It seems that the next few months will be pretty busy in terms of travel. For anyone interested, here’s the rough itinerary:
- 23-25 April: Bristol, England for the Speculative Realism/Speculative Materialism workshop/conference. I’ll also be visiting some friends down there (you know who you are).
- 16-18 May: Florence, Italy for a quick 3-day getaway with my wife.
- Weekend of 4 July or 11 July: Ireland for another quick 3-day getaway, probably flying into Dublin.
- 18 July – 2 August: Running about the UK. The actual dates and places haven’t been decided yet as I’m waiting to find out when my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are coming. We’ll be hitting London, as well some of the tourist fun and exciting spots around the UK. I’d really like to get over to the Hebrides (those islands directly west of mainland Scotland) as well as Loch Ness.
- 9 – 13 August: Cologne, Germany for the annual CONNECTDeleuze conference.
- September: Looking at another 3-day getaway to Barcelona, Spain.
It can be real easy to get cheap flights within Europe (150 quid for two to Italy!). It also helps to stay in hostels that cost under £50 a night as well….That means a 3-day getaway costs under £400 for everything. Airlines in the US still have a thing or two to learn regarding flights which it seems Europe has done pretty well (e.g. tickets for £5 or less before taxes/fees).
I think that what America most certainly needs to do is open up competition. We are stifled by the fact that we don’t let international airlines compete for domestic flights. I guarantee you that if we bring in some international competitors, we’ll see the prices drop drastically. Oh, and we should also quit government intervention and subsidization of domestic airlines. If they can’t handle their business, shut ‘em down!