dude. where's my kid?!

metrodad had this funny post that made me reminisce about my own business and pleasure travels as a single person. like him, i worked in the garment industry (in production) and though i never got to travel overseas to visit the sweatshops factories, i did get to travel to new york to visit with the gestapos designers.

besides getting to visit with friends during off-hours, my perk was always a stay at the mansfield hotel, one of the nicest hotels i've ever stayed at... my room was always a minimalist oasis - the large comfy bed, the soothing sauna, the complimentary buffet breakfast, the complimentary cappucinos available all 24 hours of the day....

most of my overseas travel was to the philippines to visit my papa, my two sisters and my brother. between 1972 and 1994, those trips happened every couple of years or so with stops in hawaii, tokyo, or seoul. then in 1994, i got to travel to europe for the first time and save for the bohemian homelessness and the demise of a close friendship, it was AWESOME. and last but not least, there have been the unforgettable trips to the UK and italy with the thin man.

the picture above was taken during one of my first trips to manila. my father is helping my mom with something. and my lola (papa's mom) is standing next to my aunt who is holding my baby sister (the one who is getting married in february). that's me in the pink dress looking like i'm planning an escape or a hostile takeover or is that my potty dance? hmmm, i dunno...

when i travelled as a single girlzilla, i had single girlzilla worries:

* will i still have a signifigant other when i return from this trip?
* will i get kicked out of a train station for sleeping there?
* will i meet cool people at my destination or will i only run into "ugly" americans?
* can i expense report that?
* will i have to declare that?
* will i get mugged and what if he's cute?
* will i ever catch a flight home... flying standby?
* if i find love or find i love this place, can i find a way to stay... legally?

now, i'm a travelling mamazilla, i have travelling mamazilla worries:

* which and how many inoculations do i have to get to ensure i don't soil myself walking down the aisle?
* how badly will i lose my sh*t when i have to fight with wake the paloma up at o'dark early to catch our flight?
* how loudly can i scream at the airport without having security taser me?
* how full of *ssholes will the flight be?
* how much bribe in currency & paraphenalia will it cost me to get from the airport to the hotel room?
* do i really have a reservation at a hotel? or just a piece of paper that says "I'M A F*CKING IDIOT! TAKE MY MONEY!"?
* who's going to get b*tchslapped first - strangers, family or me?
* what do i do if/and/or/when the paloma gets sick?
* what do i do if/and/or/when the paloma gets lost?
* how hot and humid is it? enough to warrant UPPERCASE typing?
* will i really go to H*LL if i kill myself? will i notice?

as you can see, i'm mildly freaked out about this trip and it's only ratcheting up more and more the closer we get to departure time...

i'm not sure how my mom did it... but then again, she says that i was a pretty cool headed kid, unlike the paloma... i guess the good news is that i'll have my mommy with me when things go wrong. she has a way of making things all bettah.