Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Decisions, Decisions: Where Should I Go This Year?

As part of his job as Foreign Rights Manager for Pearson, my husband goes to Europe several times a year for book fairs. Most of the time I get left behind (and not without a little resentment). Somebody's gotta stay home with the kid. But I can't complain too much: In the past five years, I've been to Italy, England, and Portugal with him, and always on his frequent-flyer miles.

So he's decided (and I agree) that this year I need to plan to tag along on one of his trips. The problem is deciding which one. A lot depends on what trips I need to go on for my own job (two or three domestic trips to industry conferences) and when we can get a grandmother to help us. (I'm a glutton for punishment, but still haven't gotten up the nerve to take a four-year-old on a transatlantic flight.)

Here are my choices. Which would you choose?

  • London and Moscow in early April
  • Warsaw and Thessaloniki in May
  • Frankfurt and a mystery destination in October

6 comments:

Krisan Matthews said...

That's a really tough decision...but I'd probably pick London and Moscow or Frankfurt and the mystery destination. Personally, the book fair in Frankfurt would definitely be a big draw for me.

Are you leaning toward one option over another?

And by the way, I'm quite jealous (especially since I've not been to Europe yet).

Lori Cates Hand said...

Well, there are actually pluses and minuses of each option. I was leaning toward London/Moscow, but Jason keeps trying to talk me out of it. He says Moscow is too dangerous for me to be on my own while he's got meetings. We have nice friends in Warsaw and I have always wanted to go to Greece. But that trip might conflict with BookExpo in L.A. I do need to see the Frankfurt Book Fair at some point, and we could tack on a Rhine cruise and go look for some of my ancestors in Prussia. I don't know what to do--but I guess it's a good problem to have!

Anonymous said...

Have you checked out the 2008 Publishing Business Conference? Book Business magazine puts it on each year. It's in March in NYC…

www.publishingbusiness.com

Lori Cates Hand said...

Hey, that looks really good! I never have gotten much from the informational sessions at BookExpo, anyway. This looks a lot more beneficial to me.

Anonymous said...

You've been to London (yes?), Moscow will still be cold in May (not a huge deal, but something to consider), Warsaw is a rather boring city (unless you want to visit their gigantic shopping malls, plus you have friends there), May might be the best month of the year to visit Greece, but I'd probably go with the Frankfurt Book Fair and mystery destination. I almost went to FBF last year, but was in my first trimester, so too fatigued... Maybe I'll see you there this year! ;)

Lori Cates Hand said...

Hey, Theorist!

You make good points. I'm going to focus on Frankfurt for now, I think. I checked out your blog (supercool--adding to my blogroll) and see you are in Talinn, Estonia. My globetrotter husband just returned from there!