Hil - my friend lived in Africa for years and years and years and years, and she loved Botswana to pieces. fwiw.

So, on a lark, I signed up for the Guardian's "Soulmates", an online match service. The Guardian is a liberal UK newspaper that I read occasionnally. I signed up like 6 months ago. I don't know what they did, but in the last few days, I've gotten several nods of interest. (go me!) One of them is even in DC! But, I digress. Of course, sign up is free, but in order to talk or email, you have to pay. They have a series of "one liners" that you can send for free, though. One of them is "I'm not a subcriber, how about a gift subscription?" How tacky is that?

V. tacky. But Guardian readers = for the win, and it's a lovely site. Still, despite the fact that there are gazillions of interesting and attractive people signed up, I'm not willing to pay up cash money in order to communicate with them - thus my wee ad sits there all useless.

...actually, I found Buffistas via the Guardian, now that I remember - so it's a pretty good matchmaker, all in all.

I've been told that I need to be more social. (And my mother has been dropping hints that I ought to be getting married and giving her grandchildren.) Just got an email about a trivia night for young Jewish professionals. This seems like about my level of sociability, plus I'll be meeting a bunch of Jewish lawyers in my age range. Who will probably all be Republicans. (I don't understand this. Jews are one of the most Democratic demographics in the country, and yet, it seems like every Jewish guy I meet is Republican. And while I don't have issues with dating Republicans per se, I've not yet met one who I wanted to date for more than a few weeks.)

I say, "I've got $4k (or whatever)". And I make that amount stretch to whatever it is I want to do. I can't imagine trying to use a spreadsheet for something so far into the future. Why not just list the places you really want to see, plan the time you'll need to see them, and save as much as you can every month to put in the bucket for the trip?

Well, mainly it's that I know all too well that if I don't have a specific target to aim at, there will be too many months where I think, "Oh, 2015 is still forever from now, and I really need/want X." And then before I knew it it'd be, oh, March of 2015, and I'd barely have enough money for a one-week trip, which would be disappointing, given that the boost from this inheritance should put me in a position where at least a 3-week trip is feasible. And since this trip at that time has been a dream of mine ever since I turned into a military history geek, I don't want to blow it for no better reason than sucking at advance planning.

Of course, the danger in the other direction is to plan this thing in such specific and regimented detail that I'm DEVASTATED if some setback alters my plans. But I'm slowly learning to balance my wild swings between under-planning and over-planning.

Because I am mean and cranky and I don't like Hilary Swank, this photo cracked me up: [link]

go to the trivia night. it sounds like fun. and if you meet one or two people that is nice to talk to ...so much the better.

Or am I missing something?

I'm not sure that you are missing anything - that is in the long run the way part of it will go. but, Susan is a planner.She likes plans. And there will be kids , or at least one. So a little more planning can make things easier. Plus - this is fun

Oooh! Amelia Earhart biopic!

You know what I'd be really (irrationally) tempted to do if I had a sum of money I was planning to spend in five years on a trip to a foreign country? Invest just that trip fund in bonds or a savings account or something in that currency. Why is that irrational? Because if you were not planning to do high risk currency speculation anyway, the risk of currency losses potential for currency gains is exactly the same regardless of whether you planned to ultimately make expenditures in that currency. And yet the irrational part of me would saying "you are planning to spend in euros. Invest in euros."

Of course, the danger in the other direction is to plan this thing in such specific and regimented detail that I'm DEVASTATED if some setback alters my plans. But I'm slowly learning to balance my wild swings between under-planning and over-planning.

Susan, from everything I've heard about extended travel in Europe, the single biggest chunk will be the trip over there and back. Once you're there, in most places you can get by quite cheaply day to day. Obviously this isn't quite as true about the bigger cities, like London or Paris, but you're money should be able to go a long way.

As far as setting money aside for it, put away enough to pay for plane fare now, plus that again just in case. That should reasonably cover your flight when the time comes. Then once a year or so between now and then, put in enough for plane fare for the trip again. By the time the trip rolls around, you'll not only be able to pay for the ticket, you'll have quite a bit of spending money while you're there.

Disclaimer: This financial advice is given free of charge. Caveat emptor. I give no guarantees about the US economy kerploding or not kerploding.

Also Susan, wherever possible, err on the side of under-planning your trip. Your planny tendencies will manage to keep enough of the trip planned to give it the structure it needs, and you'll thank yourself for under-planning later, when the vagaries of travel come up and throw a wrench in things.

I'm thinking about taking some of that $600 federal check I get sometime in the next week and possibly sending some to various charities/favorite websites (including here!). It all depends on if I have to take my cat back to the vet next week (she's got a lump on her back that might just be from her shots last week but it's got me worried, so I've made an appointment for payday next week and will keep it if the swelling doesn't go away) and if so, how much it'll cost me for the appointment and if there's anything more serious involved.

I'd like to be able to send even $10-20 to a few different places, but who knows if I can swing it.