[ 11.57 pm ] I never imagined that coordinating a little trip to Europe could be a full time job, but it has taken on that air as we get into these final days of prep. Maria and I met halfway on Sunday morning and -- over coffee -- discussed every aspect of the trip from the budget to booking final accomodations, packing list to lodging, Eurail passes to ear plugs, Zip-Locs to zip-off safari pants. A heavy downpour outside provided a good scene for readying our escape to Italy next week.
Yesterday, after helping Mom to move all the furniture I moved home from my place (if it's not one life transition, it's another), I set off in earnest pursuit of some new pants. Not just ordinary pants, mind you. But travel pants, an entirely different genre of clothing entirely. Key requirements were ease of laundering, wrinkle resistance or ability to disguise wrinkles and small packable size. Oh, and comfort, of course! REI made my day and exceeded my expectations, causing me to take a dozen pair to the fitting room and leaving with 4. Cautiously optimistic about my first pant stop, I switched gears and purchased my Eurail pass at Council. Accomplished, I knocked off and spent the afternoon with Jess. The sun came out and we made a visit to the celebrated Rose Gardens. Ironically, I would later realize that this was my first June visit ever. The flowers are especially vivid right now. If only I had a digital camera to share the colours.
Today was a marathon day. I co-opted Mom and we blitzed the east side, hitting every store we could think of. In the end, we were very successful, securing the critical articles at great prices. Shopping, power shopping that is, is definately an art.
Checking email just now, I had 18 new messages since this morning. Unfortunately none of them are from a hotel near Lake Como, Italy -- a place that is proving quite difficult to get into. Josh bought his backpack, Maria bought our clothesline and investigated long distance calling cards. Our Yahoo! Group shows 57 messages so far this month. I don't think we could be pulling this trip off without the power of the net. Josh and I are a few thousand miles apart. Thank you, eGroups!
Now it's time to reply to Maria and Josh's messages from today and get some sleep in my newly clean room. See you soon!
