Some Odds and Ends

First..an Update

I had mentioned before that we were planning to take a single piece of luggage on this trip and that I would let you know how it went. Well, it didn't dawn on me that I never revisited that subject until I got a recent comment asking about it.

We hadn't left the house before we had expanded it to two pieces, due to the fact that several of our stops would involve our staying in two different rooms. So we left the house with two pieces... both of which exceeded the allowable weight limit. Rather than repack at the check-in counter, we paid the charge and, once we got to France, we expanded it to four pieces.

We have kept that configuration since and it has worked out nicely. There are two large pieces with mostly clothing and two smaller ones with shoes, toilet articles and all the fluids and gels that you aren't allowed to take into the cabin.

A Few Words of Thanks

Two or so years ago, when we first started planning this trip, and letting on to everyone about our plans, we began to get travel-related items as gifts. All are appreciated and are being well used. Those little mesh zipper bags are great and I don't know how we ever traveled without them before. I do know that we will never travel without them again.

We also received a wide range of good wishes and some very useful advice. All of that is appreciated as well.

I have taken some of the internet time I have had to look over some of my usual oft-visited sites. My friend Don Brown over at Get the Flick has made mention of this blog a couple of times during our travels. Thanks, Don... I appreciate the exposure.

Finally, on the night before we departed, I received a nice gift of spending money sent to me by a large group of the fine folks I have gotten to know over the course of the time I have spent at Peeples. I used a sizeable portion of the flight across the Atlantic trying to decide what to spend it on. I thought of the old adage that advises one not to spend the whole amount in one place and that is what I decided to do. So, every once in a while, I have used a bit of it to buy a beer at a café in Paris or a subway ride in Rome. I had a sling in Singapore and fed an elephant in Chiang Dao. I've done a little something with some of that money everywhere we have been. That way, I am able to enjoy some little things here and there and have the added benefit of thinking of the fine folks that thought of me. I appreciate your kindness and generosity and, in a way, you have all been right there with with me all along the way on this trip... in mind and heart, at least. Thanks, again!