Blogging from 30,000 feet. [I actually have no idea how high up airplanes fly… but that sounded like a great opening line...] Seat 11D, on the aisle, on Airtran flight 211 en route to Milwaukee. No, I’m not online. But I could be. Airtran has WiFi, for a mere $7.95 per flight. Kinda cool, but not necessary this time.
The woman beside me has the coolest bag. Major bag envy. It’s creamy leatherette hugeness has thus far revealed a full sized hard cover library book, a half bag of sugar coated pecans still in the vendor paper bag, a bag of almonds and dried fruit for her body builder boyfriend in the window seat, a few magazines...it’s all in there, and there’s more. It has no structure, a center dividing pocket with zip (safety for passport and wallet), handles and a shoulder strap. It’s simply cool. It is squashed under the seat in front of her with seeming ease. Casual sophistication. I have a passion for bags. This is a good one.
My bag is relatively new and has compartments for everything I need. I like it. Oakley vertical messenger bag. But it’s feeling a bit stiff. There is no flexiblity as I wedge it under the seat. [pilot just announced another hour and fifteen minutes to touch down - 565 miles] I have everything in its place, but it’s just not as ...bohemian...as that great bag next door. Of course she does not have a lap top...so...perhaps my boring structure is necessary. [And I did pick up three pairs of “sleepless in seattle” pajamas in the Seattle airport...one oversized tshirt gown for me and two pairs of jammie pants for the girls. They are rolled up and smashed into the back pocket of the Oakley bag which no doubt adds to it’s stuffed inflexibility...but gosh are they cute... ]
I’m thoroughly enjoying every minute of this trip. I have so so many toys along, and I’ve kind of marveled at it all. I’m learning to travel in the 00’s. It requires an organized bag and a WHOLE LOTTA cords.
First my Mac. Oh, I love mac. Then my iPod touch. (ito) I have LOVED reading the ebook Julie and Julia in tiny bites all throughout the trip - planes, busses, trolleys, traffic jams on the freeways...delays continuously softened by my sleek little toy. The rental car had an iPod jack, and I had packed the right cord (the one I use in my car) so that was HAPPY circumstance for my 3 hours in the car both ways between Seattle and Vancouver - loved having my music and podcasts with me. I felt so...spoiled. And then there’s the photos. I put a smattering of my life in photos onto ito ...and have showed the handy little album to many people - such a simple tool. Mac requires a power cord and then there’s another cord that connects mac and ito...for syncing and powering. Ito's car cord came along too. [the rental car had the iPod jack and the power jack all hidden in the armrest...how smart is that?]
My little digital camera. No idea how many photos I’ve taken. At least a thousand. And a couple videos too… of my brother playing the piano. There must be a hundred pics of the secret garden alone. [which, by the way, I’ve easily made into a very stress relieving slide show with Vivaldi playing in the background. mac is so seamlessly simple...integrating photos and music and fancy slideshow settings…] Of course I brought the battery charger and the cord to dump photos off the memory card and onto mac. Haven't digital cameras just changed everything? You can just keep taking pictures - capturing the moment. It's free and it's simple.
Tom Tom. This is my hub’s navigation toy that he pre programmed for me and sent along in it’s little zipper pouch. (It’s about 5 inches x 1 inch x 3 inches) When I plugged it in to the second power jack in the rental car, I just had to touch “Navigate to,” “favorites,” “Holiday Inn Downtown Vancouver,” and the little machine verbally navigated me right out of the Sea Tac parking ramp and up I-5 Northbound. Simply amazing. I put every destination into it as I went, and thus had not one moment of angst as I zipped around new cities. Isn’t that incredible? It came programmed with all of North America, but you can download other countries as well. Frank bought it for all his business trips. It uses the same plug as my Blackberry.
Oh...my Blackberry. Texting. Who can live without texting? It’s how I kept track of my brother and sister’s schedules (we generally met at our destinations) and kept up with home a bit. International cell phone use is 69 cents a minute, so that was kept WAY to a minimum. We put me on an international text and email package for 9 days...and that’s what I did. I used the phone maybe 10 times for quickie calls...not everyone texts… The BB required two cords: car (shared with Tom Tom) and power outlet for at night. That’s my alarm clock too. And I can google on it, like when I needed to find the nearest Starbucks...
