Uno Más

After a happy hour one night a few weeks ago I came home and started flipping through my Lonely Planet guide to South America. This happy hour included several drinks and I was fairly inebriated. As I flipped through the guide, the thought occurred to me that if I had only two more weeks I could be a bit more leisurely in my travels instead of rushing around to everything. I could better acclimatize myself in Cusco before the hike to Machu Picchu; there would be no rush from Titicaca to La Paz to meet my friend and make the most of his short vacation; and after Antarctica, I could slowly make my way back to Buenos Aires with a few more days spent in the Lake District. It made perfect sense at the time – and I was sure my boss would agree. And so, at 2am, I shot off an email to her work address stating as much. Mind you, I was still inebriated. I passed out shortly afterwards content in my genius.

The next morning, quite sober, I immediately recalled what I had done the night before. My boss was already kind enough to A) give me 3.5 months of leave to take, as she put it, a "sabbatication"; and B) extend that 3.5 month sabbatication, once before, by an extra week to accommodate my trip to Antarctica. Now I had the nerve to ask for two more weeks?

I sat sheepishly behind my desk later that morning as she walked into my office staring at me with what appeared to be disbelief (if not amusement). I half grinned and started to say something before she cut me off with a retelling of how bad the last few days had been on her side of the company. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Then she said she received my email and would give it some thought and get back to me.

Monday she got back to me. She thought an extra week was fair. I whole-heartedly agreed and wanted to hug her for not firing me on the spot. My return date is now March 1st. But with the leap year I get an extra day at that. And now I have an extra day to acclimatize in Cusco...