slidergirl

Thanks all! Despite all my planing and such, I still waited until the very last second to pack! I did get all my clothes in the carryon - I was shocked. My daypack is fill with all the miscellany - electronics, meds, toiletries, snacks to keep blood sugar in check. i think my daypack is heavier than the carryon!! At the hair stylist yesterday, one of the women there just got back from France. She goes there frequently. She said to absoutely wear dresses right now as the weather is atrocious. AND, if it gets too hot, get rid of the undies!!! We all had a good laugh at that one. I'll check in once in awhile. ootd; black comfy pants, black & white striped tank, black hoodie for the plane, my Merrell shoes. When i get on the plane, i'll put on my neon green compression sleeves on my legs - at least they match shoes!

11 hours. 🙀

YIKES!! I get picked up at 11am tomorrow to start my journey!!! Good thing that I get the 'local concierge" discount with our local black car service!! Didn't want to leave my car at the airport for a month. Have an appt with my hair stylist to do a quick 'skunk line' color. i had told her I would be fine skipping a month, but she insisted that I get all gussied up for my trip. Have to make a quick trip to the store after the hair to pick up some sundries. Have to iron a few things before stuffing them in the suitcase. Have to pack up the suitcase - I know what i'm taking, but just leaving it until last (my usual protocol). Fortunately, garbage pickup is today so i won't have a stinky garage when I get home. A little upset with myself from yesterday. i still get "crashes" where i have zero energy and just have to lay down. Happened yesterday, along with being freakin' hot in the house. i didn't get a lot done other than laying on the sofa or bed. I slept off and on from 3;30 until 8;30, made some dinner, then went go bed at 9pm and slept until 7am morning. Sucks to be me. one of the reasons i'm not totally programmed out for the trip - if i need to just stop and do nothing, i can do it. i'll send one more 'i'm off text tomorrow. Then, I'll do texts with photos on the trip. I may take my "travel companion' Moose with me. He had a good time in puerto Rico and the roadtrip last year. he's a photo hound so he's fun to put in the scenery. Yes, I'm one of those people.

lois - i'm glad to hear you can at least put some weight on the foot. Gosh - I wish i could help with finding a cane. I did a quick search of the stores at BCN and AMS - there are a few pharmacies at each one. Don't know if that will help. Do you have any time between debarkation and getting to BCN? Are you going solo to BCN - maybe you can have your driver find a place that sells at least crutches. Or, try to contact your TA to see if she can arrange to have a cane or crutches available for you. i wish i had done that! in the US, i always got crutches at the hospital/doctor's office. in Italy, it apparently part of the deal. i didn't know that until I was leaving the hospital! And, I was leaving during "siesta time" so nothing was open that the driver could find. i was not allowed to put ANY weight on that leg, so i was left to the kindness of the airport staff and their services. overnighted at CDG - my now-ex had his boss (worked for a French company) contact services at CDG and at the Sheraton to be sure I had wheelchairs everywhere. The accessibility teams at all the airports were great - don't hesitate to use them!!

i worked out with T-mo that for my $60/mo, I get the better hotspot coverage since i would be using it quite a bit when i go camping or traveling. i did find out that S. Colorado has quite a few patches of missing coverage on my roadtrip last year... And we have a known dead spot up here on the mountain where I work - i use wifi calling there, with my building's wifi. otherwise, i've been really happy with T-mo.

I am staying at the Globe & Cecil - right behind the Intercontinental. Where did you stay? Sorry 'bout the chaos at AMS. it seems everywhere is having issues.

I bought a Kipling daypack at the airport in Cairo - I wasn't happy with lugging my camera backpack everywhere. The kipling was much lighter!

Oh Lois - I am so sorry. You have to eat! Doesn't matter if it's good for you or pure junk food - just get those calories.

I also have a portable bluetooth keyboard to make it easier to type!!

For me, it is fine. The insole does have a bit of buildup at the arch. But, all of the insoles are removeable so you can insert your own.

