possibly I’m addicted to him. Happily, mind you. 

Last year we visited Reykjavik, Iceland which is just a little over five hours each way. Perfect! The place was utterly intriguing -- expensive but way fascinating. I could totally see flying there for a weekend in January -- spending the entire time in the Blue Lagoon. Hmmm, there’s a fine idea!

Back to vaca plans for October though -- where to go, where to go? The flight can’t be over long or wildly expensive and we want to see a bunch of cool art. London perhaps? Maybe Dublin?

Why not go to Manhattan? We could take the train down, possibly stay at a friend’s place OR at the Y -- tons of art there certainly. I'm wild about the Whitney and it’s been eons since my last visit to the Met and the MOMA.

NYC is great, duh, but it's so close to home and I've gone there tons -- it doesn't really feel like an escape holiday.

What about Toronto or Montreal? Both are short, relatively inexpensive flights. The cities are vibrant. There’s art and architecture worth seeing. The West Queen West neighborhood in Toronto sounds interesting. Montreal’s Plateau Mont-Royal looks like it’s worth a twirl.
Awesome, right? Yes, but I want to leave this continent behind even though it's only five days.

I’ve long wanted to go to Cabrera in the Dominican Republic -- the flight’s reasonably short and inexpensive so why not? Eh, we’d likely have to rent a car to drive the 80 miles to Cabrera. Not bad I suppose but escapes should be easy. No driving.

Bogota in Columbia is intriguing. I’ve recently seen a bunch of fab street art from there on line. Plus, I now have some guitar heroe's tremendous song Bogota in my head (and can't remember his name AT ALL. sigh).

Decisions, decisions, decisions!