SuPeRsTiCiOn KiLLeD tHe CaT

Throwing salt over your shoulder or avoiding black cats may seem absurd, but what if there's something to it? When I work out of office, I sometimes forget to change my voicemail. Oops. Well, on Monday I came into work to a slew of messages. One of the voicemails I received was from a man who worked at a PR firm in Philadelphia. "Great," I thought, "another person I'll need to avoid." However, as his message continued I became increasingly puzzled. He said he hoped I had received the email he sent and wanted to follow up with me to see if I was interested in going to the Netherlands. Excuse me, back up... what? I was so confused, who was this man? What email? Why the Netherlands?

With a perplexed look on my face I began to trove through my emails. Sure enough, there he was: email received last Wednesday afternoon. I read through the email very skeptically--there was no way my boss would pay for me to go to the Netherlands--but as I came to the end of the email, there was some vital information. It stated, "airfare and all expenses paid for by (insert company name here)". My jaw dropped. Really? A similar situation had happened a few months prior allowing me to go to China, but I thought that was a fluke. Yet here it was, happening again. I called the man back in order to do a bit of investigating on who all was going, what was involved, who I would get to interview etc. Once I had enough ammo for my case, I sauntered into my boss's office to ask for his blessing. Needless to say, when I mentioned that not only would I be touring universities and interviewing high-up aerospace people, but our competitor was already going, he said, "YES!" to which I gave a hearty, "YES!!"

As a result, this week has been full of flight itineraries, getting the necessary paperwork and general planning. Per mission usual, I have friends in the area and want to meet up with them if time permits. I also decided to stay the weekend to actually enjoy Amsterdam instead of seeing it simply through a business lens. Knowing I have a few extra days (and probably free nights) I wanted to buy a guidebook to start planning. But, there is a slight problem. In the past year I have become very, very, very superstitious when it comes to purchasing guide books.

Currently on a shelf in my room are eight guidebooks: Thailand, Madrid, China, India, Italy, Washington D.C. , Peru and East Africa. Now, I do realize I have been to many of those places, but somewhere along the line I developed a curse. I was planning on going to Peru last summer, I purchased the book in preparation and... the trip fell through. Then, I was planning on going to India this past February. I purchased the book and... it fell through. And guess what? I was planning on going to Africa this summer, got a book and... 5 hours before I had to buy my tickets or lose them, it fell through. I also realize that the trips in the past year that have happened--London, Sweden, westerly hiking, Costa Rica and California--were all accomplished sans guide books (iphones and other people bringing them is a different matter entirely.)

See my dilemma? This week I've looked on Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites for a Netherlands DK travel book. On both occasions, I've had the book in my cart to purchase and backed out at the last minute. I say to myself, "Just wait, you could get it cheaper." But I know that what I'm really thinking is, "But what if I get it and curse myself again?!" The likelihood is there. I mean, for one, look at my track record. And I know that unpronounceable volcano in Iceland is still spewing ash...

I REALLY want to plan my trip, but I think travel books are out of the question.