Displaced Beachbums

One of the cutest of the summer homes located on the St. Lawrence River. I imagine it would be “healthy” having a getaway such as this to escape the stress of city life.

No, just a night in New York City. 

FM is running in the NYC marathon in November and we’ve put off making plans to go since I didn’t know if I would have the energy to join him. Thankfully, the iron supplements seem to be working so FG and I will tag along. I LOVE being in a big city when a marathon is going on because they close down the streets and we non-runners can roam freely until the first place runners start coming in ~ usually gives us a couple of hours.  FG and I walked down the middle of some of Rome and Berlin’s busiest streets when FM ran those marathons. Kind of surreal.

The end of the NYC marathon is in Central Park and most hotels near the park require a three night minimum stay.  And if we wanted to go “on the cheap” and stay out near the airport, the hotels were still over $200.00. I must have spent two or three hours researching every last hotel that was remotely close to the finish line and finally found one! Unfortunately, the hotel room leaves us no $$ for food or entertainment 😉  How I wish there was an AFRC (Armed Forces Recreation Center) in the city! The New Sanno in Tokyo is an AFRC and was the only way we could afford a week in downtown Tokyo.

I’ve never stayed overnight in the city although I used to visit frequently when I was in High School. We lived in Connecticut, my dad worked at Rockefeller Center and it was so easy to take the train in.  The last time I was there was only for a day in 1989 when I flew up from Memphis for a job interview. I got the job which was in Hawaii. I’m excited to see what it’s like now and can’t wait to see FG’s reaction when she looks up at all those TALL buildings.

Does anyone familiar with New York have some advice for our visit?

“It’s nonsense to say money can’t buy happiness. But people exaggerate the extend to which more money can buy more happiness.”  Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize in Economics

Sometimes I feel a little guilty about the money we spend on traveling. FM NEVER gives it a second thought ~ he’d travel every free moment he had from work if he could. I think to myself: should we be spending the money on household items or clothes to replace our well-worn current items. But, in the end, I end up going with the travel and skipping the shopping. That’s why we haven’t had curtains put up in the last two places we’ve lived. Did we miss the curtains? Not really. But I do have incredible memories of all our travels in both Germany and in the Pacific.

I recently read a great article in Money magazine(September 2007) which interviewed Daniel Kahneman, Nobel winner in Economics, about why people continually make the same wrong moves when investing or spending their money. The question (and answer) I liked best was the one which completely justifies my wanderlust: Can buying things make us happier? Here’s his answer which, for me, are words to live by:

“There’s an important difference between pleasures and comforts. Pleasures are the things like flowers, feasts, vacations ~ investments in family, friends and memories. Comforts are material goods like a big new car or a giant plasma TV or ~. Comforts always seem like a better idea before you buy them than afterward. Trust me, you will get more durable satisfaction out of the money you spend on pleasures.”

That said, it’s time for me to start planning some pleasures: a couple of mini-trips for the fall, a dinner party, margarita fridays…

Niagra Falls

We had our first visitors last week. Norbert and his son, V., from Germany, arrived a couple days after our household goods were delivered so they had to put up with a few boxes and wrapping paper scattered throughout the house.

While they were here, they visited the New York State Fair, Niagra Falls and a couple of local sites. Unfortunately, FG and V. DID NOT get along well at all. As Norbert described it, they were like two ends of a magnet that push each other away. Well, really it was FG who had little tolerance since she is not use to having a rambunctious boy around her.

Other than that, I think they enjoyed their visit and FM & Norbert were able to catch up on their talks. One thing for sure, all the talk about Germany and the wonderful people we know in Weiden, made us want to go over for a visit.