Travel Preparations

Tomorrow we fly to Germany. We are pretty excited. We are dealing with our last day preparations such as packing, seeing doctors, getting cash, calling the credit union, and arranging house sitting and such.

Packing Light for Idiots

In preparation we have been practicing packing. Yes, you read that right: practicing packing. One of our goals is to travel light with only a backpack each, no checked luggage. OK, a backpack and also perhaps a small bag (purse/computer bag) each.  This is surprisingly difficult.

We have been trying to keep the total weight down, since we'll have to carry those on our backs, and also to not overdo the volume, which is a challenge as we have rather large backpacks.  L.L.Bean, by the way, makes the awesomest backpacks ever. We bought new ones last fall, but still have two that are at least 15 years old.

Amelia is the crazy accountant type who weighs every item and thinks on whether that 0.56 pound or whatever is worth behind carried around for weeks or not. This also involves practice packing and weighing the backpack periodically and mulling over the options. Andy is more about getting it all in and not worrying too much about weight but more about volume. We both have our own packing weirdnesses, of course.

Andy has to plan room for compression hose. He'll need to wear a pair while flying and, if the leg acts up at all, he'll need to have at least one more pair so he can wear one and wash one, if necessary. These are not the sorts of things most men have to worry about when packing, no doubt. Amelia has to have her little electronic devices (iPhone, Kindle, MacBookAir) and all their accouterments, including chargers and other odd things you never thought you'd need for your iPhone (tiny lenses, tiny tripod, tiny remote for selfies) but that she is absolutely sure she is going to use while traveling.  In her defense, she is not taking an iPad, neither is she taking a proper camera. People who know her well will be astonished at these facts, for sure.

We both have to deal with random things like bike shoes (we are taking our old pairs), a set of cycling kit, swimming clothes, medications, etc. It adds up real fast in terms of weight and volume when one is trying to keep things under 25 pounds and well within the volume of the large backpack. These backpacks have a 42 liter capacity and, well, if they are filled that full, they will be too heavy, possibly, and too big to go under the airplane seat on the Fort Smith to Atlanta leg of the trip which has the world's tiniest overhead bins.

In Other News

In other news, Thursday the German train drivers ended, at least temporarily, their latest strike. They agreed to three weeks of arbitration so now we are a little less freaked out about our ability to find our way from Stuttgart to Schwäbisch Hall on Thursday. That's a little less worry for us, at least. We have a German rail pass but no real idea how to use it or how to get to the right trains or even how to reserve seats on same. We'll figure it out, right?