Preparations, list making and waiting...

So the official date of departure for me will be October 17th. There's so much to do before then, even though it sits nearly five weeks away. I've been contemplating my trip since my last post to different effects. One, I've been thinking to myself, sure I know Italy, I lived there for two months. But that was an Italian summer in central Italy and I'll be spending Fall/Winter up near the north. Just the thought of it not being a sunny Tuscan day almost everyday kinda throws me.

And so I've been thinking also about the different ways I'll have to pack. Looks are very important in Italy and it isn't uncommon to have just a few good outfits that you can recycle many many times over. Keeping that in mind should help ease the load. It will surely be a struggle to keep everything packed lightly but will surely pay off when I am jumping on and off of trains. Last time I was there I certainly got what I called the Travelers Workout. Hauling a heavy suitcase plus a really full backpack on uneven medieval streets and throwing them on and off trains that don't care if you are ready to go or not gets the heart beatin' and the arms achin' pretty quickly. I'll have to ask my cousin Mike who's living in Africa for a year how his packing situation worked out and get some tips.

All in all I've found out it is really hard to wrap my head around exactly what I'll be experiencing over the next eight months. It all seems so surreal right now and far too distant to comprehend but before I know it there I'll be, chattin' it up with Italians, being posh and chic in some cafe sipping espresso and living it up. Right?