Bye Bye California (5.5 hours to go!)
Wow.
I could fill a whole post just with that one word. I’m glad I’m finally really excited. The past couple of days have been stressful with coming down with a cold, saying good-bye to everyone, and checking things off of our lists. I’d gotten to the point where I was trying not to think about the reality of the trip but instead thinking of each task as just something to check off the list. But at about 4:30 today, everything was done and I finally had a chance to de-stress and get excited. We’d run all of our errands–including getting both of our Hep A booster shots and an MMR booster for me ($130 total at the Santa Rosa health clinic), going to our banks to get some cash in small bills and take off our overdraft protections (I believe it was Laura who pointed out that having overdraft protection wasn’t such a good idea because a. if our cards were stolen, then the thief would be able to spend more than what we have in our checking accounts–we’re keeping $1,000 in each–and b. we’re using them for taking cash out of ATMs, so the overdraft is useless since you can’t use it for cash withdrawals, only purchases). We also let our banks know that we’d be traveling outside of the country so (hopefully) the cards will work for us while we’re traveling. We repacked our bags, checking off each item on our pack lists as we went. The packing lists ended up being really great. I made them months and months ago with the help of travel books and how to pack light websites. Having the lists helped us buy stuff as well as made packing a lot less stressful. Steve weighed our bags–mine is about 32 lbs and Steve’s is around 40 lbs. So we’re under the 50 lb airline requirement for checked bags (and the ‘oh my god I’m not carrying that amount on my back’ limit). What else? I’ve called friends and family to say good bye. I’m sure I didn’t get to everyone on the phone today, but for those of you I didn’t call, I’m sorry! It’s been a long day and I need to relax a bit before the plane ride. So now there’s just showering and getting dressed in trip clothes and getting on the plane.
I’ve been thinking about things I think I’ll miss and things I’m excited about. But they’re all silly little things like I’m going to miss drinking milk everyday and cooking and not worrying about the stuff I’m going to eat making me sick. And I’m really excited about not washing dishes for a year if I don’t want to! I hate washing dishes. I’m sure I will wash dishes at some point (or many points) along the way–cooking in hostels or renting a furnished apartment somewhere. But it’s nice to know that I don’t have to do them. I can choose to eat out for every meal and it won’t be too weird or too expensive. I’m also a giant nerd so I’m really excited about all the crazy bugs I’m going to see in the rainforest and all the neat plants and animals.
And of course I’m going to miss talking to my family and friends and sleeping in my own bed and hot showers on demand. I’m sure I’ll come up with new things I miss along the way, and there’ll probably be a few unexpected things too.
So, we’re off. Here goes. A year of planning for a year of travel.
Next stop, Peru!
Tags: Pre-Trip Planning
montarsig
Have a happy trip and travel safe.
Waiting for you anytime when you’ll tour France.
Hugs & Kisses
Coco & Mine