The annual 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race is this weekend. I wish I was in France right now to attend in person. Barring anything too dramatic, the winner of the race will likely be a Toyota. The top P1 class just isn't that competitive. Next year, entry from Peugeot, Ferrari, and Porsche will flip the excitement level to the other end of the spectrum. That’s the one to look forward to.
So let me put in on paper now: I aim to attend the 2023 running of Le Mans. Getting time off from work shouldn't be a problem, since the summer months are significantly less busy on a university campus. The main barrier will likely be cost. Travel cost right now is insanely high, and if the trend doesn't come back down. an international trip to France might be prohibitively expensive.
For shits and giggles, I looked at flights to Seoul, South Korea for early August (this year). Prices are at least twice as much compared to the last time I flew there back in 2017. Two thousand dollars for an economy roundtrip is rather high. Even flying on off-peak days won't really save significantly over the weekend days. Probably a confluence of high demand, high fuel cost, and overall inflation.
I am definitely not going to fly anywhere this summer, and likely the rest of 2022. I have to hope that things will return to a true normal next year. In the meantime, there's much saving to do in preparation.
Hey buddy!