I learned an important lesson during this trip. When flying cross-country, drinking a lot of water is a must. I only drank two cups of coffee, one ginger ale and a small cup of milk on the flight and I'm paying for it in Washington DC. Splitting headaches, dry mouth and lips and a general feeling of awfulness. Still, I have a $4 bottle of water in my room that I won't drink because I'm outraged by the price. So, I shouldn't complain too much.
Dehydration notwithstanding, it's been a pretty great trip. If you've ever met me in person, you'll know that I don't go anywhere or do anything without Ben. In the three years since we last worked at separate jobs, I can safely say that we, on average, spend no more than two hours away from each other a week. Yes, a week. So, this four day trip has been a huge change for me, one that I was incredibly fearful of facing. Other than accidentally oversleeping three hours (Ben's my alarm), it's been pretty painless* and I'm glad I took the trip.
*Of course, Anil's here with me and I've already called him Ben on about three different occasions. And, at dinner last night, having the second best dish of ice cream ever just wasn't the same. Anil calls that photo above "ice cream is so sad without you."