I Need a Mental Health Day!

If there was ever a Monday I didn’t want to devote to my blog, it’s today. We leave for Vienna in 48 hours. Despite planning and preparing for this adventure for over a year, it still seems as if everything is happening at the last minute. And, of course, some of that is inevitable.

 How far in advance can you actually pack your clothes? I spent several weeks making sure they were clean and ready to be packed, but the actual packing has hit me like a brick. I’ll use packing cubes and bags to conserve space. I have a few of the older kind—the ones you cinch down manually—and I bought some that vacuum seal.

 Trying to save some money, I bought a type that doesn’t require a vacuum device; you simply roll the bag and a non-return vent lets all the air out. It actually works pretty well except that it requires massive hand strength. That is something I’m in short supply of since my surgery. I had to get Michael’s help to smush the air out of the jeans pack.

 Speaking of my surgery, I got the okay to remove the splint last Thursday. Well, mostly. I am instructed to wear it in the airport and in crowds to prevent injury. I have hand exercises to do and I’m being a good patient and doing them. I really want to get my hand working again!

 Back to packing. It’s harder than usual because we will be in our apartment for four weeks and we need a lot of things you wouldn’t need for a shorter stay in a hotel. We were told that they would provide starter packs of dish soap and laundry soap, but we are on our own after those are gone.

 So, we are bringing more things than we’ve ever needed on a trip. It seemed like a good opportunity to try out laundry sheets, and we’re taking several of those. I slipped some dishwasher pods into a Ziploc bag and we’re bringing those. And that reminds me, I should probably pack a bar of soap for the shower. Arghh! No more things!!!!

 Do I sound a little unhinged? I am and I probably will be until Wednesday morning. But just until 11:00 am, when our Uber rolls up and we roll our luggage out the front door. Then I’m letting everything go. Whatever we forgot, we’ll buy in Vienna or do without.

 Has travel ever made you slightly bonkers? We’d love to hear about it.

 Tschüβ

(Pronounced Tschüss, it means ciao in German.)

 P.S. I’m really glad we invested 3 months in German language classes.  Maybe I’ll come back actually able to speak it a little!