I should be either sleeping or packing. Instead, I’m sitting here killing time texting a friend (who incidentally is also awake) and listening to Avril Lavigne remixes on Youtube. Katy Perry may be “Wide Awake”, but me…not so much. So yesterday was “run random errands until I drop day”. I learned a lot about foreign currencies, namely that my bank charges a fee for every transaction I make in Euros or GBP, and I missed the bank that doesn’t charge such fees by approximately 20 minutes. So, pro travel tip, if you’re going to be dealing in foreign currencies and need to deal with bank accounts, make those errands the first legs of your trip, and do it on a weekday. Anyway, once that was done, I got a few new articles of clothing, got some random travel stuff (I’m no germophobe, but I make an exception for airports), visited a client, got some more random stuff (I desperately needed shoelaces for my dress shoes), and headed home. Now I’m avoiding random household prep chores i really should start. Also worth noting to those that know me is that I decided to make two notable and intentional omissions from my packing list. First, I’m leaving my digital SLR camera at home. It’s one more thing to charge, I don’t feel like packing it, and I can’t carry it on me with the more stringent travel requirements of international travel. The second, and possibly more surprising omission, is that I’m also leaving my really nice Denon DJ headphones at home. I bought a cheapie pair of earbuds to accompany me on the trip, and while I’m not looking forward to listening to audio through them rather than through the beautifulness that is audio from my HP-1000 set, I figure that it’s again one less thing for the airlines to hold against me regarding carry-on restrictions if there turns out to be a weight limit.
Before I do that though, just a few general notes from the outset:
- This blog work with RSS. If you know what that is, it should be helpful; subscribe at the top. If you don’t know what RSS is, Google it. It’ll be helpful for you too =). Here’s a head start: Windows-running friends, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Outlook handle RSS pretty well. If you don’t use any of those, try this program: (http://www.feedreader.com/download). Android phone holders, check this app out: http://tinyurl.com/88ft2el. iPhone owners, Safari does RSS natively.
- If you want to know when I’m going to post, it’s going to be “when I have the time and inclination”. If I don’t post, it’s probably because I didn’t have either time or inclination.
- I disabled comments on this blog intentionally. I do welcome feedback; please feel free to e-mail me if you’d like to respond. If you don’t have my e-mail address, text me. If you’ve got neither e-mail address nor my cell number, ask someone who does.
- Per the previous point, I do still get e-mails, text messages, and missed call notifications while I’m away. I’ll do my best to respond to both while I’m gone, but please keep in mind that there is a six hour time difference so I may not get back to you at a desired time and inversely may get back to you at an undesired time. Additionally, realize that I have full intentions on returning everyone’s communications upon my return, I *am* traveling internationally, and thus maximizing my time while gone is my primary focus. It’s not personal.
And with that, I shall stop procrastinating, finish packing, and deal with those other last minute odds and ends before I go.
Joey
