Thursday, May 29, 2014

What a great life!


the living room of our Cortona apartment in Tuscany

The outside courtyard of our apartment. There are 15 apartments in this building total. It has a pool too! 

Brian and i leave for Italy in the morning. I have over planned, over organized and have left no stone unturned. What i haven't done, i can proudly say, is overpack. And thanks to my friends on Facebook, pearl, louie, my niece Kylee, Aysin, many WEA friends, my sister in law Debbie, Julie, and so many others.... I so appreciate their comments on my series of Really Dumb Traveling Questions. (I think there were 7 in all.) I am not going to be that traveler that holds up everyone.

I am having the best time of my life...!

  • I retired. (I did go back to work for this month at the headquarters office, but my last day was yesterday....so now i'm totally free!) 
  • I used an ATM machine for the first time. 
  • I am going to Europe for the first time in my life. 
  • And we finally got that Last Will and Testament - picked it up from the lawyer just this morning. 
What's weird about getting that will is how great i felt when Brian and i left the attorney's office this morning. The feeling was similar to when we applied for our marriage license oddly enough. Maybe because marriage and death are a huge part of living. All i know it was a huge weight off of my shoulders. We have talked about it for years and years but never got around to doing it. This Italy trip was the push. If our plane goes down now i will feel a lot better knowing that we got that out of the way. 

Also, I have to take back my feelings of a love/hate relationship with Facebook. It's been an incredible resource for a planner like me. How on earth did i ever go anywhere without the Internet and Facebook? 

I will say though that it has been quite the ordeal getting ready for this trip! There are so many things to think about and remember for someone like me who doesn't travel. This is only my fourth trip on a plane since 9-11 We went to Mexico in 2002. Santa Fe i think in 2003 and Sedona in 2012. In comparison my niece Kylee is on trip #14 in just one year!

I always have some anxiety about flying due in part to a few horrible flying experiences in my limited air travel. (a terrible storm on the way to Japan - my first air travel when i was 11 years old and  i threw up the whole trip sitting by myself next to a soldier i didn't know (my mom was with the three kids in front of me) ; lightning outside the plane near the wing on a trip back from Yosemite in the 80's where even the flight attendants were strapped in and looked scared; a big drop in the plane on the way back from Palm Springs in the early 90's when i went on a buddy pass with my flight attendant friend Molly. When that happened Molly said "THAT's not normal." 

But what i will do is remember all of the million of miles that pearl travels without incident. And Kylee. and so many others. And i do know that i am probably less safe every time I go for a run by myself as i have been doing all these years. So that and Xanax (and a bloody mary) will get me through the willies. And truthfully, once we're up and settled in I do look forward to the forced relaxation of just being. 

Ok, nothing too riveting, but i just wanted to change the blog. 

Oh, here's a photo of my luggage, packed and ready to go. (My plan is to wear many of my clothes more than once since we have a washer, so that helped packed less clothes!) 

I think i did pretty good! 

4 comments:

jojo cucina cucina said...

I took out my running shoes and clothes and put them in the checked baggage. If our checked baggage never makes it way to Italy i have an excuse not to run!

pearl said...

Good for you - putting the running clothes in the checked bag! But Tide? I'm pretty sure they have detergent in Italy... ;-)

Buon Viaggio! Divertiti!!

jojo cucina cucina said...

Hahaha....pearl I was just coming here to say I took the Tide out! I also decided I did not need two pair of yoga pants or the other pair of sandals with the wedge heels. And I am only bringing two pair of pants. One pair of looser fit chinos that I am wearing on the plane and the jeans.thanks for being here and on Facebook too pearl!

I slept all through the night last night.... Though I did wake up at 5:20 ... But sleeping so well is a major accomplishment . So happy about that cause I have a feeling I won't for the next 24 hours!

Amanda said...

I'm so excited about this trip! I can't wait to hear about the Italian bathrooms.