Note to self: Avoid traveling during Flu season

After a rather crazy end to 2006 and start of 2007, I'm finally up and blogging again...and on a shiny new computer to boot! I've had all sorts of ideas for entries over the past month -- hopefully I'll get to some of them soon. For now, I just wanted to sing the praises of something that often gets lost in the shuffle with a self-affirmed "wanderer" like me...the need to occasionally take stock of life and STAY HOME! And, BONUS: This may actually improve your health!

The last thing I wanted to do after being away half the month of December was travel again in January. Especially if I wasn't a) getting paid to do Travel Director-related work, or b) headed to an exotic beach destination. However, I did have to make one trip last month...and, of course, that's ALL it took for me to catch the flu. I knew it would happen, too! You see, I am particularly susceptible to that kind of "seasonal" thing, and it sucks. I told my husband when we got off the plane from Dulles to LAX that if I had to be around another sneezing, coughing, germy person, I was going to scream. And the next day...I got sick. Thank goodness I had the foresight a couple of weeks prior to opt out of an opportunity to join my hubby for one of his work trips in Amsterdam the next week. I knew my body had been telling me to SLOW DOWN before I got sick...and so instead of enjoying Dutch treats and a cushy company-paid hotel room, I bummed around my own house and nursed myself back to health.

All things said, the month of January was just one big month "off" for me...and, you know, I might actually make that a tradition. So many of my friends who were on airplanes in January came down with the same nasty flu that I suffered from. No matter how much Airborne or Emergen-C you take, sometimes you just can't avoid it. And maybe that's the point of winter flu season -- maybe it's God's or nature's way of telling us all to stay home, chill out (er, warm up!), hang out, and get organized for the year ahead. Next year I'll heed that advice before I get bit by the bug!

So, while we're already a month in, I wish you all a happy AND HEALTHY 2007.