Flight Plans
Money was, unfortunately,
a bit of a toughie, which resulted in me waiting a little longer than I
would’ve liked before I could book my flight. The natural result was that there
were very few options available for the timeframe I needed–the flight I ended
up booking required me to get up at an ungodly hour just to make the drive to
the airport. Now, I wasn’t the one driving, but even so…!
Packing
In addition to the flight
time, there were a few items I’d forgotten to pack until the last minute (my
camera, of all things), and I had to find a way to fit them into bags that were
already full to bursting. And I had tried my level best to avoid needing
checked luggage, something that John seemed to find surprising when I mentioned
the possibility of needing to mail some of my luggage back home after he and
Carole provided all sorts of extra goodies that I had to figure out how to
pack.
Shockingly, everything fit
on the way back with room for a couple more souvenirs. Who knew wadding up my
clothing and shoving it in the bottom of the bag took up less space than
folding it neatly, and that even when packing my jeans instead of my shorts!
And the tote provided at the workshop was big enough to slip my laptop bag
inside, while still small enough for the airline’s "personal item"
requirements, so this wasn’t the concern I’d expected, either. The only thing I
bothered to pack neatly for the trip
back was my pyjamas, and that only so I could use them as padding for the music
CD John had given everyone.
There were also things I
couldn’t take along, and other things I brought that I ended up never using. Neil
Gaiman’s Graveyard Book, for instance, stayed at home. Thankfully I could use
my phone (in airplane mode, of course), so in addition to attempting to record
the world outside or dozing off on the plane, I had the Kindle app and my
to-read collection with nearly 900 books and growing to keep me occupied. I
just really, really needed to charge
my phone as soon as I touched down in Palm Springs, and I kept the charger in
the more-accessible "personal item" (e.g. my laptop bag) for the
flight back. And for future trips I'd probably skip the mp3 player and
headphones.
Anything else I didn’t need is something I’d probably still want to take along just in case: the 360 camera that took up less space than the GoPro, a cell phone tripod mount that never left my luggage until I loaned it to John on Day 3, and of course anything medicinal. Plus, I caved and bought a selfie stick my first day back to work, so I’ll need to take that into consideration when packing for future trips.
Master of Disguise
Methinks John was a ninja
or some such in another life. Or I’m just really super unobservant.
Or both.
Why do I say this? Well,
on Day 1 I had arrived at roughly 10:30 am. My room was ready which meant, even
though it was well before official check-in time, the hotel let me put away my
stuff and veg out by the pool.
Now, I was in and out of
that room a few times the first couple of hours, so naturally I didn’t see
everyone as they arrived despite my attempts to work on my people-watching
skills. So when one of the hotel staff provided paperwork (the unfortunately
necessary, but entirely expected, medical waivers) delivered by John himself,
I’d assumed, just as naturally, that he’d happened by while I was changing into
my swimsuit. In fact, a few of my other fellow writers were already present and
lounging by the pool, and they’d made a similar assumption–none of us had seen
him, so he must have been by when none of us were outside.
Until the workshop
officially began. John and Carole suggested we introduce ourselves in the form
of a Two Truths and a Lie game, and
John immediately said, “Tamie’s had all
day to think of hers, I saw her by the pool this morning.”
Cue my impression of a
deer caught in the headlights, followed by a slightly panicked-sounding, or
perhaps not-so-slightly, ‘How did I not
see you?’
But this was not to be the
last of his disguises. While I’d missed him in the role of "secretary" on day 1, on day 2 I saw him trying to
sneak into the workshop as a decorator and then later as the elusive pizza
delivery guy, and on day 3 I finally caught him in the act as the handyman!
Filters
John swears up and down
that he has no filter. Not merely a broken filter, none whatsoever. And if you
follow him on social media, or have met him in person, you’d probably find that
easy to believe.
And yet…. during the Two
Truths and Lie game, he spent an awful lot of time filtering his guess about my
introduction through the lens of wanting to make sure I wouldn’t take it the
wrong way. 😉 How did my introduction go that he’d be concerned about
that, you might ask? Well, the details given about me were that I had never
been on a trip without my parents before, that I have a Master’s Degree, and
that I am professionally published. John said since I’m a Whovian he knows I’m
intelligent 😳 so he didn’t want me to think he was saying I’m not, and
long story short he decided the Master’s Degree was the lie. (No, John, I have
two short stories, both self-published, and I stumped my cousin the same way. 😀 Though I wouldn’t object to needing a
different lie one of these days. I wonder what the group would have thought of
my experience on a motorcycle?)
Contrast this with a
comment I made to him on Day 2 after I got a headache from how much we were all
laughing. I’d said that being in his presence could be hazardous to people with
migraines…. and only long after the fact did I realize that it might not have
sounded like the joke it was intended to be. (Insert facepalm image of your
choice.)
To quote the Eleventh
Doctor, “You know how you say a thing in
your head and it sounds fine…?”
Upon realizing what I’d
said, I told him that I thought he had a better filter than I do, but he
continued to insist that he doesn’t have one. He also said, after I mentioned
that I have a weird sense of humor, that he doesn’t think it’s weird but rather
unique. (Tomayto, tomahto. I think I have a pretty good idea of why he said
that but I’m still calling mine weird. And occasionally warped. 😉 )
Strange Conversations
I’m sure, no matter how
much they enjoy their work, celebrities like John and family, families don’t
want to talk only about the shows they’ve been in. Yet some of the other things
I found myself talking about seemed like weird topics given that I barely knew
anyone at the workshop…. and John and Carole weren’t even the ones responsible
for some of these conversational choices. Or at least not entirely.
