Here we go...

This blog is something of an experiment. I've never been good at "blogging" (substitute other heinous verbs like "journaling" or "self-reflecting" here), but was inspired recently by two friends who created a blog to chronicle their cross country move. Now, there is no cross country move in my future (that I know of), but there *is* a long overdue - and some would say bizarre- vacation happening in a matter of days.

Why a vacation? Why now? As many of you might agree, 2008 has been a weird year. Maybe even a bad year. On my end, it's been personal drama, family medical drama (on top of the normal family drama, and that should be another blog in and of itself), grad-school-dropout drama, you name it, it's been cause for a dramatic year. The urge to flee has never been stronger. And where does one flee when one wants to escape reality?

To anti-reality, otherwise known as:
Yes, Disney World. Disney World in the hot, hot Florida summer. The place (read: hell) I vowed never to return after a fateful few months of "employment" (read: slave labor?) I had there during the summer of 2001. This experience was followed by my remaining two years in college and a subsequent four years in graduate school, each of which taught me to question authority, hate the man, and love hemp. (Or something like that.) But high moral principles and liberal beliefs are just no match for a bad year; thus, I find myself actually anticipating a visit to a place that churns out magic on the backs of underpaid workers, violates union contracts with aplomb, and glorifies gender and family norms at which my graduate-school trained brain shudders.

I know. But what can you do? I need an escape from reality and this just fits the bill perfectly.

The trip isn't entirely about the Mouse (or as Carl Hiaasen so deftly terms "Team Rodent"), though. We will be flying out of Boston and into West Palm Beach, home to my mother and her husband, and a place I haven't visited for several years. There will be some family time, but also some time on the beach, and getting a massage, and having some drinks on the water. After, we drive to Orlando for a one-night stay in a luxury golf resort (hate golf, but when Hotwire gives you a good deal, you go!), and then we are off to Disney for several days. After that, we fly from Orlando back to Boston, and back into the dogged reality of 2008.

The intention is for this blog to be anything but a conventional vacation trip report, although I'm sure we'll throw in the requisite pictures of rides and flowers and not-tall people in costumes. This could be fun, sure, but doing just that would miss a big opportunity for a different kind of commentary. We are not only going on vacation; we are going on a sociological expedition! The people-watching in Disney can't be beat. Florida election politics? Also interesting. Tourists of every stripe? Lots of snark on that front to come. And, lastly, if we get hit by a hurricane, you'll hear it here first. If we have power, that is.

Up next...what to pack?
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