I’m so lucky to have people who care about me. And my feet. Lucky to have feet, too, which people can care about.
Sorry, but this is how my mind has been working lately as I get ready for Greece. The worlds worst traveller counts down to departure day.
So far, I have accomplished a lot of random (but extremely important) stuff in preparation.
1. Went shopping with my daughter and granddaughter to pick out Birkenstocks sandals on Sunday. I have been wearing them ever since to get them molded to my feet and a little less stiff. They are marvelous. Me and my feet are very grateful.
2. Got my hair cut exactly a month before the trip, because from past experience I know that it will take a month of growth for me to like it. Am a little bummed because I’m actually liking it right now.
3. Made an appointment for a pedicure for the 28th, less than two weeks before I leave. Maybe I will post a picture of my beautiful new feet in my beautiful new sandals. If you are extremely excited about this, my goodness. That’s kind of sad.
4. Bought a kind of over-the-shoulder backpack/bag to carry passport and other very important papers and cards and itineraries which I am currently amassing. Along with lip gloss. Because I can’t leave home without that.
5. Ordered some euros on-line. They should be ready to pick up at my bank in 3 to 5 business days. My bank is about two blocks away from my house. But on-line I could take care of this while wearing a nightgown.
6. Bought some Skechers Go-Walks, in case we take some long and torturous tour on foot. They are lighter than running shoes and so incredibly comfortable I almost forgot to take them off in the shoe store to pay for them.
7. Have booked my flight to Toronto for the tenth of May, where I will stay overnight because the flight the next day from Toronto to Athens is 10 hours long. That’s a lot of hours hanging around airports and sitting on planes, so I’ve spread out the fun over two days.
8. Decided that the magic number for outfit packing will be twelve, subject to revision based on whim. We will be gone for about 17 days and I can wear six things twice. I have no idea if this will work, but I am a notorious over-packer and find it very easy to go over the weight restrictions with my luggage.
9. Got two cards of earrings, 18 on each card, every one of them the same sparkly fake stone in a silver setting. My ears are double pierced so I can lose over 30 of them and still have a matching set. Overkill? Yeah, probably. This is a great example of how I pack, the operative phrase here being ‘just in case….’ Because, you know, they might not sell earrings in Greece.
10. Look at that, made it all the way to ten and there are still many, many things over which to obsess. Like changing my email settings so that I don’t get over a hundred a day, mostly from blogs that I follow. Finding an adapter, deciding which rechargeable things I can’t possibly live without, practicing being pleasant and agreeable so that my family doesn’t drown me in the Aegean Sea, scheduling posts for when I’m gone so everyone will know where I am whether they want to or not.
Well, there, I think I’ve got all that out of my system and out in the open for the time being. I’m incredibly lucky to be going, I know that. I may never go anywhere so far away (and quite so willingly) again. I wish I were a better traveller and could be dying from excitement rather than anxiety. Big deep breaths, in either case.
Breathing Space 
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