Boston was awesome!

I had a ton of fun, but we didn't get to do nearly as much as we'd hoped to.  We already plan to go back in the future, and the people were NICE.  They dish attitude if you give them attitude, but I saw little to support the reputation Bostonians have as M********  Everyone was friendly and helpful, much more so than San Antonio, where people really are pretty nice too.  The planes were tough, I still had to ask for an extender, barely.  Like 2 inches too short on the seatbelt.  It upset me more than I expected, but what really upset me was how my husband reacted when the stewardess asked him if he needed one too.  2 of the 4 times I asked, they thought it was for him actually.  He is the heaviest he's ever been and he's feeling it big time now.  He was sore from walking, sweating and out of breath all the time, but I wasn't.  It bothered him a LOT to be slowing me down, and we had a long talk about getting his eating under control.  I absolutely do not want to be the food police, but he asked me to put him on a diet and nag him if I have to, so we'll see how it goes.  Ryan had the middle seat on the flight from Houston to Boston, and he was crowding over into my window seat.  Its so weird to have changed positions with him on things - I am still 30lbs heavier and my hips are still wider, but now I am the one giving him room and having to stop and wait for him.  Poor guy.  On the way back our flight from Boston was delayed and we were going to miss our connection in Houston, so we went on standby for an earlier flight.  We both got middle seats.  I was expecting my neighbors to give me a hassle, but thankfully they were both quiet and I was actually comfortable for most of the flight since the husband wasn't encroaching.  I even got my tray table down.  So flying was easier, and lugging around everything through the airports and parking lots was a breeze for me.  I will be utterly joyous next time I fly and don't need that damned extender any longer.  We had horrible turbulence from the stormy weather.  I've never had so much turbulence on the flight - a lot of green people and a few with air sickness bags held at the ready.  I did ok, it must be the Zoloft, because I am a panicky flyer usually but this time the turbulence made me giggle. Our hotel was cool.  It was very leopardy.  It felt like a bachelor pad for some sleazy guy who wears a lot of cheap cologne and gold chains... except still luxurious.  I have some funny pictures of Ryan in the complementary zebra robe.  Neither robe (leopard womens or zebra mens) fit me, sigh, but soon I'm sure.  I did partake of one complementary glass of red wine, and I did get drunk.  It didn't last long though.  Every night they had a wine and beer tasting down in the "living room" of the hotel, and one of the wines was actual one of my old favorites (I used to be a wine drinker) so I had a hard time passing it up. We took the subway everywhere, our first subway.  It was kind of fun, expect on the way back from the ballgame, when we were packed in like sardines.  People were squeezing in even after it was well beyond full.  We went to the science museum but not the art museum like I wanted.  They changed the day of my presentation at the conference so we didn't have a full day any time during the week like we'd planned (we'd planned on Wed being a full day).  We ended up touring Fenway on Tuesday and then going to the game Wednesday night.  My husband was in HEAVEN.  There is NO WAY I would have been able to finish the tour last year.  All the walking and stairs.  I was tuckered as it was, I would have been dead last year.  There is a reason I didn't see many fat people in Boston, we walked soooo much.  I wish I had my pedometer, I am sure I did 5-6 miles per day, plus a lot of stairs.  We also took a sunset boat tour down the Charles River and it was great.  I want to go whale watching next time. The ballgame was great.  I fit in the seats, but it was tight.  That place is tiny and when its full no one moves much.  You just don't have room.  It was so much fun though!  The fans were so into it and all the people around us were chatty and fun.  I also got to take like 700 pictures.  We were right behind home plate, about 20 rows up.  My neighbors were both big guys (my husband and then this hilarious Bostonian that was so prototypical with the accent and attitude that I couldn't believe it wasn't an act).  I was glad to have two big guys who barely fit in their seats around me though, because I was FREEZING.  Ryan actually went and bought me a blanket because he was worried about the shivering - it was cold and rainy/misty all that day.  The only bad thing about Fenway was that I am short and the person in front of me was tall, with a huge head of porcupine hair.  That man needs to share some of his thick hair with all the balding men in the world.  They are bald because he stole it all.  So I was either leaning over Ryan or the Bostonian to see.  Neither minded.  Its such a jolly atmosphere there, everyone knows how ridiculously small and uncomfortable it is, so you all just laugh about it together and be happy you were able to even get a ticket to be so miserably cold and crowded.  I did have a hot dog, at least the dog part, and it settled ok, and the next morning was the first time I wasn't constipated the whole trip!  Fat helps sometimes.  I ate ok the whole time, a lot of salads with chicken breast, or grilled chicken.  Breakfast was the hardest, because I don't really like breakfast, so I had a lot of milk.  I am sure I was low on protein all week, 100g of protein, my new goal from my surgeon, is hard for me to meet so far.  I am not sure if I lost weight, but I had to buy a belt while I was there because both pairs of jeans I bought kept falling down.  I am still kind of swollen from not drinking enough on the plane and eating salty food at the airport yesterday (a caesar salad in boston and some bourbon chicken in houston).  I'll see tomorrow if I am in the 270s finally.  The conference was great, although a little poorly organized.  There were shuttles to take me over each day, and I attended a few interesting (and a lot of boring) talks.  Overall it was a wonderful trip - much better than my last conference in Vegas right before surgery last summer.  I am not a Vegas person but I am definitely a Boston person! 

Welcome home and glad to hear you had a great time!

