- Packing
- A week of extremes
- Preparation
- Dress Rehearsal
- H6, #13, and Bo
- Vlotho
- Stockholm
- Tallinn
- Helsinki
- Helsinki II
- St. Petersburg
- St. Petersburg II
- Moscow
- Beijing
- Beijing II
- Beijing III
- Beijing IV
- Xi’an
- Xi’an II
- Shanghai
- Nara – Halfway plus one day
- Kyoto
- Back in the (Former) USSR
- Muroran
- 180th Meridian
- Seward
- Ketchikan
- Vancouver
- St Paul
- Chicago
- New York City
- North Atlantic
- 78 Days and 9 Minutes
- London
Saturday we had a number of friends over for a “Bon Voyage” party. I can only hope that our guests had as much fun as we did. It was great seeing everyone – some we had not seen in years. Everyone I talked to seemed more confident in our ability to complete this trip than I think we are. It was a nice boost as the countdown clock continued to tick away the seconds.
Then the cold reality of preparation sets in. Packing. This is the part I like least. What do we really need? What will realistically fit? We have and need a lot of documents. The good thing is that there is quite a bit of paper that we will be able to get rid of along the way (photocopied sheets, reservation information). That consolation is tempered by the fact that souvenirs will probably fill the space currently taken by these papers. In the end, we will bring what we bring and we will cope.
No trip would be complete without at least one of us being sick. It is my turn. My current condition will only be enhanced by my new two-week course of antibiotics. Great way to start the trip.
Add to this mix a set of tickets that have yet to arrive. Russia, of course. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma stapled to our paperwork, it appears. Anxiety increases as each day passes and the tickets are still not in hand. We knew that these tickets would not be arriving until the week before we left. I was not too concerned about it until, of course, they did not arrive. While there is little that can be gained by worrying about it, our trip could end up a lot shorter than the one we had envisioned.
And to add insult to injury, it is Pledge Week on Public Radio.
Through all of this, Bob Marley’s refrain echoes like a mantra in the back of my mind, “Everything’s gonna be alright, everything’s gonna be alright…”
