One Day More....

" A journey is a person in itself, no two are alike, and all plans, safeguards, policies, and coercion are fruitless.  We find after years of struggles that we do not take trips:  A trip takes us." 

~John Steinbeck

 

Well, here it is, February 8 and we leave tomorrow on our trip and what is happening?  A freaking snowstorm! Virtually no snow all winter until now.  Really?  My travel karma is rearing its ugly head again.   My anxiety levels are sky high as I go to work and ponder the fate of tomorrow's flight from Boston to JFK and then JFK to Argentina.  As long as we get to JFK I will be happy since I have no control over whether the flight leaves for Argentina. However, if we miss our flight to Argentina based on a Boston delay I will be livid!  Worst case scenario is we drive to our friends' house in Brooklyn and leave the car there while we are away. 

 

We are all packed and ready to go.  Countless hours of packing, repacking,  weighing suitcases, making lists, getting gear, trying gear, practicing with cameras and lenses, conversing with others going on the trip.  You get the idea.  Michael found these rad carry-ons  (ebags Motherlode TLS weekender convertible) that are light as a feather, well-constructed, and hold a ton of gear.  Rachel and I were so impressed with his we each bought our own!

 It has been quite an art fitting all of our dive gear, camera gear, and a wee bit of clothing into two suitcases and a carry-on.  Our dive gear alone takes up most of the two suitcases since we need two sets of undergarments plus spares for our regulators and hoses since we are so remote and the boat carries no dive gear of its own.  In fact, we literally packed about 4 pairs of travel pants, 4 long-sleeve tops, plus a couple of short sleeve tops for 28 days of travel. If it weren't for dive gear and camera gear we would get kudos for our light packing job!  I even found dryer-sheet type laundry detergent to do our laundry while we are away! 

 We will have to see whether our rather OCD-level packing planning worked and whether there are any big oversights.  In the end, we decided not to pack our own rubber boots for zodiac landings since the boat will provide some free of charge.  Saved us several pounds in our bags. Also found a great pair of waterproof and insulated hiking / walking boots from Merrell.  Incredibly comfortable. I imagine they will be a bit too warm in Ushuaia and in the Falklands but for the rest of the trip they will be perfect!

 

And did I mention packing cubes?  I have always thought they were stupid quite frankly - but now I have fallen in love with them.  Used them on a couple of shorter trips to keep clothes organized and compact and now I am HOOKED!  We found some really reasonable ones on Amazon and they make packing, organizing, and compressing clothing so darn easy.

 

I am now completely overwhelmed that this trip is actually here.  We have had the trip booked for about 2.5 years , and some of the participants have been counting down for 4 years.  It's finally here.  Tomorrow.  Crazy!