Maniac

When I was a kid, my family used to drive down to California every couple of years. Back then, I never even knew another kid who'd been to the kid Mecca of all vacations, and we went semi-regularly to Disneyland.

I loved that place, and still do. I used to think that the greatest thing in the world would be to live right inside Disneyland itself, and if that wasn't possible, to live close by.

This winter Helen and I will be living about a half hour drive away.

We are going for Jiu-Jitsu, and I do not intend missing any training.

Three days a week I will have an afternoon break of about 5 hours. In a normal world this would be plenty of time to pop down for a short visit, but not in LA.

Drives always take longer than expected, but let's assume that we make it to Disneyland in 30 minutes. I'd insist on an extra 30 minutes for the drive back in case of any traffic snarls; not going to be late for class.

Disney parking isn't the same as parking anywhere else. You park in a giant structure, catch a tram, ride it, get off, walk, line up, and finally enter. Leaving is the same.

At best, a 5 hour training break would contain well under 3 hours in the theme park, surrounded by 2 hours of commuting.

Even I don't find this very attractive.

The other two weekdays have longer breaks of 7 and 8.5 hours. This is much more promising. They could contain 5 and 6.5 hours in the theme park respectively.

Saturday, I have a single class that ends at noon, and there are no classes at all on Sunday. Lots of vacation fun possible on the weekends.

Does this mean I plan on going to Disneyland four days a week for two months?

Not at all. I use my Disney addiction to illustrate our LA situation. We will have time to do something fun each day, but often it will need to be closer at hand.

This is fine. We are taking our folding bikes along, and might just go ride along the seaside. There are several massive malls nearby, and we might just wander there. Downtown, Chinatown, and Japantown are all very attractive to walk through.

Bigger or farther things will be tackled on my longer-break days, or on the weekends.

So will we go to Disneyland a lot? Let me answer by saying that it will make financial sense for us to purchase annual passes even though we're only going to be in LA for two months.

I love that place.