I should have picked up some of these things earlier, but as much as I try to get things done early, sometimes it doesn’t work out so well. Last year we had a nearly twelve-hour delay getting to Rome and I lost quite a bit of money on train tickets to Naples that I had booked gambling that we wouldn’t be delayed by more than five hours. This made me a little wary of spending too much money too early in the planning stages. Then, just as I was about to start spending the money for things, an old health problem of my father’s popped up again. About four years ago, my dad hit himself in the eye with a bungee cord a couple of years ago (Public service announcement: Please be careful with bungee cords. My dad’s ophthalmologist says that she sees a lot of bungee cord injuries. If you cannot consistently keep your head out of the range of the cord, then please wear eye protection) and that eye was pretty red last week, so I thought that if it got much worse I might have to cancel the trip entirely so that I could be there for him.
Anyway, as of 7:45 this morning, we were 48 hours from departure, so I figured that we had better pick up those last few things that I’d been putting off.
My son and I started out the day walking in a new-to-us park that was pretty convenient considering the locations of the stores we wanted to visit. We got there sometime around 11:30 this morning, and it was 90 degrees in the shade and there was no shade. That may have been the fastest walk we’ve ever taken — the S Health app actually thinks we ran for part of it.
I also needed a lighter suitcase and carry-on bag. I dragged my old suitcase and carry-on about half a mile through Naples last year and nearly considered just leaving the bag behind. My new suitcase is one of those ultralight ones and my carry-on is a fabric backpack. Together they weigh maybe seven pounds. So that will be so nice compared to dealing with my old 11-or-so-pound suitcase and three-or-so pound carry-on.
The pair of sandals that I’ve been using as my main walking shoe, a sort of Crocs knock-off made by Skechers, for the last three or four years are starting to wear out and they don’t make that shoe anymore, so I needed to look for an alternative. I’ve only had the shoes I ended up with for about six hours now, so I don’t know how they’re going to work out, yet. I will be bringing the old sandals just in case.
I lost my favorite jacket at Roma Fiumicino airport last year, so I also hit a couple of Ross Dress for Less shops to see if they had any lightweight jackets that would do for this trip, but wasn’t able to find anything. Last summer, I bought something from L.L. Bean that was similar to the jacket that I lost, but I wasn’t perfectly happy with the jacket, so I haven’t used it much. I’ll take it anyhow and see what I think of it after living with it for a week.
Then I ended my errands with a new haircut. I keep my hair short largely because it’s easy to care for. I just wash it and towel-dry it and then run a brush through it and it looks pretty good. Additionally, I need some height in my hair and the only time my hair has the proper lift when it’s long is when I am living in a place with high humidity. South Texas is not that place. So I keep it short. Unlike this post.
Now I am working on my second load of laundry for the night. I will be pretty much done with my laundry for today after this load, though I may throw another one in just to get a head start for tomorrow. My suitcase is about half-packed, as is my carry-on. I have five books on my phone (including two in Spanish) and am bringing the May 2014 and June 2015 National Geographic magazines in hopes that I can get a head start on those articles.