Task Master Bill

Anne and I have done a bit of traveling before leaving on our one year assignment. Fortunately for me, Anne had been the one who would plan all of our travels allowing me the opportunity to just sit back and enjoy the ride. I would often affectionately call Anne Task Master Chang as she was very precise about what places we would see and at what time. After arriving in China that all changed. Since Anne had to work I was now the family travel agent. It came as a surprise to both of us that I am much more of a task master than Anne was. I would usually have about 10 print outs (on average) regarding the flights/train/subway details, itinerary, each of the places we would visit, and anything else that I could think of. Many of these forms had English and the language of the area we were visiting to help ask locals for directions. As a whole our travels have been pretty successful but very wearing. Most of our trips required us to leave the apartment/hotel very early and be on our feet constantly squeezing in the most that we can before making it back to the apartment/hotel long after the sun has gone down. To further aggravate the situation rarely do my itineraries have meal plans and so much of the time we have gone with late or light meals. I have really come to appreciate all of the travel plans that Anne has made for us in the past. It is far more stressful that I had thought it would be.