[The woman in the seat in front of me is making jewelry. She has pill bottles and snack bags full of beads in a big ziplock...it’s laid all over her tray table...she’s yakking away with the flight attendant...the jewelry is very lovely! She tapes the ends with scotch tape when she moves about...isn’t it amazing what you can learn just from watching people? Repeat after me: I do NOT need a new hobby...I do NOT need a new hobby...]
Starbucks. Wow. It’s like a home away from home. Each morning (after I left the Holiday Inn- while there I had great coffee and free WiFi in my room) started with my two free hours of wireless and a skinny cinnamon dolce latte at the nearest Sbux. I’d get caught up on email, upload a couple photos to Facebook, read about everyone else on Facebook, blog (okay...only twice) and also work on my Bible study. Lovely morning ritual. I have decided that maintaining my morning journal/Bible/online routine helped make my trip more relaxed. I fit a lot of visiting and sight seeing in, but that couple of early morning hours were all mine. I’d awake early and do my thing before heading out for the very full days. I need alone time and time with God.
Those are my toys. They are not nearly as cumbersome as they appear. In fact my small leather purse has three zippered sections on its face which held my BB, my ito and my camera. They went everywhere with me. Tom Tom stayed in the rental car for the entire 8 days, hidden in that very handy armrest. The car cords stayed there too. The other cords all stayed in my laptop bag, along with mac. It’s all very compact.
As I return home I feel all caught up. I’ve kept up with most of the emails, with facebook, I have this blog to post, and I put in about 4 hours of work in total - emailing my edits back to the office. I’ve kept up with the kids and hub, and they with me. My photos are uploaded, many are labeled, and a lot of the duds are deleted. [ I have 800 of my sister in law Nancy’s Paris photos uploaded too - they were so stunning, I wanted to keep them to gaze at and plan a future trip… ]
It’s simply handy to have my gadgets along.
On the way to Vancouver I did not even check a bag. I had everything in my one carry on bag and my Oakley messenger bag. I was extremely pleased to manage that, and it turned out that I did not even need all the clothes that I brought. I traveled light. [I did need each and every cord…]
However, for the return trip I bought a cheap $20 carry on while in Vancouver in which to transport the three Julia Child cookbooks and her biography which my brother and I scouted out at various used bookstores. (these weigh at least 20 pounds cumulatively, so, in retrospect, may not have proven to be the best of souvenirs…) We entertained ourselves for hours on a few rainy days with a used book store crawl. It was a BLAST, and we both got teary eyed when we bagged each of the 6 books we bought. (Mastering the Art of French Cooking is the focus of the movie “Julie and Julia” which Jonnie and I saw on Saturday during a rain storm) He and I both got Volume I, I found a first edition of Volume II, and I bought two old old copies of Julia’s biography entitled An Appetite for Life. I gave one to my ex sis in law, Nancy as a hostess gift - I stayed with her for 4 nights. She and her hub went to see “J&J” while I was there, and since she loves biographies she LOVED the musty old book and was reading it each evening. Oh - I also got one other of JC’s cookbooks...a volume 2 of her book regarding cooking for company...
Oh! We’re beginning our descent. You now have my travel logistics. Roll your eyes as you may, but this is feeling like QUITE the accomplishment to me. The lists and the packing and the selection of just the right bags and electronics - each proved to be a component of a wildly successful 8 day trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
More important than the logistics of it all, there are the PEOPLE I visited: my brother Jon; my sister Sally and her partner Gloria; Sally’s daughter Katherine and her hub Jose and their 4 year old Sara; Jon’s daughter Jen, her boyfriend Terrance and her 7 year old Joshie; Jon’s ex wife Nancy and her husband Lon; Jack - one of the parishioners of my dad’s church in White Rock; and Karla - my best friend from age 10 to 15. So many visits. So many stories. When will I blog it all? Not to mention the ocean and the mountains.
But alas...all electronics must be turned off now. So... au revoir! Thanks for the prayers and “bon voyages.” I’ve had a WONDERFUL week.
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