I would be remiss in not discussing the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) this past weekend, which starts in Virginia and runs through the nation's capital. DH and I both received entries in the lottery this year, which was really exciting. I ran the MCM last year, but it was DH's first (and only...he claims) marathon.

The MCM is really quite the event--hotels are booked, and nearly all of the race course (yes, all 26 miles of it) is lined with people. This is one of those times where crowds of people are actually nice...gets a little dull running 26 miles without something to look at! Plus, they are great about encouraging you (and handing out candy).  Yes, the MCM desperately snarls traffic for a bit, but with 25,000 or so runners, it is quite the sight and the Marines and volunteers do such an amazing, amazing job putting the race on, staffing the aid stations, and cheering.

I was in Kansas City this past weekend, to work, not to play. And yes, this was booked well before Royals fever kicked in! Blue blue blue everywhere. Go Royals! (Sorry Nats.)

Honestly, when I found out the meeting was in Kansas City, my first thought was "ugh". Yup. Not excited. But, dear Kansas City, I liked what I saw and wouldn't drag my feet if I had to return! In fact, the marathon and half marathon were running on the Saturday I was there...not crossing that off the list of possibilities....

You may remember when I explained my love of (and fear of hoarding) knick knacks. I vowed to try to be better.  So did I totally kick my collecting knick-knack habit on our recent trip to Thailand and Bhutan?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: I was betttterrrr. Right DH?

I claim there are a number of important complicating/compounding factors.

I've been sort of mum about Chiang Mai as there is sooo much information from travel bloggers about the city and surrounding area. And I'm sure I'll get some hate mail for what I'm about to say.

I'll fully admit that when everyone loves something (as much as so many people purport to lovvveeee Chiang Mai), I'm immediately suspicious. In fact, I tend to dislike things that everyone likes. So, Chiang Mai had a lot to live up to.

There are so many places to go, and sometimes it's hard to decide whether to return to somewhere you love or try somewhere new.  One of the places I've been to a number of times is Prince Edward Island.

If you've never been to PEI, you should go. It's fun to stop in Halifax on the way, if you are driving, it's a beautiful, charming, seaside town with a lot of history. You can arrive at PEI by driving over the bridge, or taking the ferry from Caribou, Nova Scotia.  You can also fly, though I never have.

For Columbus Day weekend, I took a quick trip to New Hampshire to visit a great friend--and visit my horse (!), who lives with her in New Hampshire.  I flew into Boston and out of Manchester, New Hampshire, where the metal detectors decided to eat me alive. Seriously, what is with tiny airports having the most sensitive metal detectors and the big airports have the ones that I can waltz through with keys in my pocket? I don't get it.

On Day 2 in Bhutan, I was really just crossing my fingers that a good night of rest would get me over my 12 hour stomach flu for the drive from Paro to Punakha, which it thankfully did.

After a delicious breakfast of French toast  (I must have been sick, I really don't like French toast...ever) at Uma Paro, we were on our way. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the roads to Thimpu from Paro are well-paved and pretty straight. We stopped twice along the way for a gorgeous shot of the valley, as well as to see some of the old chain link bridges that still are used across the river.

I think this will be a new thing on TravelingSaurus--the Academia Meets Life series, if it seems to be of interest to readers, of course.

I sometimes spend a large part of my day reading peer-reviewed journals in my field. So I thought it would be fun to start periodically pulling interesting peer-reviewed articles from academics that relate to travel.  No, some of these are not going to be in my field (for example, I am not a psychologist), but nonetheless I think they are worth discussing. Moreover, I like thinking about academic research in the context of real (rather than abstract or laboratory) life.

So today I'll start with an article from three researchers at Harvard and the University of Virginia.  They present evidence, they argue, that having extraordinary experiences makes it harder to relate to peers, and means that you actually feel more isolated after an experience. As such, these experiences actually have a social cost that you don't weigh when you decide to pursue one of these experiences. They provide the example of exotic vacations (!), jumping from airplanes, and shaking hands with celebrities as extraordinary experiences. 

While there is more and more information out there about Bhutan, when I was planning I found much of it was out of date as things change quickly. I also had some questions that weren't really answered until we arrived in Bhutan!  So here are some things that would have been helpful to know before our trip.

Without a doubt, using miles for business class seats from Chiang Mai to Chicago (and then economy to Washington National) was an absolutely fantastic decision.

The best leg was definitely ANA Business Class, from Tokyo Narita to Chicago O'Hare on their 777-300ER. I've never been on lay-flat business seats, and they were heavenly. Like seriously. I would have stayed in that seat for another 8 hours without a whole lot of complaining. As DH said...they sort of ruined any sort of future travel across the Pacific.  I think we'll be stockpiling our miles for future flights...