Almost 2 weeks to go!

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So time is definitely going fast now, two weeks on Thursday we'll be heading off to Chicago. Talk has turned to how many shifts/days left to work and I've started to plan when I'll be shutting up shop to new orders, to allow the time to pack and double check everything.

Myself and Steph have ordered an ipad mini each which should be arriving this week. We've managed to get a 64gb wifi and cellular one each for a good price giving us plenty of storage space for photos, video clips and of course music whilst we're away. I'm starting to think about how much electronic equipment I'm going to have on me in my hand luggage, half of it is going to have to come out for the scanner. There's going to be my iphone, ipad mini, camera, video camera (which I've yet to buy!) and the USA sat nav. We've managed to hire one from ebay for the time we are away for £20 which is far cheaper than the car rental company was quoting. I've narrowed down the video camera I want to get so I think I'll get that this weekend to give me chance to have a play with it so I know how it works before we go away.

We've had a bit of a panic in the last few days. Steph phoned up National Car Rental who we are booked with to ask if we can return the car back the next morning at 9.30 instead of 5.30pm on the Thursday as we've decided we want to spend as much time as possible in Tahoe on that day so it will save us rushing to get the car back on time. It shouldn't cost us any extra as we are already paying the extra day for taking it back later than 9.30am that morning. Anyhow Steph phones up to ask and panic ensues as the people on the phone cannot find our booking AT ALL! She's passed to a couple of people and then eventually put through to an Alamo call centre who confirms they can see our booking but no we can't change the time as we've pre booked and paid. So I guess we'll have to turn on the charm when we pick it up in Chicago and see if we can change it then. I don't know why but I have a feeling we are already going to have problems when we go to pick up the car anyway, the one way fee we were quoted when we booked was $200. This has since gone up to new bookings to $399. I hope this isn't going to be one of those "local fees subject to change". I guess we'll find out ....

Myself and Kerry are starting to feel a little more nervous than normal about flying at the moment as the missing plane that I spoke about in the last post is still missing. A completely unprecedented situation where a Boeing 777 airplane has simply vanished into thin air. No wreckage, debris or even the plane in tact has been found. There are numerous theories all over the internet ranging from it crash landed in the Indian Ocean and is at the bottom of the very deep sea to its been hijacked and secretly flown somewhere to be used as a possible 9/11 missile at a later date. Both are worrying... Latest news is that it turned away from its predicted flight path and all the communications equipment was turned off including tracker and it was tracked on military radar going from east to west. Then there was a "ping" picked up from a satellite almost 5-6 hours after last contact so who know whats happened to it and the poor passengers and crew on board. I think we'll feel a little less nervous if they find it before we go away so we can at least have some idea what happened to it. Plus if we end up getting diverted for some random reason it will stop Kerry either having a heart attack, panic attack or trying to storm the cockpit!

Happier news is that the EZ66 guide turned up last week that Steph order from the US which gives step by step directions on travelling Route 66. Having a quick flick through is quite scary as each page has detailed directions on it. It was even more scary until I realised that it covered both east to west and west to east directions as well as attractions so the pages weren't as complicated as they looked!

The hunt for the Kipling bag/case that I want continues, as the price on Amazon is now over £100 unless I want the black one which to be honest looks a little boring! I might splash out I'm not sure yet!

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