Cactus Wanderer

Gearing up....the packing experience... This is always such a  quandary....what to take and what to leave behind.  We certainly have a lot of input from previous travelers and bloggers, but there is no perfect solution. Given that, we have just settled on a 26" suitcase for our checked luggage.  We have packed...and the remaining unused room within that piece suggests that we have forgotten something really important.  We keep look looking fearfully at each other while checking our handwritten lists but cannot imagine what we might have overlooked...So the suitcase has been zipped up, come what may. Of course, when I have to buy a hairbrush in Johannesburg or Paul discovers he is without razors we will have to suck it up and make the purchase.  I am remembering the really sub-par eyebrow pencil bought in Rötthenberg and the less than attractive crew neck top embroidered with "Deutchland"  ...

The Sandwich Generation... at least we're open faced! As we find ourselves gearing up for our African Odyssey, my mind skips back to years ago; you might even call them the olden days.  When the boys were young we seldom traveled as a couple.  Most of our vacations were family ones. Young parents understand this.  When we did travel, I remember the long lists written in bold letters (better for Grandma to read) and left in multiple places throughout the house. The phone numbers seldom needed an international code because we didn't stray too far afield with regularity. Those lists were peppered with doctor numbers and those of helpful neighbors and carpoolers.  Boy, if we had done carpool in the digital age it would have saved me from printing mini schedules for the visor in the car and big ones to transfer to the date book for my gal pals.  Oh  well, just  this once, I was born too soon. But we are youngsters no more as we join the masses ...