I love Boston!  In fact, reading your travelogue convinces me that 20 years is too long between visits to Boston, so I think I will figure out some sort of vacation there.  Regarding Ryan now being the one with weight issues, I'm experiencing a similar situation with my sister.  She has easily packed on 50 lbs since I moved here (she knows she's gained weight, but she doesn't think it's due to lack of exercise, even though she kept both her weight and stress levels down when she did her "Walk Away the Lbs" DVD every day).  Her azz has gotten so big that when we were at one of the theaters at Mt. Rushmore watching the informational movie, her azz was sitting on my right thigh.  She also huffs and puffs easily walking up stairs, which she didn't used to do.  She still walks faster than I do, though, because she didn't get the basset hound legs from our mother's side of the family. I cook nutritious meals for dinner and she will eat part of it, then say she's full, then spend the rest of the evening grazing on junk.  I'm not the food police, either, so I just stay out of it.  I found that dehydration is my biggest issue when traveling, I just don't seem to take in enough water.  Odd, because I don't have a problem at home.  I'm glad you had such a good time (were you a presenter?  If so, how did it go?) and don't worry about the seat belt extender, you won't need it next time.  Isn't it fun to be able to put down the tray table on the plane?  I still cannot believe I can do so now!  Kix

I presented a poster, not a talk this time.  It went fine, and several people gave me their cards and told me to keep in touch when I was looking for a postdoc, so I'd say it was a successful trip career-wise.  A lot of people knew Dr. Klose, he's a big deal in microbiology I guess, so they kept asking me if I worked with him.  I don't really.  I take his classes, and we collaborate a little with him, but I'm not his student.  It was kind of weird when people from Harvard recognize my little university's name - only because Dr. Klose is there, but still.  I wasn't expecting anyone to have any idea what UTSA was.  My husband still walks faster than me if he wants to, he's got long legs and I'm a shorty, but it was very strange and surreal to have him asking to sit down for breaks instead of me.  I wasn't irritated about it or anything, I certainly understand the feeling, but I was a little sad for him because I could tell it upset him - he brought up his weight constantly the whole trip and he usually doesn't want to discuss it at all. Period.  He can lose it, I don't even think it will require him to change that much, and I'm just going to have to make really small portions because he tends to eat a larger amount of my cooking now since I'm not eating it. 

Glad you enjoyed yourself!!!  Hoping the scale will cooperate on Monday with all the walking you did while in Boston!!  I had fun while in VA last week.  Our spouses are dealing with similar issues...my DH has gained weight since I began losing.  He's 6'3" 255# and all the increase is in his tummy.  I try to be supportive and encouraging because never once in 13 years of marriage has he EVER made a negative comment about my weight.  Just continue to be your supportive self!!! Ree Ree

Welcome Home!  I am so glad that you had fun.  Too bafd that you were not able to see all of the things that you wanted, but it just gives you reason to go back! Jennifer

Your Home!!!!  I thought you were gone until Sunday! I'm so glad you liked Boston...New England truely isn't as stuck up as some say it is..lol   I wish I could have come to see you ....You were missed !  I love your run down on your trip....I need your posts back I have been eating like crap and for me you know thats really bad lol  What hotel did you stay at?  Sounds "interesting" lol  Welcome home Cute One!

So glad you had a great time.  I lived 45 minutes north of Boston for 5 years (just into NH), but only ventured into Boston once.  Can you guess why?  I was too heavy and out of shape to do any walking.  Since my stepdaughter lives north of Boston, you have me motivated to revisit the city on one of my visits.  I love history.   Btw.. I did do a whale watch.  We went out of Gloucester - the home of the Perfect Storm & the Gorton's Fisherman (LOL).  LOVED IT! Welcome back -Dawn

Ah, those old baseball stadiums...gotta love them.  We went to wrigley field 3 years ago and my seat was at the very top of the stadium in left field.  I begrudgingly climbed the stairs knowing all along the seat wouldn't be big enough, and it wasn't.  We watched the first pitch and then I left the stadium.  I was with the kids from our church group so I waited outside for 4 hours!  Did have a great chicago hot dog though.   I also used to hate the Louisiana Superdome in new orleans.  Their seats were so small and they would put deep purple bruises in my hips.  Gotta love that! I'm glad you fit and had the heat from others to keep you warm.  Still sounds like fun!

Hi, Jen, and welcome home.  It sounds like you had a great trip, all-in-all, with a few bumps, but that seems to be how travel goes.   Kudos to you on being able to go, go, go and do the things you wanted; it's very freeing.  I think it's interesting that Ryan was the one slowing things down.  I'm proud of him for asking for help; it's a hard thing to do, so please tell him I send a giant "atta boy" his way.  Both of my girlfriends are overweight and I've told them that I'm always willing to help them work on changing their food lifestyle, but that they need to let me know what they want.  I'm willing provide as much or as little information as they want, and also will to provide more structure around our household's eating patterns if they want.  (Meaning I'll make grocery lists, help with shopping, help with cooking, work with them to come up with healthy snack ideas that might work for them, etc.)  Like you, I don't want to become the food police - I hated it when people did that to me, and I don't want to do it to anyone else.   Congrats to you on making good food choices while you were gone.  As you know from my post-vacation posts, that's something I struggle with.  So kudos to you for sticking to your regular plan!!!   How did your poster presentation go?  What were you presenting on?  Did you get to see other posters or presentations from other people who were there?  Anything you found particularly interesting?   Welcome home -  Kellie