Road Trip 2011

THIS YEAR WILL be the first time we have celebrated the holidays "on our own" since moving to France. Over the past few years we have either gone back to the US for Christmas (once) or welcomed parents/in-laws/brothers (3 times).  Since we are alone this year we have decided to make use of the second week of vacation and embark on what we are calling (and by that I mean what I am calling) our Cup of Coffee Road Trip 2011.

As is often the case, I am utilizing a vague sports metaphor to convey a concept or idea; and as is also often the case, the metaphor doesn't really work -- but I'm using it anyway.  In professional sports it is common for minor league players to get a chance to play a few games with the top-level club when they are young -- perhaps because a top-level guy is injured or perhaps just to give the young player a bit of experience.  This is sometimes referred to as "having a cup of coffee" in the big leagues -- as this completely made-up dialogue illustrates:

Veteran Bill:  Hey rookie, life is pretty good up with the big club isn't it.
Rookie:  Yeah, it's pretty sweet.  But the GM tells me I'm going back down at the end of the week.
Veteran Bill:  Oh, so you're just here for a cup of coffee?
Rookie:  Huh?

Our trip will sort of follow that same theme:  short stays in countries where we have never been  (get it: just long enough for a "cup of coffee"?).  Because we never really know how long we are going to be here, we decided to just get in the car and go see some things we haven't seen before.  Where are we going?  Well, that will be unveiled as we go.  A few friends and family know some of the details of our trip, but most do not.

Coming up in the next post:  Cup of Coffee Road Trip 2011 Guessing Game!  Stay tuned.