At CDG, the ground crew loaded me onto the 777 using the catering truck!!! The plane was at a hard stand, so no jetway, just stairs. Fun. The prednisone is giving me a morning headache. Was prepared for the lack of sleep - had that before. But the headache is just annoying. Ugh. my now-ex never noticed when i did something different to my hair, either. But, he sure would notice if i had on a new piece of clothing!!!

typo. i meant 'iPad"... Thanks for the reply. My iPhone is a little too small to do some things, so i like my iPad for that.

hank - have you used the hotspot tether feature on you T-Mo phone in Europe?? if I can tether my ipod to my iPhone, i won't have to deal with buying a SIM for it (what I've always done since I bought it with cellular but stopped paying for that on ATT). Leaving Wednesday and I might want to buy the boots plan if i can tether.

Maybe if I stay drunk for the entire month of August 😸

i also have more issues going East to West, like you. But I've got 3 days after the Europe trip and then off to Southern California for 4 days, then fly from there to Washington DC and drive 3 hours to my relatives places for my grand-neice's wedding, then fly back to SLC 5 days after that. I think there's nothing that's going to help me on that!!!

I've worn the lows for one day wandering around shopping. no complaints. just be aware that, being mesh on the top, once in awhile a toe catches. no biggie. As for the high-tops; I LOVE them!! i wore them almost everyday this winter at work and on my days off. I run around a lot at work, so they got a good workout.

I try to keep folks informed about the things I see. like the ban on single-use bags and bottles on Capri. Tourists love to go there, but are oblivious to all that trash they leave behind and has to be barged off the island for disposal. Those that were on the fence about renting a car may now be pushed to the private service side. Those of us who are always drivers will have to keep an eye on the day of the week!!! kind of like back in the Bush #1 days when in California we had the odd/even thing for filling up your gas tank. Spent a night in our RV in Mojave, waiting until midnight so it would change and we could gas up!!!

6 more days until I fly to CDG!!! I'm maybe 80% ready. Keeping an eye on flight issues and strikes. i dodge the French train strike on the 6th since i arrive at CDG on the 7th. But i've built-in 2 days to get down go Marseille to meet my cruise.

I was finally able to give the Thrive mascara a try. it worked well for me. no eye irritation at all. I forgot that it was a "tubing" mascara so i had issues starting to remove it. But once I noticed that, i was able to remove it by just keep water on them and removing the stuff with my eyes, gently pulling it off. That's what I had go do with my Blinc mascara.

i've been experimenting with shoes to take with me for my month in Europe. I absolutely cannot wear wedges or a heel. I can't wear flip flops. All due to major damage to my left ankle that has left me with some nerve damage and lack of total movement. sigh. I bought a pair of Olu Kai sneakers - the Pehulea Li in White. it has turned out to be super comfortable to my left foot. A good insole in there that i can take out and put in my own insole if i want. One of the cool features is the heel. It's a comfy, kind of neoprene-like heel piece. It conforms to the back of my foot and doesn't have any pieces to rub. AND, it folds down to convert the shoe into a really cool slide!!! It's like 2 shoes in one. The top and sides of the shoe is a mesh to keep things cool and it won't mind the rain. I picked up a pair of these because I bought a pair of their hi-tops to wear a work all Winter and i LOVED them.

I just bought a Cotopaxi Taal convertible. it may be bigger than what you want, but it's worth a look. Extremely lightweight and you can use it as a backpack or crossbody. it has an internal bottle pocket and plenty of room for your other things, and maybe some snacks you pick up along the way. It's going to be my everyday bag. I like Cotopaxi as a company for it's use of repurposed materials, keeping it out of landfills, and their ethics and eco policies. Also, take a look at some of the Sherpani bags. i have a few of them, too (what can i say - i'm a bag junkie). Some of them are convertibles and have good anti-theft features if you want. I have used a Dispatch bag as my everyday bag for 3 years and i love it. Before my Dispatch, I used my Tempest bag as my everday and travel bag. it's still in good condition, but I like to try new things. I also have a Camden, but it's more for using as my 2nd bag for weekends.

