Well it’s the start to my mini mental health break & networking week out in the Boston area. While it’s been a rough couple of months (due to issues at work), it has been a very hellish two weeks (post coming later) and this is a much-needed break.

One of the problems about trying to fly long distance from Oklahoma is that you either need to stay at the airport the night before (because really—who wants to try to drive to the airport at one or two in the morning???) or arrive at your destination extremely late. Therefore I’m spending the night at the Clarion Inn at Tulsa International Airport so that I can make my early morning flight. This will be the first time that I fly into Atlanta, so I’m thinking of possibly getting a small souvenir at the airport (I’ll have a little over 2 hour layover—plenty of time to find something [plus coffee & food]), since who knows when I’ll be passing through the state of Georgia again (also the first time to fly Delta).

Then tomorrow I’ll be back in the Boston area, in October—therefore that means some time spent up in Salem (because one cannot be in the state without trying to make it to Salem in October). This is part of my mental health break—having a hotel room for two nights, and then spending basically a day touring around the city (or a small area on foot), and trying out one or two new restaurants while I’m there.

Then Tuesday will be back into to Boston, and heading to the hotel and maybe meeting up a friend for dinner. Then spending some time looking into the companies that are going to be at the networking event the next day. Wednesday will be spent at a seminar in the morning, then probably around the Harvard/Kendal Square areas for the afternoon to be local for the networking event.

Thursday will be another mental health break—probably doing the Freedom Trail, maybe going to the aquarium, or a tour of the harbor again (basically being outside and playing with my camera).

Friday will be hopefully going to a science symposium (and being able to check my luggage, since I’ll be switching hotels), and then after it is over—going back to the North End to grab something to eat for dinner, and then catching a cab to the hotel near the airport.

Saturday will be another long day—early morning flight (refer back to the top for why it is a pain to travel to or from Oklahoma) to be home by the early afternoon.

Then depending on how this goes, I’ll probably try to make it to a national conference in the spring, along with maybe networking events in large cities that are a little closer to travel too.