Passports. The one thing they don't have over there. I have taken them out of the safe and put them in the travel wallet. Whew! And I didn't have to ride to Williston to get them.
KG
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Packing, Packed
The suitcase is closed and locked and set aside. It weighs 19.4k-5.4k over my goal. My rationalization is that it will get lighter as we go. It's not a very good rationalization, but it is what I have (and it weighs practically nothing). The thing about going all microfiber and cotton spandex and fleece is that taking out one or two items makes so little difference. I will take note of what I never wear, if anything, and perhaps go lighter next year. I did make it under 20k, which is the European standard for max weight.
We are quite a bit more electronic this year. All of the tickets and insurance and the usual cards and driver's licence and passport information is saved and the cards are pasword protected. Saved on the blackberry and backed up on a jump drive and the computer. In addition, I have downloaded Lonely Planet chapters to the computer and BB. They are not as easy to use as a book in hand, but much lighter. I still have a couple of LP's little city guides-Copenhagen and Paris-in paper form.
My backpack bulges with stuff that I won't check. Though my camera is small, my binocs are heavy. If I didn't have such a good time using them when we travel, I wouldn't pack them. They don't go on every day excursion, but they really want to go to Switzerland.
I have cut back on my suppliments, but there are still quite a few to get me through a few days over 2 months. Rx cannot go in the suitcase because I would just need more meds for my nerves if they did. Did you ever notice how happy people are when they see their luggage coming out of the baggage curtain and how anxious they are till it does? And, if they are smart, all of that stuff can be replaced.
I decided to pack my little mp3 player even though it is pretty much a unitasker. It only weighs 50g. It has my sleep relaxation sounds on it, and my Blackberry needs time to sleep when I do-and recharge. The computer is coming and has all of it's adaptors and gizmos for powering up on European current. It has it's own camera built in, so Skype us if you can. Probably late morning or early afternoon your time would catch us sometime between dinner and sleep. We will be 6, 7 or 8 hours ahead of you, depending on your time zone.
Marcia was astounded at how easy it was to make the Blackberrys global. Just give Verizon money and they make it happen electronically-what else?. So now I can get your emails in the same instant I get them at home, only I might be asleep. The navigator voice (that I call the "Sorry Slut" because she gets a bit testy if you don't do what she says when she says it) will follow us through Europe-perhaps even guide us through Europe. I can hardly wait to hear her pronounciation. I don't know how much driving we will be doing, but I think SS might be useful in cities. I can put her on earphones so the people around me are not disturbed, or fall out laughing.
We have sensible shoes and I have whimsical socks. I thought Pippi Longstocking would be appropriate for this year, so I will be stepping out in stripes. Probably you will see the photos.
We have a few Euro and a few Pounds and even a few Forints, but no Swiss Francs and no Krona. That's why they make cash machines all over the world. We noticed that Gatwick luggage carts allow use of both Euro and Pound coins. We really need to get the luggage cart in order to get to the cash machine, so ideally this will also be the case in Copenhagen and Zurich. I'm pretty sure no luggage cart anywhere takes the Susan B Anthony dollar. Some places they require no coin, and even when they do, they give them back when you are done.
So, I think we are pretty much ready. My experience is that whatever is missing will show up in thought in the wee hours of the morning when one would rather sleep than attend to it, or it will make itself known between Dunnellon and Williston. I would take a test drive tomorrow, but it really never works that way-gotta be the real thing. Whatever it is, I'm sure they have one there.
KG
We are quite a bit more electronic this year. All of the tickets and insurance and the usual cards and driver's licence and passport information is saved and the cards are pasword protected. Saved on the blackberry and backed up on a jump drive and the computer. In addition, I have downloaded Lonely Planet chapters to the computer and BB. They are not as easy to use as a book in hand, but much lighter. I still have a couple of LP's little city guides-Copenhagen and Paris-in paper form.
My backpack bulges with stuff that I won't check. Though my camera is small, my binocs are heavy. If I didn't have such a good time using them when we travel, I wouldn't pack them. They don't go on every day excursion, but they really want to go to Switzerland.
I have cut back on my suppliments, but there are still quite a few to get me through a few days over 2 months. Rx cannot go in the suitcase because I would just need more meds for my nerves if they did. Did you ever notice how happy people are when they see their luggage coming out of the baggage curtain and how anxious they are till it does? And, if they are smart, all of that stuff can be replaced.
I decided to pack my little mp3 player even though it is pretty much a unitasker. It only weighs 50g. It has my sleep relaxation sounds on it, and my Blackberry needs time to sleep when I do-and recharge. The computer is coming and has all of it's adaptors and gizmos for powering up on European current. It has it's own camera built in, so Skype us if you can. Probably late morning or early afternoon your time would catch us sometime between dinner and sleep. We will be 6, 7 or 8 hours ahead of you, depending on your time zone.
Marcia was astounded at how easy it was to make the Blackberrys global. Just give Verizon money and they make it happen electronically-what else?. So now I can get your emails in the same instant I get them at home, only I might be asleep. The navigator voice (that I call the "Sorry Slut" because she gets a bit testy if you don't do what she says when she says it) will follow us through Europe-perhaps even guide us through Europe. I can hardly wait to hear her pronounciation. I don't know how much driving we will be doing, but I think SS might be useful in cities. I can put her on earphones so the people around me are not disturbed, or fall out laughing.
