Category Archives: Ramble

Clothing … Maybe … We Shall See

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Today I finally found the last item I wanted for the trip: I had been looking for a very lightweight linen-like jacket. Odds are I won’t need it much, but I wanted it just in case, and it would be nice to have over no sleeve shirts, and I am bringing two of those. I have one other top arriving soon, but other than that I do believe I’m set. I put everything (including a “sub” for the one shirt not yet here — it’s the black and white one) in my packing cube, added other items I’ll need like my sandals, lightweight Merrel shoes for hikes, toiletries and a few other items, and weighed it all. It came in under 16 pounds. That’s good news.

But oops, neglected to add my pjs along with my very lightweight hiking pants and shirt! I’m guessing those might add as much as a pound. Every ounce matters, really.

Below is a photo of the clothes I will probably bring, minus the things I forgot to put out. The items at the far right are what I will wear on the plane, so those didn’t go in my bag when I weighed it, of course. But now you get an idea of colors.

Top row: long sleeve linen shirts and the jacket I purchased today.
Second row, short sleeve and no sleeve shirts, including the white and black which will be replaced.
Bottom row: lightweight pants, black and white skirt, linen striped pants, black culottes, striped pants for plane.

Call me crazy, but I just like these colors together. Or don’t call me crazy. You choose.

Oh … and I do have a hat coming soon, too, and I’ll either take that (a black and white fedora from Wallaroo) or I’ll take an even lighter hat, primarily white with black dots, again from Wallaroo, but with the latter I fear it might be TOO light should it get windy. I’ll be thinking on this and perhaps taking walks with them to see what works best. The latter can be packed more tightly, and the former has to have the “taco fold”.

Now of course this is the idea of clothing for today. Who knows how many times I’ll change my mind. Colors are set, for sure. The biggest issue is to not continue to add things just because I have room (and I certainly have a lot more room. Weight matters. Room does not. I need to keep saying that to myself!). I do have a pair of capri pants I’d love to bring. But should I? Probably not. Hm. Pondering … and only time will tell.

But, usually, when I ponder like that I end up taking them. Go figure.

Goodbye Peak Design

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Yep. I wrote about this Peak Design bag, assuming I’d carry it to hold my camera, but there are things that bug me about these bags. First, they are stiff which makes them somewhat bulky. In addition, the strap isn’t one like PacSafe has, which can’t easily be cut. And finally, that little pocket on the front is pretty much useless because it’s so tight.


I ordered a PacSafe convertible backpack to give it a go, and it’s now the bag of choice. It can be a purse or a backpack, and it is lighter than the Peak Design. I put an insert in it to hold my camera and extra lens safely, and the insert can also hold a few extra batteries and my little SD card pouch. So it wins!

(The color I purchased is a bit darker than this, but still a gray. It should go fine with my chosen colors for this trip: black, white, and yellow.)

Pondering safety: I like to be the trusting sort, but I’ve read SO many posts by a variety of travel writers about the problems with pick-pockets, and the PacSafe company really has that issue taken care of. (I still hate it, though — the not trusting others. That bugs me. And I sort of feel like the Ugly American.)

You might be wondering if we’ve decided which larger carryon we are bringing and the answer is … WE DON’T KNOW YET! I think we are leaning toward the wheeled luggage but … well … tomorrow we might lean the other way.

Changing Plans

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Let’s see — we altered our flight going to our destination by one day (earlier) a few weeks ago. That wasn’t TOO stressful for me, since I knew it meant an extra day.

But these past few days? Kinda stressful: I reserved a hotel and after looking at the area (thank you Google maps!) I canceled it because it looked like the business district and the hotel itself seemed very cold. I was about to reserve another hotel (in another city) and rethought that, thankfully, before I actually made the reservation.

Today we talked about changing more plans, and I’m pretty sure we will alter things in a somewhat major way. This means I have to cancel a flight (because we are flying elsewhere) and cancel yet another hotel, and I need to move our “hey, we have a washer/dryer combo” VRBO place up by three or four days if the owners will allow for that.

This is why I always make sure I only make reservations that I can cancel. We have been known to make plans and then change our minds.

I think, though, that I will stop making any reservations at all until we are absolutely certain we know what we are doing. Okay, we are never absolutely certain, I suppose. Still, I’m not good with these changes and my stomach is now in knots!

BUT I will now share a wee bit of information regarding our first destinations: our first flights are to Frankfurt and then Paris (It was cheaper to do that than fly directly to Paris), where we spend only a couple of days. Kind of funny that when I changed my flight I received a credit for something like $4. Yeah. Really.

The trip still feels a bit like a dream. I won’t believe it’s happening until we are on the first flight, I’m sure.

It’s Loads of Fun But …

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Oh man, do I spend gobs of time on the internet as I try to figure out trains and lodging. It gets a bit crazy.

For lodging I look at Expedia, Booking.com, United (since we fly United), and eventually get to the lodging companies’ own sites as well. I compare prices. I compare cancellation dates. And I try hard to figure out bed sizes. United States bed sizes aren’t the same as other countries’ bed sizes. A double might be small. But it also might be two twins pushed together. Maybe. You just never know! I check VRBO. I write to the people renting a place to ask. And then I wait and hope things are still available when I finally hear back.

And maybe some of you can answer this: when a site says the bed could be “one double or two twins” does that mean you don’t know until you walk into the room, or does that mean it’s the kind where they push two twins together to make the double? Pondering ….

Because we do carry-on only , I love to find places that have a washing machine on occasion. Most of my clothes are hand washable, but Dan’s shirts and jeans take too long to air dry. (I don’t usually travel with jeans because they weigh too much and dry too slowly.)

I’m currently looking for one of those VRBO places with a washer and dryer. I thought I’d located the perfect place, but then saw that their cancellation policy was a bit on the risky side. (It was two months before our arrival.) What with having had to cancel out of things during the worst times of Covid, I’m no longer into risking hundreds of dollars. (Thankfully places during Covid were allowing cancellations right and left. That has since changed.)

I also had to read descriptions and then reviews of places carefully. One looked so good until I read that the flights of stairs (a third floor climb) were so skinny you couldn’t walk up straight up, but had to kind of walk sideways. Um. No thanks. I have to make sure, too, that we aren’t so far on the outskirts that we’d constantly have to call a cab to get anywhere. (We are hoping to use all public transportation and not rent a car.)

So today I looked and looked and didn’t make a single reservation.

Still I find it fun. It’s almost as if I traveled to one of the cities we’ll be visiting. Funny how that happens!

Testing

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Let’s say I was going on a trip. I felt like posting things, but only to family and friends. How would I do that? Perhaps by starting a blog that I share only with family and friends. Seems like a choice. So maybe I will do that. Or not. We’ll see.

(Unfortunately I’m going cheap here, so you may see ads. Sorry about that!)