Let’s see, some of the
things I talked to the Barrowman family about:
At one point a few of us
were discussing alcoholic beverages, in which John listed off some drinks he
likes and some he doesn’t–pointing to the selections the hotel offered as he
went–which led to my own comment about how I’d never had an alcoholic drink I
could stand the taste of…. but that I was the only one in my family who liked
this Irish Cream Cheesecake recipe I’ve tried making a couple of times. Unlike
John’s assessment, merely mixing it in isn’t enough for me; the alcohol–any
alcohol–has to be cooked off or I find that the entire recipe tastes terrible.
Or a suggestion from
Carole on how to cope with sunburn when my bra strap (which is uncomfortable in
the first place) doesn’t lay in the same spot as my swimsuit strap (which had
influenced the location of the burn).
Tame enough. But then
there was the moment I’d asked John how, when our very small group was
beginning to get very loud to my ears due to everyone chatting at once, he
managed to focus on a single conversation. He did give me a useful suggestion
that I think I’ve already been doing without really thinking about it, but when
I added that I was hard of hearing, he told me to go ask Scott…. which led to
Scott and me discussing general sinus issues and hearing problems.
On Day 3, this resulted in
me attempting to show Scott the game Blindscape. Attempting definitely being the operative word here–surrounding
conversation was loud again at the time, making it hard to hear the
instructions at the beginning of the game, and Blindscape really needs
headphones to play it properly. Also show
is an ironic word choice in this case, as the game is navigated entirely by
sound.
And speaking of sinus
issues, for some reason I had gotten on the subject of why I felt the need to
pack nasal spray.
Staying Healthy
As fun as the trip and
workshop were, there is also a serious side to consider in the form of
medicinal and other health requirements.
Case in point, I had
decided that the initial flight time (getting up at 2:30 AM EST) would be the
only un-fun part of the trip, and the Imp of the Perverse decided to punish me
by giving me a Charley Horse half an hour after I'd arrived at the hotel. While I was in the pool. Thankfully I
was already on the ledge in the shallow end, having moved there to deal with
what felt like an impending foot cramp. The Charley Horse finally let go after
the muscle locked up a third time in as many minutes, and, lacking access to
any bananas (the breakfast nook was closed that time of morning), I had to make
do with hobbling to my lounge chair and waiting water bottle as soon as I dared
move the offending leg. When the cramp finally let go, I was right back to
enjoying myself, but the muscle required stretching well into day 3 to rid
myself of any lingering tightness.
Remember, my readers, when
you’re flying (or doing anything that requires being seated for a long period
of time, like extended gaming sessions), always make sure you have a chance to
stretch your legs. The longer you must remain seated, the more important the
stretch. These airplanes don’t have a lot of leg room, unless you’ve paid extra
for your seats, and a cramp could very well be the least of your worries.
Then of course there were
other concerns to pay attention to: the sunburn, the allergies, the migraines,
the staying hydrated, and any other personal concerns.
Flight Plans Redux
Day 4 of my visit to Palm
Springs, after the workshop was officially over, brought with it something I
both looked forward to and dreaded.
Looked forward to because,
even though my work schedule and flight plans were based on the expectation
that I’d be heading home on Monday, my flight was very late in the day and I
didn’t want to only be there for the
workshop. I wanted to do some exploring and this was my best chance to do so.
Dreaded because I hate
driving and hadn’t bothered to so much as rent a car while I was there. And I
was the last of the attendees to leave, meaning I’d either need a cab, or my
ability to explore would be dependent, once again, on someone else’s terms.
That being said, those of
us who were still in Palm Springs by that time did manage to get quite a bit of
exploring in. I didn’t get to try out some of the more touristy events like the
gondola–even my own flight time would’ve made that difficult–but we wandered around
the town a bit and checked out some of the gift shops. For lunch, three of us
were introduced to the In-n-Out Burger, but even before that we’d found dessert
in the form of the absolutely heavenly Dole Floats.
Future Visits?
Workshop or no workshop, I
look forward to returning, but on very different terms. Like I said, I hate
driving, but if I could get enough time off from work I would love to ride my
motorcycle that way, maybe even head farther west yet and ride along the
Pacific Coast Highway at least once.
Not only that, but I think
Palm Springs would be a nice place to live some day. Money depending, I see
myself as someone who might do a lot more traveling–I’ll need a great deal of
practice before I consider doing it on a regular basis, but if anything, this
trip has taught me that I can travel on my own terms, that I am personally and
mentally capable of doing so–and who only has a permanent residence for legal
reasons and for someplace to crash when I want to take a break from the
wandering. Thanks to my allergies, there is nowhere I can travel where I won’t
experience some kind of problem, so I wouldn’t necessarily choose any location
with that criteria. But if I can get used to drinking three times as much water
as I normally do (maybe five times in the summer?) and being more diligent
about using sunblock most of the year, I think I can safely include Palm
Springs on my list of places I’d like to live.
Though I would have to
learn to cope with the earthquakes. But just like my allergies, what place
doesn’t have some kind of problem?
To read Tamie’s full
account of her journey including further photographs and a video accompanying
the souvenirs she also picked up, then please visit the link below, thank you!
