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TripAdvisor - don't leave home without it

It seems hard to believe that in just a few more days I will be boarding the flight that will take me on my Family Tree Tours to Germany and Switzerland. I have a few gift items left to buy for the people who have been gracious enough to volunteer their time looking for the missing branches on my family tree, but I am actually in pretty good shape at this point. While we were encouraged to try and make due with only a carry on bag, there is just no way I could make that happen. Not only will I be gone 13 days, I have the gift items to transport in addition to my genealogy materials, and I need to bring a special outfit for my family gathering in Switzerland. And that necessitates bringing a second pair of shoes. I was able to get everything into a smaller bag than I anticipated however. I have to be able to get my bag on and off multiple trains, and I have no idea if the hotels I am staying at have elevators. I suspect not. So I am pleased that I was able to scale back enough to use a suitcase that I am actually capable of carrying up and down stairs. Since my husband is not accompanying me, I cannot rely on his help. I offer up a heart felt thanks to my personal trainer for pushing me every Tuesday. (And she will be pleased to know that I packed a couple of fitness aids into the suitcase as well.) My strong arms will certainly pay off on this trip!

One of the big things that had been hanging over my head was what to do about a phone while I am gone. I have read horror stories from reputable sources about people getting hammered by their American phone carriers while abroad, even if they purchased the international plan ahead of time and thought they were covered. I decided to err on the side of caution and rent a phone. After reviewing multiple companies I decided to go with the one recommended by AAA, which is planetfone.com. The gal at AAA had just used the service in multiple countries recently and had no problem with the phone at all. Because I am going to two different countries, I did not want to worry about changing SIM cards or anything else. PlanetFone's minute rates for talking and texting were a little higher than my second choice, but because I have a Citi Bank credit card, they waived the rental fee. A special promotion added free insurance on the phone, so that sealed the deal for me. The phone will be mailed to me in a couple of days, and I will receive a postage paid envelope to return the phone when I get back home. Sounds easy enough, so I hope that ends up to be the case. Obviously I will use free wifi on my iPad whenever possible, but my researching contacts may need to call me so I need to have a phone for them or in case of an emergency.

I picked up a travel hair dryer that folds compactly and is designed for multiple currencies. Because all of my other devices are as well, that eliminated the need to purchase a converter. I secured an adapter for Germany and one for Switzerland, because of course they are different. I also bought a power strip so that I can charge multiple devices at once since I will have my camera, phone, iPad and camcorder to charge. Hotels are usually a little stingy on the number of outlets, and this way I only need one adapter to plug into the power strip to handle all my charging needs.

The other thing I really wanted for the trip was a packable rain jacket. I remember my mom had a wonderful windbreaker that folded into its own pocket that she kept in her golf bag. I wondered if there was a similar design in a coat that would provide a little more protection from the rain. Sure enough there are dozens out there, with some of them being stored into a separate little bag as opposed to the pocket of the coat. I read many reviews and decided that the sizing was all over the place and ordering online would not be wise. So I went to REI so that I could try the jackets on for size. Har, har. I narrowed my choices down to the North Face and the REI brand. While I think the North Face probably looked a little better on me, I tried it on with a fleece underneath and it was too snug across the shoulders. Going up a size just looked ridiculous. The REI jacket looks fine and can handle a fleece underneath as well. Unfortunately the forecast for my trip looks a little cool and rainy, so I may need to layer. There are many features I like on this coat. I can put an iPod or my phone in a designated pocket so I can listen to music yet the device is secure; it has the zipped vents under the arms if you get too hot; the hood is designed in a way to really protect your face in a downpour and is also detachable; it folds into its own pocket so no extra bag to worry about; and it has nice, deep zippered pockets. The only negative is that when it is tucked into its pocket, the pouch is probably a little too big to put into my Curse (see previous post for the Curse) along with the camera and iPad. I am looking into fitting it with a clasp that could attach to my bag.

jacket tucked into pocket

REI rain jacket

I downloaded a language app onto my iPhone, but of course that will only work if I am in a free wifi zone since I will the cellular data turned off. I also put a currency app on the phone so that I can convert the pricing on items. Germany uses euros while Switzerland has francs. Again, that is only helpful in a wifi area, but at least I can use it part of the time.

Because I have a pretty full itinerary I created a calendar in Microsoft Word, listing my flights and daily activities. Not only will it be a useful tool for me, it will allow my husband to virtually travel along with me.

my travel calendar

So overall I feel really good about where I am at right now. I have a small list of things to do each day this week for the trip, but nothing overwhelming. I have already contacted my credit card company about my travels, but my bank insists it only needs 48 hours for my debit card. I will call them tomorrow anyway because waiting until Wednesday makes me nervous. And I have a few little gift items to pick up. I am so ready to do this!

Our nest is empty now - well, except for the toys that we are holding onto until the kids get houses of their own. Then we will get rid of those items as well. I spent a couple of weeks taking all of Katie's stuff out of the plastic containers we had put them in when we moved it all to the basement. She does not have room to store the containers in her studio apartment, so it all needed to be put into cardboard boxes so that she can recycle those as she unpacks.

Originally I had thought that I would drive all of her stuff out to Los Angeles. But after pricing renting a truck and then adding on hotel rooms, gas, food, and two plane tickets home, that got pretty expensive. Then I looked at taking my own car and hitching a trailer to the back, but that left me with all of the expenses except the plane tickets. By the time I calculated my time (and that of another person to go with me), the additional hotel rooms and food for the return drive, and the wear and tear on my car, that got pricey as well. Plus having recently made the drive, I am not too excited to hop in the car again for that long of a trip.

So that left us with the option of having someone else handle the move. We decided to hire a national company called The Packaging Store to move her belongings. My neighbor owns the local franchise so I had him come over to give me a price on the move. Ugh! It was about $1,400 more than we were hoping for, so I called some other sources. The bottom line is that it really depends on the weight of the items being moved. One company was quite a bit less expensive, but the reviews online were not that favorable, and they don't have an office here in St. Louis. I have no idea where the driver would come from. Going with The Packaging Store seemed to be the best alternative, and I like the fact that I have someone close to call if there is an issue.

Boxed Items

Furniture

I was able to use a lot of the office boxes we had left from when we sold ORMI. That saved me a bunch on buying cardboard boxes. I had to use some of their boxes for the bigger and/or heavier things, but I cleaned out our supply so that was good all the way around. Larger things like her desk and a couple of pole lamps I left for them to box up. On Tuesday they came and got everything. They took it all back to their warehouse, where they weigh it, put it on pallets, and shrink wrap it. Sometime this upcoming week it will be loaded onto a tractor trailer. The good news is that the actual weight was considerably less than Ray had estimated, so our bill came right in at what we were originally hoping for - yay!

They estimate 10 working days to get the items to her. One of the reasons it is taking a little longer is that we ordered the extra service on the other end where the stuff will all be put on a local delivery truck. First of all we needed a smaller truck there so that they can actually drive to the back of the apartment complex and use the elevator right by her apartment. Second, two men will actually bring all of it into her apartment so she doesn't have to haul it all around herself. They would have unpacked for her as well, but we didn't add that service on.

We can now reclaim a good portion of our basement, not to mention Katie's room on the third floor. I don't think it has really sunk in yet that she won't be living here anymore. She has been gone so much lately with all of her studies abroad that it kind of just feels like she is away at school right now. But she has already mentioned that it feels weird that the third floor is no longer "her" bedroom. I guess it will take me a little longer to get to that point. While our place here is an empty nest, in a short while she will get all the items to begin feathering hers.