Where are we going?

My mental image of Spring Break brings images of booze, beaches, sun, sleep.

Spring Break 2014 will have one of those.

Graduation is but a few months away, and 8 quarters of law school has left my brain a mush of its former self. While discussing parenting yesterday with friends, and parenting styles based on certain demographics the conversation was dotted with, “this is the general rule…but there is an exception for [insert reasoning].” e.g. When teaching your kids how to play baseball, it’s good to play hard to challenge them, but there is a public safety exception precluding you from throwing the ball 90 mph at them. Three years ago I would have just said “child abuse while teaching sports is bad.”

With a brain in such an incoherent state, I approached my final Spring Break with excitement. It’s time to set aside the books, the schedule, the everything that is law school, and forget about the impending bar exam. I’m old enough that getting drunk pool side in Cabo before going to Senor Tadpole’s has lost its appeal. I’m older, wiser, and something more refined is in order.

Enter Javier.

Javier is not his real name. It is the name that people give him when he is in party mode. When I told people I was going on Spring Break with him, they said, “You mean you’re going on Spring Break with Javier.” It wasn’t posed as a question. Javier, as they explained, is the version of my friend that at 3am in a Dubai club has somehow met the Prince of [insert Middle Eastern country} and is having cigars with him. Javier is the guy that after a night of drinking in Krakow decides to go to see the churches at 6am rather than going to sleep because there are no tourists at that time.

Javier will know where to go. And at first, he had great ideas.

London and Helsinki. Brilliant! I’ve always wanted to go to London and he lived there for a year, he’ll know the city, we can stay with his friends to cut down on costs. Tea with the Queen would not be beyond Javier’s reach. Then onto Finland for whatever they do, but I’ve always wanted to see Aurora Borealis and it’s supposed to be great this time of year. Wonderful trip idea Javier, let’s do it! Well, as it turns out the friends we would stay with are going to be out of town and flights to those countries are more expensive than registering for the bar. Next idea.

Krakow. Okay, sure. It’s different and sounds fun. Let’s do it! Wow, even more expensive to fly there. Javier suggests a side trip to blunt the cost of high airfare. Yes that sounds nice, where should we go? He says Beirut. I have a moment where I think this will work. I’ll just wear a burqa the entire time to hide my American-ness, but could go to the 1/8 bombing site and pay tribute to the Marines that died there. The moment passes. Beirut is vetoed.

Javier comes back with a suggestion out of left field: the Republic of Georgia. Seriously? Georgia is vetoed. Spring Break 2014 may be a dead issue.

Moldova. I think Javier wanted to go there the entire time but knew that if he led with Moldova I would automatically reject it. So he threw in a couple of duds and presented Moldova on a silver platter (it’s cheap, the wine is great, we can drive to Romania and see….).

So, Moldova.