Getting ready and wrapping things up

Everything feels much, much closer today. I think this is in large part to Greece being just over a week away (!) and knowing that when I get back it's all going to just fly by - there are only 4 weeks from when I get back until my last day.

As I believe I've mentioned, a friend gave me his old iPhone, to use as an ipod, after my old ipod was stolen (he had upgraded to the current gen of the iphone). Sadly for me, he's an idiot and went swimming in the ocean with his phone in his pocket, which means he needs his old one back. 

I really, really don't like to travel without my iPod so there's no time to spare. I ordered one today, it should be delivered no later than next Monday. I got a refurb, current gen 64 gig.

As long as I was shopping, I also, finally, applied for the health insurance I'll need next year. And then I scheduled all my remaining days off (I have 16 to burn). Between that, buying boxes and getting ready for farewell party #1, it feels very much like I'm wrapping up everything on my to do list.

Looking at my list of items to purchase, I'm down to just the computer, the phone and a suit. And the Euorail pass, but that can wait, if it needs to, until I'm in-country. That's .... shocking, actually. It doesn't feel like I've been chunking through my list, but there it is.

This weekend I also went shopping for a trunk, but Target won't have them in until later in the summer, probably mid-July, as people start their back to school shopping. Unfortunately for me, the tax holiday won't occur until after I leave, but that really just means I don't have to wait to go shopping. The use of a trunk to ship oversees is still an item of some debate, in my family, but I really think it's the way to go: it'll get the vast majority of my stuff there without my having to schlep it through airports or pay fees for extra bags (I don't have any 'free bags' so one will be bad enough, two would be terrible). It has been suggested I plan to live as a 'poor student'. My retort is: what student, poor or otherwise, do you know who went to school with one checked bag and one carry-on?? Impossible!

Still, yes, I'll be taking the bare minimum, and am curious to see how that translates into packing. 

I'd really like to get all my sweaters packed up this week, to get a sense of how heavy they are, and how large a bundle I'm looking at. That, some pants and stuff like giant shampoo bottles are what I plan to ship in advance.

After experimenting with that, I think a trial-run of packing for Greece is probably in order, to see whether carry-on will work as planned, and, if not, to pre-pay for checking my bag. Either way, I'll check-in this week for the EasyJet portion of the trip.

Then, on Friday, it's girls' night / drink my wine! And then ... packing begins in earnest.

9 days to Greece

23 days of work

30 days off

53 days till last day

55 days till departure