Perhaps the day I left my job, an idea dawned on me. I can travel! There’s a $49 direct fare from New Haven, CT, to Wilmington, NC (where my family is), via Avelo that it turns out is awesome. The 3-hour drive is less than ideal, and you have to pay for parking, but the flight savings and time easily made up for having a 1-or-more-stop-flight through a nearer airport.

It was a blast to see my family (minus Dad who got COVID right upon our arrival). We visited the Airlie christmas lights, ate a bunch of food we don’t normally get around here (sushi for lunch TWICE!), spent an entire day at the Wilmington Children’s Museum (amazing place), spent half a day at Long Leaf Park, went to the library, fed a bunch of fish, went on a hike, played at the beach, did some baking, did some art, went to the New Hanover Aquarium, and attended a holiday concert of Mia’s cousin, Katie… Did lots and ate lots of ice cream. It was really nice to not freeze our butts off too; wore shorts a few days! On the way home we stopped at some totally shady area of New Haven to get pizza too.