AUGUST 2, TUESDAY

ALMOST READY TO FLY

Out of the blue on my iPad screen came Europe for $500 from Charlotte round trip, with destinations all over Europe, $600 from Asheville. On Tuesday I was listless and I didn‘t feel like eating or doing anything else, but somehow a month in Europe touched me in some deep visceral place and woke me up enough to write to Kathe‘s niece, Henny, asking if I could visit Haarlem on the English Channel near Amsterdam for a month or at least stop by for a few days while on the way to somewhere else.

But when I looked further on Google Travel I couldn‘t find the cheap flights before Christmas and by the time Henny replied with a nice invitation I was beginning to waver. The problem with Scott‘s Cheap Flights is that cheap flights only remain available for a very short time, sometimes hours. So in addition to having to make up your mind instantly you can‘t insist on going when you want to, you have to go where cheap flights are available and you have to go when they are available. As soon as you get choosy you begin to be frustrated, as I was. I had given up on October, when I wanted to go, before Henny responded with her warm letter. But the seed was planted and Amsterdam now is a bright dream on the horizon. The next time Scott‘s makes an Amsterdam offer I will be ready. I have been adding possible golden destinations that I don‘t have to wonder about. I just need to sign up for a nonrefundable ticket in 15 minutes when it appears and then go: Winsen, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Virampur or Varanasi, India; Naoussa, Greece; Una Watuna, Sri Lanka; Tuscany, Italy; Lincoln, England; Burlington, Vermont; Essouria, Morocco; Porto, Portugal, San José, Costa Rica and anywhere cheap and attractive I haven‘t been to before. If anyone who reads this has an empty cottage in the woods or mountains or on the ocean or the center of town or anywhere else for a few weeks or a month that would do as well, anywhere. My house in the great vacation mountain town of Asheville with a wide view of the Craggy Mountains is offered as exchange.