Overwhelmed

Sunday July 20
This weekend Claudia and I each went through a period of being overwhelmed – so much to do and so little time, although I know we have set aside enough time to be able to relax the last night before we leave. Today we did our last grocery shopping and some little last-minute clothes shopping, so that’s all out of the way. I spent yesterday getting bills ready to pay that will be due while we are gone. A hold on mail delivery was turned in, and our itinerary and emergency numbers were printed for the neighbor who will be watching the house.
On Monday, I’ll pay the bills, arrange a vacation stop for the newspaper, and change some dollars into foreign currency. So with that, a lot of the burden has been lifted.
We have everything we need; now we just have to pack (as light as possible).
Typically when we travel, we try to use Rick Steves as a guide for packing light. For overseas, I’ve never quite been able to get everything into a single carryon, but I get real close. Domestically, I can do just a carryon, which is really nice.
Tonight I spent a few hours going through all the travel toiletries and put together two small bags (one for carryon that has just the minimum – shaving, brushing teeth, and freshening up (small bar of soap, small washcloth and towel, deoderant), and the rest for checked luggage).
I also separated out and organized all the electronics we’ll be bringing – small cameras, chargers, camcorder, tapes, batteries, mp3 players, headphones. I keep things in small separate bags, as they can fit pretty much anywhere where there is a little space.
As for clothes, there’s a ways to go. I don’t want to bring too much, but I also don’t want to wash every night either. It’s the big travel dilemma. The cruise presents some unique problems. Since Claudia is teaching aboard ship, we need to be perhaps a bit more presentable than a regular customer. The cruise also has special evenings with a dress code: on formal nights, tux or dark suit is required (unless you want to stay in your stateroom); on informal nights, suit or sportcoat with slacks and tie are required (same caveat as formal night); on casual nights, casual pants like Dockers and golf shirt are the typical code. Sorry, no Levis or shorts in the evening. Also, the weather will most likely be different – I’ve been following the weather. While we enjoy sunny 80-85 days, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland have been having off and on rain with highs just reaching 70 and lows around 55. Plus we’ll be on the water, so I’ll need sweater, rain jacket, and fleece zip-up just in case. So how many knit shirts, longsleeve shirts, etc to bring. I’ll start with 5 days worth and see how it goes…