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Packing
Preparations for the trip are going relatively smoothly.
Bought a real Swiss Army Knife, more film for the cameras.
Put the important documents in the safe deposit box.
Here's what I'm bringing:
Main pack: Eagle Creek
Global Travel Pack 50L
- 5 shirts
- Week of underwear and socks
- Blue Jeans
- Cargo Shorts
- Khaki's (Dockers)
- Toiletry bag (Jansport)
- Norelco Quadra Action Shaver
- Old APS Camera with 4 rolls of film
- Cocoon Sleep Sack
- 4 mesh bags
- Playing cards
Carry-on:
- 2 long-sleeve shirts
- 2 T-Shirts
- 2 Khakis
- Hiking boots stuffed with extra socks and underwear
- 2 shorts
- Extra Toiletry Kit (Medicines)
- Picnic/Kitchen Kit
- First Aid Kit
Courier Bag: CourierWare Deluxe
- CD Bag with CD player, Car adapters, and 24 CDs
- Tapes
- European Delivery Documents
- APS Zoom Camera
- Lonely Planet and Rick Steves' Guidebooks
Money Belt: Deluxe
Security Belt
- Passport
- ATM Cards
- Credit Cards
- Plane Ticket
Packing for the trip is hard because I'm packing for 5 months, two
different climates, three different seasons, and with a car and
without. Only the stuff in the main pack and courier bag are going with
me. I'm probably going to pick up one of those waist bags along the way
to carry the camera and stuff.
Flight out: 27-28 Feb
From Zurich, Switzerland.
Plane out of SFO got delayed by about a half hour. At least I got to see Stacey for a little longer. The plane got to the gate at 1835 CET, not enough time to make it to my next flight. They put me in coach (of all things) on the 2035 flight. Either that or fly first class on Lufthansa an hour later and pray that my second bag gets there.
I'm in the CyberLounge at the Business Class Lounge in Terminal B of the Zurich Airport. Getting used to the pan-european keyboard layout is a pain. The Z and the Y are reversed, and the colon, dash, forward slash, and angle brackets are totally outside of my brain's comprension. The apostrophe's the worst, though.
I have to say that I like business class. Great food (started with lobster salad, then shrimp, cheese... mmmm).... I slept a little too long, about six hours. Since my arrival in Muenchen is delayed, it should be fine thought. It feels like 8 pm right now. The seats are spacious but don't fully recline. They are not designed for a man of my height either. However compared to the saps in the back, its the lap of luxury. BTW, always fly business class. Free booze and food before you go, and your companions can partake.
One thing I have to comment on is the multi-lingual nature of all of the Swissair staff. All of them have to speak and read English, French, and German. And switch between them at the drop of a hat. I, however, confused the main attendant evidently because she spoke to me in German for the first five meetings. Only when I asked "Can I please have the Shrimp instead of the Veal" did she start speaking to me in English. Part of it was responding in kind like the person in the seat next to me who spoke Swiss-German. Ahh well, I expect more of this to come.
Next time I write should be from Muenchen (Note, Geocities doesn't seem to like the umlauted characters and is turning them into accents. My horrendous german gets worse...) In the morning I pick up the car, if'n I get out of bed. Then starts Week 1...
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