The 96-Hour Bubble

It's nearly a given that my work travel picks up shortly before a vacation. I was at a conference in Scottsdale during the days before our 2006 trip, had a few days in California before the 2008 trip, and now just spent two weeks out for work. The good news is I've learned to take it easy, get a lot of things done, but make sure I get solid sleep, eat well, and drink lots of water whilst traveling. (Ryan would laugh at that since I'm notorious for not drinking water...)

But as our plane descended yesterday evening down into Austin, I felt the oncoming checklist of the 96-hour bubble...that period of time where you ramp up, fret, pack, remember, gather, and relax. The latter being the more difficult thing to do, but the most important. No one wants to go on vacation mad.

The upcoming breeze-of-a-trip (if you compare it with the 2008 whirlwind) is 8 days in Southern England. Three cities/areas of focus: Bath, Bristol, and London. The middle city, which always gets a kind of head-yank that says "huh?" from my co-workers who live in London, will be certainly exciting as it's where I'll officiate the wedding for my best friend! I'm very honored and excited - and it adds an interesting element to our travel: carrying the one-off outfit.

I'm notoriously picky about packing. Rick Steves taught me all about traveling as lightly as possible. I mean, seriously, who is going to know or care if you where the same socks three days in a row? And "Rei in der Tube" makes the most awesome handwashing detergent you can imagine! Thank god for radiators!

But packing formal shoes, a jacket, and formal pants adds a new element of challenge in my light-packing process.

So, the bubble is here, time to lock down. We will be taking the iPhone for blogging convenience, so we'll update here as we go!

Tschüß!