Lazy August, not much happening around town, not much live music as many musicians still on vacation and and I am taking this time to get organized for my big seasonal trip, this time to Portugal and Spain. In September, I leave Zihuatanejo for an overnight in San Diego then the next morning at O dark 30 I go to Philadelphia and from there on to Lisbon, Portugal. Fortunately I have a friend in San Diego who will harbor me overnight and get me to the airport in the AM. Once in Portugal I will have 4 days, then meeting up with my small boat, (under 100 passengers,) and on to Seville, Cordoba, Tangiers, Gibraltar, Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia, Tarragona and ending in Barcelona, where I will spend an extra 3 days.
While I am in Lisbon I will be meeting up for dinner with a friend from Zihuatanejo who is also visiting in Lisbon. In Barcelona I will be staying with a couple I met in Zihuatanejo. I feel like quite the world traveler having friends in so many different countries.
I’m needing to get organized for this trip well in advance as the week before I leave my youngest son and his wife will be visiting me for a week and I will only have 1 day to actually pack. Now I realize that it only takes a few hours to put things in a suitcase, but it takes a bit of planning as to what it is you are going to put in that suitcase. And with weight limits, and liquid limits it takes a bit of planing and organizing. I try to take only the very essentials of personal care products in the smallest lightest weight containers. This I have learned through trial and error. I once traveled camping on the ferry boat with my backpack, carrying my sleeping bag, tent and clothes for a week and got the weight down to 18 lbs. I did that by weighing every item to discover which hairbrush weighed the least, weighed every item of makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry, to keep it at a minimum, but still having the essentials. I’m also a list maker. I have my standard packing lists but they always need to be tweaked depending on destination and type of activities. And to top it all off I have to find where in this apartment with no storage space, cabinets or closets to speak of I have stashed stuff. Actually that has been the hardest part. But it’s all part of the adventure and with just one day to assemble everything that I will have to live with for 3 weeks my check lists will pay off.
During my recent trip to Morelia I was able to “field test” my new packable hat. Hats are the hardest things to bag and I’m going with only two, both you can roll up an put in your suitcase, but I do have a small supply of hatbands so I don’t feel like I’m quite so limited. I also learned on that trip to pack a small roll of duct tape. As both my sandal’s heel straps broke I was able to duct tape them back together and they lasted the rest of the week. Back home in Zihuatanejo my shoe man fixed them so they look like new for 150 pesos, ($7.77) They can now go to Europe instead of the garbage can.
I’m very excited to have my son Brian and his wife Nancy visiting. This is the first of my family to visit me. When asked what they want to do they say they just want to have a relaxing vacation. That should be easy enough to have happen as this time of year, not much excitement going on. The beach, a day at Playa Las Gatas, visit the Pyramid, eating, drinking, visiting and catching up. Should be a good visit. Signing off KO
Zihuatanejo 