Five more weeks...

[Michelle Vaden]

Well, I'm checking to see if I may have resolved my access to my blog. I'm actually trying this from home and hope it works. I don't have my "Done but with errors on page" msg at the bottom right not.
Yes, five weeks from Tuesday I fly off to Venice. One tiny fly in the ointment has been resolved. Tomorrow starts a major remodel/reconstruction of the condo building where I live and we are forced to street parking until the project is finished. It's one thing to park on the street and take off for work everyday but if I left my car on the street for two solid weeks it wouldn't be here when I got back. It would have been towed away by the city of Seattle. Luckily I have a friend with room (and a lot of other cars) to park my car on their property. The guys bought the house to park their classic cars so my little Honda won't take up much space. My landlord even offered to park it in their garage but the logisticts for that wouldn't work. I still have to park it the night before I leave then make arrangements to get it back when I get home. I always use Shuttle Express to the airport so no one will be taking me and I want to leave from home. I need to be with my cat Lili till the last possible moment. She does have really nice catsitters who come in and feed her and play with her while I'm gone. I do the same for them. We have a "Cat Sitters Club" in the building. It's such a relief when I'm gone to know she's well cared for.
If this works to post this I'll do another post right away and explain how I fixed it.

[Powen Shiah]

Michelle, I'm so glad you got the blog posting to work from home! Does this mean we'll be hearing more about your trip preparations? I love reading about each step and plan you're making.

It's too bad about the construction on your condo building, but maybe it's nice that you'll be away for two weeks while they're working on it -- less noise!

[Michelle Vaden]

Thanks, Powen.
Unfortunatly the construction is to last about eight or nine months, they are totally redoing the outside of the building and replacing all exterior doors and windows. The good news is maybe the new windows won't leak when it rains (I do live in Seattle).
Yup, I'll probably do a weekly post since it's getting closer and I got my access back. I always figured it was something I needed to do to the computer and my usual IT friend hasn't been available so I just took some time and researched and it seems to have worked.
My latest preparation is to try to get down to the 21" rolling bag and carry it on along with the small tote(personal item). I haven't tried actually packing but it's more the issue of the liquids. I'm going to see if I can take smaller bottles and just buy "Italian shampoo" when I get there. That should be part of the adventure.

[Lynanne Guynn]

Hi Michelle, You probably know this already, but here goes anyway.

Bed, Bath & Beyond (and I'm sure other stores) carry a plane kit of a bunch of tiny jars and bottles, the largest of which is the 2 oz. size that is the max the airlines allow. These are all in a quart ziploc baggie, which is also all the quantity that the airlines allow (as of summer 2007). If anyone has new updated info, let us know. Even if you bought liquids in Venice, you still couldn't bring them into the states.

Are you packed yet? All of a sudden it will be time to go - and I'm envying you. Don't forget to check out the tiny "dog" house on Burano!!

Lynanne

[Michelle Vaden]

Thanks Lynanne-
I do have all my tiny bottles which I have gotten over the past few months. I actually bought a lovely kit (that is too big for this suitcase) that is lavendar suede and came with lots of various sizes of the bottles. I'm just seeing how much I can cram in that quart bag. I have some nice shampoo/conditioner bottles from a trip I took last year that I didn't use that are about half the size of the 2oz plastic bottles so may use those as they take the space of one 2 oz..leaving room for the body wash and moisturizer. Heavens, what we women can't live without!
If I buy shampoo, etc in Venice I would either leave it for the next person in the apartment or since I'll probably be checking at least one bag (with the dirty clothes) on the way home I could still probably bring it home. I've flown serveral times since the restrictions and usually check my 21" bag just to avoid the hassel of lugging it around. It doesn't weigh much even fully loaded but it just awkward for stopping for coffee etc. A tote can be slung on my shoulder.
I have most of the goodies that I'm taking in my office/guest room along with the bags. I put things there when I think of them. I'm not taking much that I don't use everyday...most of the clothes I use for work...so not really packing yet. I do have a few things hung on hooks on the doors. After all, it's not quite turtleneck season here yet. Soon though.
Yes, I do plan on looking for the "dog" house. I'm going to print your picture and take it with me for a match.

Michelle