I'm back in Massachusetts, the Southwest a distant dream at the moment. It took forever to get here, or so it seemed. You just can't get from Point A to Point B these days without a lot of expense and a lot of stress. The best thing to do is prepare for it. I spent literally the entire day and most of the night on Monday traveling from Albuquerque to my home 20 miles west of Boston. It involved three airport, two planes, a van, a bus, a taxi, and possibly a partridge in a pear tree.

I've been traveling since I was a child and have put in some time as a travel writer so it's not that I'm inexperienced. In fact, the experience comes in handy these days. I can spot the best places to buy food in an airport with one quick scan of the terminal. As soon as I clear Security I buy a bottle or two of water for the flight. I avoid the salty pretzels on the plane like the plague. I set my watch for the time zone in which I am headed when I get on the plane. I am never without a paperback for the journey. Of course, I'm never without a paperback anyway. This time it's "Power Play" by Joseph Finder, another MA resident but one I have yet to meet. His books make time pass rather quickly.

I usually fall asleep when I get on the first plane these days. A good trick to learn. Those catnaps really help. A personal best was falling asleep before pushback on a flight to Dallas. Or was it the one to St. Louis?

I have spent the week trying to play catch-up and I'm still not there. Despite asking everyone to hold all mail and turning off most lists I have still been overwhelmed by e-mail. And there was a stack of bills waiting for me, plus the deadlined article for a peer-reviewed journal that I somehow agreed to write.

This wouldn't be so awful if time were on my side this month. It isn't. I drive to PA next weekend where I'm a Learning Facilitator at Kutztown University. I will be teaching from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and then turning around and driving back to MA on Sunday. Considering the cost of gas these days, the trip will be less enjoyable. At least I can take my laptop with me and get some work done. Or not. I'd be happy to have WIFI and keep up with e-mail while I'm away.

E-mail, lists, online networking and now I'm the as-usual-late-to-the-party person to hear about even more stuff. Can someone please tell me what Twitter is supposed to be? Just one more thing to do? Helpful? Time-consuming? Useful?

Is any of this making sense? I really don't know if any of this is helping us make better use of our time on the road or taking up more of our time.