Separate Paid Vacations

Won't you come along?

I’ve spent a lot of time in Mexico. It’s been 32 years since I was there without my wife. Actually, that time she was my fiancée, and I was there for six weeks for school. It’s also been 32 years since I was in Mexico City. Tomorrow, I’m heading back to the capital and flying solo.

We don’t really do the separate vacations thing. We travel a fair bit, and always together. I often join her on work trips as well. There was this one time about fifteen years ago when she went on a scrapbooking cruise with a friend and I stayed home and looked after the kids. I think that’s it.

Why am I heading to Mexico without my wife? Well, there is this band. A lot of people, including the band members, joke about how most women don’t really like this band.

I’m going to see Rush.

And you can come too.

I have a bit of history with the band. They’ve been my favorite for going on 45 years. In 2011 I interviewed the drummer, Neil Peart, for the Los Angeles Times and it became my mission to interview the other two members. It took a full decade to fulfill that dream. You can read all three interviews here.

Why am I going all the way from Calgary, Canada to Mexico City to see a band?

After Neil died in 2020, we never thought we’d get another show. Hell, Neil retired in 2015, and we were all pretty sure back then that was it. I’d seen them six times; they put on an amazing live show.

Then, last fall, the band announced another tour with a new drummer, Anike Nilles. Rush—with Anika—just finished their opening dates in L.A. and the reports are that it’s fucking amazing.

But why Mexico?

When they announced the tour, it was only seven cities. The band wasn’t sure how it would be received, I guess, so they were cautious in planning. It was Toronto, five cities in the U.S., and Mexico City. I was going to be on a family vacation during the Toronto dates, and I won’t travel to the U.S. right now. Yes, the reason I won’t travel to the U.S. is because of him.

So, I said fuck it. I’m going to Mexico.

I have a friend who lives in Cancun named Jorge. He is from Mexico City. He’s a big fan of Rush but has never seen them live. We’re going to see them together. We got pretty good seats too.

Of course, the reaction to the tour was so overwhelmingly positive that the band soon significantly expanded the tour, even adding a second date in Mexico. A week after Jorge got us the tickets they announced a show in Edmonton, less than a three-hour drive from where I live. So, yeah, I’m gonna see them in Edmonton in December as well. A lot of the shows are sold out.

Anyway, as you may or may not know, my master’s degree focused on Latin American history. I used to speak pretty good Spanish but it’s been over thirty years since I had to really practice it, so it’s totally shit now. But I’m going for six days and staying in the heart of Mexico City and will be visiting historical sites and museums and celebrating my 58^thbirthday while I’m there as well.

And I’m going to be keeping all my receipts because the entire trip is one big business expense. How am I managing that? I’m gonna write about the trip for subscribers. Paid subscribers. BUT, also for free trial subscribers. You can get a one-week free trial and come along on this adventure. You also get access to hundreds of paid pieces that I’ve posted over the last five-and-a-half years, including my dad’s recipe for strawberry-rhubarb crumble I posted yesterday.

You do this thing here now: