Trip planning

I've been having a wild time searching for hotels on Expedia!
I really do love trip planning. I'm quite the planner so there's always a spreadsheet for the itinerary and hours spent scouring the Internet for reviews, ideas and bargain accommodation. I knew nothing about Bloomington, Indiana, except that my friend Andrea lived there, a couple of weeks ago but now I'm familiar with the layout of the town thanks to google maps, I've yelped for the best places to eat brunch and I've even looked up tattoo parlours and their ratings in case I finally get around to getting my long talked of tattoo while I'm there.

A lot of planning has also had to go into my bipolar management while I'm away (I know, I said I wasn't going to talk about it). I need to calculate exactly how much medication I need to take with me, a complicated matter with the amount I take. I also need to take an extra weeks worth in case I end up stuck somewhere unexpectedly (or "forget" to get on my plane back home - mwah ha ha!). I also need to take copies of all my prescriptions and a letter from my doctor explaining that while I may be carrying a quantity of drugs that make me look like a drug mule, it is in fact all legitimately for a medical condition.

When I've told a few people that I'm going overseas (including both parents) they've asked what my doctor thinks. I imagine that for other people with serious medical conditions, say if someone had diabetes, they would tell their doctor that they were going overseas, but it's somehow implied that I should ask my doctor, check that he thinks it's an ok idea and not the wild drivel of a crazed woman. For the record my doctor thinks its a fantastic idea.

He suggested I work out in advance when I'm going to sleep and when I'm going to take my medication so tonight I got to sit down and draft up an exciting spreadsheet (that 'exciting' is not sarcastic - I just love spreadsheets and planning!) of when I'm departing and arriving and when the optimum time for sleeping is as I cross time zones and when to take my medication so that I don't miss a dose as I travel forwards in time on my return.

There wasn't much left to plan until I had a thought for my well being in New York. New York is my favourite place in the world. If you've never been, the praise you hear for it is not at all superlative, it really is the greatest city in the world. It's also the city that never sleeps which is a bit of a problem for me as sleep is of extreme importance to me right now. It's the difference between a good day and a bad day and I imagine I'm going to be tempted to spend long hours into the night catching up with all my friends there. It occurred to me that if I'm tired in Orange County or Bloomington or Hudson I can just say I need to take a nap but if I'm staying with one of my friends in New York I'm really bound to their schedule and they all work during the day. So I've decided I'm going to stay in a hotel while I'm in New York. It gives me that option, plus I get to run my own schedule that way. And hence I've been scouring Expedia. I'll let you know what I turn up.