We have sensible shoes and I have whimsical socks. I thought Pippi Longstocking would be appropriate for this year, so I will be stepping out in stripes. Probably you will see the photos.
We have a few Euro and a few Pounds and even a few Forints, but no Swiss Francs and no Krona. That's why they make cash machines all over the world. We noticed that Gatwick luggage carts allow use of both Euro and Pound coins. We really need to get the luggage cart in order to get to the cash machine, so ideally this will also be the case in Copenhagen and Zurich. I'm pretty sure no luggage cart anywhere takes the Susan B Anthony dollar. Some places they require no coin, and even when they do, they give them back when you are done.
So, I think we are pretty much ready. My experience is that whatever is missing will show up in thought in the wee hours of the morning when one would rather sleep than attend to it, or it will make itself known between Dunnellon and Williston. I would take a test drive tomorrow, but it really never works that way-gotta be the real thing. Whatever it is, I'm sure they have one there.
KG
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Pre-travel 2010
I got lots of arranging done this morning, but should have read my horror-scope. I am more inclined to be a poet this day than a scientist. However, I had bad dreams last night (perhaps a Poe-poet foreshadowing) and in the elusive re-sleep process the monkeys reminded me of so many things that I have not done and perhaps should attend to. This morning, I plugged in.
Marcia is the scientist. She had advised me that flying into Gatwick early in the morning and taking the early evening flight to Copenhagen was folly, but she always adds-do what you want. “Do What You Want” means just that to me, so I made our reservation weeks ago. However, in the wee hours of this morning it dawned on me that we would be starting the morning of June 30th with a fairly early (for me) trip to Gnville and an 11 am flight to Atlanta where we would wait for hours for our transatlantic flight-ideally get wined and dined and take sleeping pills and sleep soundly for a nice wake up in London in the so quickly come morning, and this followed by a day at Gatwick till we were feeling the effects of jet lag and couldn’t keep our eyes open or think worth a toot, and then have to board a plane and land in Copenhagen where we would have to hunt for the train that takes us to Sweden and get off at the first stop and take a cab to the house that we have never seen except in photos and probably fall into bed, or more likely be unable to sleep though we were dead tired. If we made it that far. As is often the case, Marcia is right.
So, two possibilities. Change the Delta flight to the day before, or move the Easyjet flight and spend the night in London Gatwick (either way). Call to Delta. Even the real person with accent that I spoke to ( who has probably never seen Atlanta or maybe even American soil in person) was stunned that a change in one day would cost over $2000. On to plan B. Easyjet would happily change our reservation to 8am the next day for a fee of about E64+E2.61 and another E6 for use of Visa. Done. Hilton Gatwick would be glad to have us stay a night for less than $200. Done. We leave at 8am/08:00 the morning of the 2nd, which will be about right considering we will probably fall into bed after an early light dinner the night before. We know where the Costa’s Coffee can be gotten in the Hilton, so we should be fine. (I also know where the Cornish Pasty kiosk is and am already salivating over lunch). Given coffee and a country that makes me an early riser, we should have plenty of time and be able to negotiate the transportation system in Copenhagen and Sweden with only minimal problems provided my horror-scope cooperates-ideally more Aries and less Neptune in the forecast.
KG
Marcia is the scientist. She had advised me that flying into Gatwick early in the morning and taking the early evening flight to Copenhagen was folly, but she always adds-do what you want. “Do What You Want” means just that to me, so I made our reservation weeks ago. However, in the wee hours of this morning it dawned on me that we would be starting the morning of June 30th with a fairly early (for me) trip to Gnville and an 11 am flight to Atlanta where we would wait for hours for our transatlantic flight-ideally get wined and dined and take sleeping pills and sleep soundly for a nice wake up in London in the so quickly come morning, and this followed by a day at Gatwick till we were feeling the effects of jet lag and couldn’t keep our eyes open or think worth a toot, and then have to board a plane and land in Copenhagen where we would have to hunt for the train that takes us to Sweden and get off at the first stop and take a cab to the house that we have never seen except in photos and probably fall into bed, or more likely be unable to sleep though we were dead tired. If we made it that far. As is often the case, Marcia is right.
So, two possibilities. Change the Delta flight to the day before, or move the Easyjet flight and spend the night in London Gatwick (either way). Call to Delta. Even the real person with accent that I spoke to ( who has probably never seen Atlanta or maybe even American soil in person) was stunned that a change in one day would cost over $2000. On to plan B. Easyjet would happily change our reservation to 8am the next day for a fee of about E64+E2.61 and another E6 for use of Visa. Done. Hilton Gatwick would be glad to have us stay a night for less than $200. Done. We leave at 8am/08:00 the morning of the 2nd, which will be about right considering we will probably fall into bed after an early light dinner the night before. We know where the Costa’s Coffee can be gotten in the Hilton, so we should be fine. (I also know where the Cornish Pasty kiosk is and am already salivating over lunch). Given coffee and a country that makes me an early riser, we should have plenty of time and be able to negotiate the transportation system in Copenhagen and Sweden with only minimal problems provided my horror-scope cooperates-ideally more Aries and less Neptune in the forecast.
KG
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