Well, my old archnemesis has returned... summer airfare. Last week I got a letter from UF, congratulating me again on my acceptance into the fall abroad program and reminding me that they still need a flight itinerary from me. Translation: let the games begin. I've been poring over every site out there - the best of which has so far been Student Universe - and can't find anything cheaper than a $965 Jacksonville-Amsterdam round trip. In the off season, it's around $500. With as hard as I'm working to earn money and with the exchange rate the way it is, I refuse to pay a thousand dollars for airfare alone. There are a couple of creative ways to do this; I could buy two one-way trips (the December trip back is a reasonable $377, but the outbound one is much more), I could go via Boston should I decide to do that Boston Light swim (there's a one-way Boston-Amsterdam fare for $405, but that leaves me with the problem of getting to Boston), or I could go via London and try for a dirt-cheap EasyJet fare to make the last hop. The problem is, you have to fly early in the day (like, 6:45 AM) to snag one of those, and all the jumps 'across the pond' seem to get in around 7 AM. Bah. Anyway, I'm still looking, but am getting increasingly frustrated. Come on, Virgin Atlantic, you've never failed me before... run a London special! I'll find some way to get to Orlando, if it comes to that. Why else do I work for a transportation company?

Anyway, my other sources of amusement yesterday (I say 'yesterday' because I have to leave for work at 3:30, so I've already had my 'night's sleep' - I just woke up too soon) were (a) open-water swim practice, (b) my new Jodi Picoult book, and (c) searching for various 'Hillary 2008' bumper stickers (like this one and this one). I've been reading that she's apparently in "a statistical tie" with Giuliani and McCain - and it's only 2005. Let's hope that's true, and let's hope her numbers go up rather than down.

At any rate, it's 2:45 AM and I'm awake and starving, so I think I'll go ahead and get something to eat and put on my oh-so-stylish uniform. 4 AM shifts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday... gotta love it. Oh, well, at least it's a regular schedule with 38 hours a week, so who am I to complain?