The Countdown is On!

I wonder how many other people actually get nervous before a big trip? The worry is mixed with excitement, but the preparations are overwhelming, as is the daunting trip ahead. How can I get everything done and handle all my luggage through airports and shuttles and end up intact in Rome? It always works out but it always overwhelms me.

The lists are long and clear: stop the mail, get extra food for the dogs, get a new key made for the housesitter (where did the others go?), pay all the bills that will come due while I'm gone, get extra meds (such a big deal now the way insurances only let you have a month at a time - you have to give your departure and return dates, are they going to call and check?), purchase the foreign currency for the countries I'm visiting, have someone show me how to do the fancy things on the camera, be sure I have enough memory cards and batteries, charge all the electrical devices, get the global sim card for the international phone, have my everyday cell changed over to an international plan, notify the charge company of an international trip, pack books to read, journals to write in, get snacks for the trip, get gifts for the friends I will see, finish up work things, pick up all the clothes at the cleaners, be sure what you are taking still fits, etc!!! OH yes, and don't forget the passport!!! And all the confirmation papers of each stop along the way printed and put in the important paper folder, lots of that to keep track of this trip with the extra stops. Princess no longer sends you any documentation so you have to print that all out too and have it ready to give the shuttle driver in Rome, and this time the first cutback I've noticed is that they no longer send you luggage tags, you have to print them out, fold them and staple them onto the luggage! We should get a discount for all of that that we do ourselves now!

All done! But wait...Meli, my little girl is sneezing and coughing and I can't leave town without being sure she is okay. Bram is gnawing at his feet more than ever, how much of his meds to I take to the kennel for him? So of course a vet visit has to happen at the last minute but all is well and they will be well cared for. Where did I put his blanket and his favorite toys that he has to take with him? Can I really squeeze in a pedicure? (Yes, thanks to my friend Carol who knows someone good and close).

Packing to get it all in is a task that is easier than it used to be. I pack a flexible suitcase Jenny told me about years ago that is so cool. It unzips to become quite large but is flexible to fold up to almost nothing so my routine is to pack that in the big suitcase on the way to my trip, and when I come home it can be unzipped to different sizes to match the new things I have acquired. I leave with one big suitcase and a roll on and very large purse and return with 2 checked bags, perfect plan. The roll on has to have clothes for a few days in it because luggage has been known to get lost and I'm not a size where I can just go out and buy new things. It's become easier over the years, everything is black and white that goes with me on the journey, easy to coordinate this way. This time the trip will have new perks for me. I've made it ELITE status and with that comes free laundry, cleaning and pressing! That will be a nice help! And supposedly appetizers will be delivered to my room free of charge on request and on the formal nights. Maybe I will meet new friends to entertain?

And so, tonight will be the last minute packing since tomorrow is filled with appointments and then Saturday I fly away to Washington DC! I will just miss a lot of my friends on this trip, Teneshia from work is moving to DC this weekend but won't be there before I leave for Rome. Dan, our first grade teacher, and Christina our principal will both be in Spain but not the day I am there. So close, but so far away! I'm hoping that I will get to see Diana somehow in England, but I'm not sure how that will work out, and now that Terry and Peter are on their cruise of the Norwegian fjords I won't see them either. Hopefully César will have the day I am in Lisbon off if he does get a job so at least we can spend the afternoon together in the countryside of Portugal. There are still many places I haven't seen and the visit will be short but we always have a good time and it is always hard to leave him after a short visit.

My itinerary for this trip is amazing! I'm really looking forward to all that I will see and do, although it is going to be quite exhausting! I start with a day and night in Rome and am looking forward to so many things there. Then we go to Livorno, the port for Florence. I've been there before so I'm on the tour to Cinque Terre which is supposed to be more beautiful than the Amalfi Coast, that is hard to believe! Then on to Genoa where I will be for the first time and will visit Portofino and Christopher Colombus' home and where the king and queen greeted him when he returned from America. Then on to Nice and I will visit the small picturesque town of St. Paul de Vence. Next on the itinerary is Barcelona, and I have not visited the Gothic Quarter so that is on the agenda for me there. Then to Gibraltar where I will either be brave and take a bus to the southernmost point of continental Europe which is in Spain, or take a trip north to Spain and visit a cork and cattle farm. This would be the most interesting for my job so either thing will be great! Then a long afternoon in Lisbon and then 2 sea days to Ireland and Scotland. Hopefully this trip I will see the Book of Kells in Dublin, that is in every travel guide as a 'must see' and will go to the beautiful Powerscourt Estate gardens. In Scotland I will either spend a day on my own in Edinburgh or go to the famous(?)Falkirk Wheel and the village of Stirling. I've been to Stirling Castle which is in the Braveheart territory but didn't spend time in the village. Then it is back to W. Europe and to my two favorite places! In Le Havre I will visit Claude Monet's Garden once again, yes it is my 3rd time there but it is a place you could never get tired of! And I've only been in spring so in the summer the water lilies and roses should be blooming so I'm excited about that! That tour also goes to Rouen, which is a lovely French town and the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. My first trip to Europe I took this same tour but the Rouen stop was far from charming so I'm looking forward to it this time. That was the day that the new French president was inaugrated and we were told to beware of riots!! My first time in France and I was panicked! I was crossing a main square in the old town (alone of course)to find a public bathroom and suddenly from all corners riot police with full protection and big guns started marching in! I was TERRIFIED! But the need for the bathroom won out so I probably moved quicker than I have before or since as I quickly went in and then back to the bus. That is a sight I will never forget! And a feeling I won't forget either! This time will hopefully be much calmer! That is the city where the cathedral Monet painted many times is located and to see it in person after seeing his paintings of it for years was a thrill...it was before the riot police marched in! After Le Havre I will be back in my favorite place of all, Brugges, Belgium. And I can promise that my first stop will be the little streetside cafe, Lily's, where I will eat my first caramel belgian waffle. The name belgian waffle is misleading because they are actually Liege sugar waffles only served at the street side cafes and windows and Sharon will agree, they are worth traveling halfway across the world to eat! As usual I will probably eat one when I arrive and then spend the day wandering the beautiful, quaint, charming town and then have one before departing. If I drank it is a great place to try the beer and the mussels are famous too, but for me, the waffles, chocolate and frites will do! Then we head to London and I will take the shuttle from Southampton to Heathrow and then get a taxi to the hotel and leave most of my luggage and head back to the airport with my roll on and rather than flying to Lisbon as I usually do at the end of a trip, I am going somewhere new, I will flying off to Prague that afternoon for 2 days of a new experience. Hopefully British Airways will be off strike and all the planes will be on time! Two days in Prague and then I fly back to London for one night and home the next day! WHEW!! A very busy trip and I will certainly make the most of every opportunity as I always do.

Well, that is the trip we are about to embark on! And now, where did I leave off on my list of things to do????