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Q: What is for you the height of misery?

A:  HOT FEET.

- from John Lennon’s Proust questionnaire

We landed in Washington, D.C., on a midday flight from Buffalo on Good Friday, and arrived as temperatures climbed into the high 20s Celsius. Our room at the Marriott would not be ready until after 2 pm but we were eager to do a little exploring, so we checked our bags and wandered south to the Mall and the Smithsonian institution.

We had the (mis)fortune of flying on this past Dec. 26th. Not only was it the day after Christmas, but it was also the day after the most recent airline scare. Before heading to the airport, Larry and I glanced at the news a few times but didn’t discuss the possible effect it might have on our flight. We were flying only to New York, barely over an hour in the air, on a 70-seat plane, so hopefully it was too small for anyone to consider stupidity, and, anyway, worrying about it for too long or out loud might encourage a dastardly fate to come round our way.

Imagine a 30-something-year-old mom with 2 kids living in the suburbs, who commutes to work to downtown Toronto and who cannot drive. You must be thinking Nah, that cannot be – everybody drives.

T his summer marked a significant milestone in my family’s life. We took our first and second trip to the cottage. 

W e had a package deal for two adults and two children aged 3 and 5, chartered flight through Sunwing, car rental and Comfort Suites accommodation in Orlando for the week of April 1 to 8th. It started with a shortened night of sleep, airline limo (with no car seats) picked us up 3:30 am, waited for the U.S. customs to open at 4:45 for our 6:10 flight.

N ow that Oliver had passed the one-year mark, we figured it was time for him to hit the road - with his parents, that is. Mimi and I love to travel, and we've both logged our share of travelling in different countries by plane, trains, autos, bikes (motor and pedal-propelled) and feet before and since we met. But all those experiences were characterized by a sense of whimsy and leisure, with the freedom to change the itinerary at a moment's notice, eat and sleep as the circumstances allowed.