SPF 300

This year, we've been pretty slack about planning our holidays. This whole being-bought-by-a-giant-Swiss-company thing has thrown a wrench in my ability to plan some time away.

Our original plan was to rent another villa in some deliciously sunny spot again, as that turned out so nice last year. We had thought to have some friends share the place again, and would spend two weeks toodling about whatever warm location we ended up in.

As nice as that sounded, my Bride then pointed out that we hadn't seen my parents in a couple of years. I pointed out that my parents built themselves a compound in the hills of Tennessee just so that they wouldn't get as many visitors. And then there's my step-father's membership in the Gun Of The Month club. Some people like to try a new bottle of wine of type of tropical fruit each month. My step-father likes to try a new caliber.

This would, however, allow us to spend some time with my grandmother, who is also the Critter's namesake. And that settled the debate.

A couple of days after we made this plan, I was signed up for some a mandatory training course right smack in the middle of our planned holiday. Fortunately, I am the master of procrastination, and had not actually booked the tickets. I continued to dither for a couple of weeks, until the ticket prices started to creep upwards. My Bride is no help; she's completely occupied in making multiple lists in preparation for the banjo & pig festival coming up this weekend.

Then I realized that this kind of dilemma was exactly the sort of issue Al Gore invented the internet for.

I've now figured out a way for us to take a week off for our own holiday, then go to my course for a week, then go to Tennessee for a week. Perfect.

We'll be staying here at the Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh hotel in Egypt, right on the Red Sea.

I'm actually very excited about the trip - we've never been to Egypt, and it's always been on The List. Of course, it wasn't until after I confirmed my credit card number to the reservation guy that I realized that this meant we'd be spending a week in Egypt in July, followed up by a week in Tennessee.

We might as well be vacationing on the surface of the sun.

As always, I'll post some pictures of the trip. You'll be able to recognize me in the photos: I'll be the pasty white puddle on the ground. Unless it's later in the trip, when I'll be the crispy red puddle on the ground.