What lies ahead

The coming months are starting to look pretty busy and that's not even considering the busy spring schedule for the local high school teams, which will start in early April. There are a bunch of trips on the docket in the next few months leading up to the big one this coming summer.

The first trip on the schedule is one that has become a pretty regular tradition. At the end of March I will be flying to Orlando and traveling on to Vero Beach to cover one of our local teams getting in some spring training action. Most of the trips I've made to Florida with local teams have been with Kingswood baseball and last year, Kennett baseball was also there at the same time, which was perfectly convenient for me. This year, Kingswood softball is making its maiden voyage to the Jackie Robinson Training Complex for a few days. I am flying down the night before the team and leaving the day after they do. I am currently looking into something to do for the day on Friday before the team arrives and I am sure I will find something exciting.

The next trip is just a few weeks later and is a bit shorter of a journey. I registered for media credentials for the Team USA Media Summit ahead of the Paris Olympics and received notice yesterday that my credential request had been approved. This is the first in-person media summit Team USA has done since prior to the PyeongChang Olympics and this will be the first one that I have attended. It is timed to coincide with the 100 days to go countdown for the Paris Olympics. I booked a room at the hotel where the event is based, right in the middle of New York, which was probably the most expensive hotel room I have ever booked, even with our discount. I am taking the train from Boston to New York on that Sunday and returning on the Wednesday evening train. This is one I am definitely looking forward to.

In May, I will be making a return trip to Chicago for a Rob Has a Podcast Survivor event. For those that don't know, I am an avid listener to Rob Has a Podcast, hosted by former Survivor contestant Rob Cesternino. I make it a point to try and make his live shows (last season I went to one in New York and another in New Orleans). This season the location is Chicago and while there, I am going to cross another baseball stadium off the bucket list and see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. This will be a couple of days in early May.

Speaking of checking stadiums off the list, I will be driving to Toronto in early June to see the Red Sox play the Blue Jays at the stadium formerly known as SkyDome. I have been to the stadium before but have never seen a game, so it will be cool to check another MLB park off the list and see the Red Sox play as well.

Then of course, there's the big trip, the three-week journey to Paris at the end of July. There is still plenty of work to be done on that front, but there is evidently plenty to keep me busy between now and then.

Tokyo's Olympics were pretty quiet, given the COVID and all, but this summer promises to bring a little more excitement. And in the months leading up to that, there's still plenty to do too.