Two Days Until We Leave

It is just two days until we leave and start this adventure.

We have been very busy in the last several days, the trip seems far off, and then it is suddenly here, and there is so much to do.

Packing:  We were able to start our packing effort this past weekend, and it was not as difficult as I had imagined, but it was drastically different form any other trip we had packed for in the past.  There is so much fluffy winter clothing, and we were not sure how it was all going to fit, both from a volume and weight perspective. 

Before we started packing, we first picked out the clothes we wanted to take and then made sure it all fit together.  This was not an exercise to fit for fashion, it was to make sure what we thought was good layering really all worked together.  How much could we wear as layers and still fit into our coats, same for our pants.  Could we really get all the layers we wanted to wear on and everything still fit.

We started with your thickest base layer of Merino wool long underwear, then our thickest pants.  OK, that all worked.  Next it was the same for our upper layers, thickest wool base layer, shirt, then sweater, our heated vest and finally our puffer inner coat jacket and outer coat.  OK, it was a lot of clothes, but we could still move well, and if we fell. we would be safe, it was a lot of padding.

We really hope that we don’t need to wear this many clothes, but there is no use taking it with us if it did not work well together. 

Since we picked the heaviest layers, we now knew we could wear thinner layers and still fit into everything.  That was time well spent.

With everything picked out and fit tested, we could actually start packing, but that was for tomorrow, we were physically and mentally tired from all of the thinking about the layers, and then lugging it all upstairs to our designated cat-isolated packing room.

The next day, after doing a few other things, we finally headed upstairs to tackle the packing. It was a challenge, but we did not have to eliminate very many items from what we had brought upstairs to take.   That happens on every trip as we adjust our expectations we reality of what will fit into our suitcases.  The hardest items to pack were our winter boots.  Stephanie’s are not too large, but mine were quite big and it took some special imagination to get them packed into one half our our suitcases and still have room for the other items we wanted in that side.  There was plenty of space for them, but we also needed to get some other bulky items unto that side.  I finally found an orientation that worked.

Clothes were no different, they were just more bulky.  In the end, we were quite surprised that we were not that close to the maximum 50 lb. airline weight limit.  We packed my suitcase first and then worked on Stephanie’s.  We had already separated out clothes we would not need until the cruise portion of the trip, and those went into the bottom of the suitcases.  Then we made sure we cross-packed one set of clothing, including base layers, into each other’s suitcases. 

When we had most of the items in the two suitcases, we took an initial weight reading with our luggage scale, and it showed we were not even to 45 lbs.  I actually went to get a new battery for our luggage scale, thinking it couldn’t be right, but we got the same weights with the new battery installed.  For some reason, the items we packed into Stephanie’s bag were bulkier than mine, but we also included an empty backpack in her suitcase, and it was more bulky than the one we normally take, but we needed this one because it was slightly larger for camera gear we take out on excursions and the camera tripod.  We decided to go ahead and use the expansion feature for just her suitcase so everything would fit, and even with that expansion, we were just at 46 lbs.  We did not really need the whole extra few inches, but it was all or nothing.  It was amazing to see how clean that expansion layer was compared to the rest of the outside of her suitcase.  

We were still having trouble believing the weights on the luggage scale, but they did not feel that heavy to lift either.  We do plan on using a regular scale and lifting the suitcases while on the scale to get our weight for comparison to the luggage scale, but that was not for today.

We also packed Stephanie’s new backpack carry-on to see how much it would hold and how everything fit into it.  We had purchased it several weeks ago, and were finally able to see how it was going to be for packing.  It is an Osprey Brand “Sojourn” bag.  It worked out well, and we had decided we would place at least one pair of wool base layers in it in case we had luggage issues.  We also thought it a good idea to take out outer coats in that bag and to just wear the puffy jacket liners for our coats while in the airports.  It would not be good to be without a full coat system, we would just freeze.

This had all taken a couple of hours to get to this point and we felt we had done enough, it was stressful.  However, we were pleased overall with this initial effort and were glad we did not have to pull everything out and start over because the bags were too heavy after the initial packing effort.

Some of the other things we did in the last few days was to book a Husky Dogsled Adventure in Rovaniemi.  Here is a link to the Small-Group Husky Mushing Experience in Rovaniemi tour on Viator. We compared an independent excursion with one offered at the Apukka Resort where we are staying, and after reading some reviews, opted for the independent excursion, even though we had to drive to another location to catch their shuttle.  We had also looked at Husky tours in both Alta and Tromso while we are there on the cruise, but most were already booked, I guess when a ship is in port, it stresses the available supply as compared to just daily visitors staying in these locations.  

We also booked and pre-paid a Reindeer Sleigh ride through the Apukka Resort, it seemed to have good reviews and was longer in duration, at least from the information we could glean from the reviews for several other similar tours.

The last major change we are still deciding on is the possibility of staying in a hotel for our time in London.  We are supposed to stay with Stephanie’s cousin there and had already been texting them about our stay.  However, once we got their address, it seemed to be a little harder to get into the area we wanted to visit while in London.  During our last short visit to London in 2009, wow it just seemed like yesterday, we stayed in an area south of the London Bridge, and we think we stayed in the London Bridge Hotel, it was very close to a Metro Station and we did not have to walk far to get there.  We tried to look back at the blog for that trip, certainly, we would have mentioned the hotel name, but we couldn’t find anything but a few pictures of the inside of our room, we have really evolved in how we post our rip information now, and we now always list our accommodations in the Itinerary.  

However, we had initially thought it was only going to be a few hundred dollars to stay there based on looking on my cell phone at the pricing in our darkened breakfast room as we enjoyed watching the setting sun with a glass or two of wine and discussed this London plan change.  However, when I looked on my computer the next day, I found out the cost was actually over $1,200 dollars to stay at that hotel and that was just too much, so we were back in our original plan, which had not officially changed yet.  Obviously, I either had the dates wrong or had only looked at pricing for one night

The next day, I did some additional research and found another hotel on the other side of the Thames from the London Bridge Hotel, and it was even more convenient for getting to a subway station to get around, and it was much less, and it had better reviews.  In addition, we were looking at a suite with a kitchen, and it has a washer/dryer.   We are still trying to figure this out, but staying in a hotel gives us more flexibility, and then having a kitchenette gives us the option of eating in for breakfast on our own schedule and also at night if we want to make something simple for dinner if we are tired from touring all day.  It is so much more centrally located to the sights we want to see and much quicker and easier to use the Tube/Trains to get to them.

We hope to finalize this London decision before we leave, but it is not urgent, I do not think hotels are that much in demand in London in February, and we can book online from anywhere.

I also spent a lot of time setting up online payments for all of your bills, and also for mom, since we won’t be here to help her out with that task.  It seems to take more planning now to be able to go away on vacations, but that is to be expected since we are caregivers for my mom, and used to be for Stephanie’s mom before she passed away.  

This will most likely be the last post before we actually leave.