The visit to my ENT-PA went ok. He's a very good guy. He actually knows about Long Covid and resulting GI issues. it seems like what we are doing is starting to work as my cough has calmed a little starting on Monday, but not all gone. At least it doesn't sound so violent and awful most of the time. He knows I'm going on vacation, so we decided to so 5 days of prednisone to try to kick it down some more before i leave. He gave me an extra course to take with me in case i get in trouble again. He wants me to use my new inhaler to try to keep any possible allergies i encounter in new locations at bay - I have always had major issues with grasses and olive trees). I'll keep up with the prilosec protocol for 6 months, then there is a weaning process that he told me about. Fingers and toes crossed! Picked up my override suply of prescriptions yesterday - HOLY CR$P!! As much as my flight back to the wedding!!! got my case and protective glass for my new iPhone all done now. I picked up the same case I had on my old SE - i loved it for as long as i had that phone, so why not get the same. Good hand and finger feel and did a solid job of protecting my phone for at least 8 years. Getting more used to the new phone, getting all the usual stuff arranged. I heard about a jet lag app on one of my travel sites, so I figured i'd give it a try - the first trip is free. Called Timeshifter. i'll let you all know how it works. The app starts helping you to change your timing a few days before your flight - I start july 4. Then it does more every day for a week. it has sleep times, times to do/no do coffee/tea, active time, get/don't get sun. I think it will be interesting. Today I have to print out my hotel direction cards i use to give to taxi drivers - i've done this for ages. it takes care of any language/communication issues. Oh - go to the Cotopaxi website and look at their stuff. I buy everything in their 'Del Dia' designs. So colorful that no one will accidentally pick it up at the baggage claims!!! i've had some of it for 3 years and I love it all. OOTD: running skirt and a tank top. Too hot for anything else.

Lois - I am so sad for you! At least you have a good "suck it up" attitude. May I offer a little advice from when I shattered my leg 2 days into my first italian trip? First, you have those days to allow the injury to go through the bad part - swelling, pain. Remember the ICE protocol (ice, compression, elevation). I highly recommend you contact your PCP in FL asap and get recommendations for an orthopedic visit as soon as you get home. Ask about getting anti-coagulant injections as soon as you get home - have your PCP get them into your pharmacy so you can pick them up. Recommended to me by my PCP to help aleviate any clotting after the flights home. Flying home Business, right? Make good use of that seat and elevate the leg. See if one of those nice attendants will assist you to the lav - it worked well for me.

Although a little pricey, has he tried Tommy Bahama? My now-ex was tall and broad shouldered and Tommy Bahama was one brand that he could always find something. Even the long sleeves worked.

As I was going through my email today, i had my usual mail from one of my travel sites. They had this about driving restrictions getting put in place for the Amalfi Coast to help with congestion: "New rules for driving the Amalfi Coast this summer Italy’s stunningly scenic Amalfi Coast has long been a popular road trip for travelers, but this summer, the winding route is getting some new rules designed to combat over-tourism and suffocating summer traffic. ANAS, the company responsible for regulating Italy’s roads and highways is enacting the new rules after being delivered a petition that garnered more than 10,000 signatures from local residents. Now, during peak hours, drivers will have to follow an alternate license plate system, meaning that on even-numbered days, cars with plates ending in an even will be prohibited from hitting the road, and vice versa on odd-numbered days. Residents of the 13 coastal towns, taxis, public transportation, police, and emergency vehicles will be exempt, but the rules will apply to rental cars. Vehicles measuring more than 34 feet long will also be banned entirely. So, if you’re planning on renting a camper or trailer, it might be time to rethink your summer travels. The restrictions go into effect June 15th through September 30th from 10 am to 6 pm and will also be applied during Holy Week and Easter, which is from April 24th through May 2nd." I thought this would be of interest to any of us going to this part of Italy this summer.