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Published: January 29th 2009
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Last Day at Work
Courtesy of a very sad Jackie Pampel - everything in boxes, not a billable hour in sight. Ok, so I don't really mean so long suckers in the meanest sense. It is just a tribute to my good friend, Dan White (aka jackass, Sven, Abe, Wonder Bread, Too Tall, Stretch) . Dan came into my office during my last week at my mega law firm job and reminded me of a Simpsons episode where they build a monorail in Springfield. The monorail promoter (Lyle Lanley) had a little drawing, which Dan was kind enough to replicate on the white board in my office. The monorail promoter drew a picture of himself flying off to Tahiti with the Springfield population who purchased his monorail left behind, crying, with the term "suckers" on top. All gracefully done in fantastic stick figure drawing. But, there is a little so long sucker going through my mind as we head from a warm day in Chicago at 20 degrees to at least 85 in Sydney. No hats. No gloves. No down jacket.
We told you so
We notified friends many moons ago that we were going to go on this trip, the M.P. Several of them told us over the past month or so that they did not think
Go Away - Yes Sir
Storage unit - filled to the brim. 2000 sq ft in a 10 x 15. With our infamous Go Away door mat. It says it all. we would actually do this. They thought this was another one of our "hair brained schemes". Well, here we are. No more countdown. We are on our way.
The condo is packed up and all our inanimate stuff is in storage. The jobs have been left behind, as have the blackberries and cell phones. Note the Go Away door mat in our storage unit. I can't believe how much stuff we fit in there. I can't believe we are actually doing this. Our condo is empty. Our cat, Tobi, is "leased out" as is our Mini, Winston. We have stuff all over the city: Winston is on Sheffield (Thanks Jackie!); Tobi is on Wrightwood (Thanks Scott!); our storage unit is on Montrose; we have documents and clothes on Wilton (Thanks Angie); some more documents and clothes on Randolph (Millie, of course); a dining set on Barry (Enjoy Landon!) and more stuff in Arlington, VA (Thanks Kelly!). We have said our farewells, spending our last few nights with Angie and a view of Wrigley field.
We told you so. Never count us out for something crazy. We are doing this.
Our Gear
Yes. Three bags.
Our Gear - Yes That's It
Only 2 back packs and a day pack - that's all folks. We each have a larger travel backpack. Mine is small enough to fit in the over head bin. It needs to be less than 10kg to be a valid carry on. That's right. Metric system. Eric's is appropriately larger, as is fit for a sherpa. Then, the day pack. A bag to share with our camera, computer, and other important necessities. That includes: two ipods, travel scrabble, travel backgammon, playing cards, drink coupons for our very long flight to Sydney, etc.
As for what is included in our two large bags, the smallest category is clothing. One pair of pants, one pair of capris, one pair of shorts, two skirts (not for Eric), 5 t-shirts, one fleece, one pair of walking shoes, one flip flops, one Chaco sandals, etc. You get the jist. We also have power cords for cameras, computer, ipod, plus the adapter. We have a ziploc bag of needles and syringes in case of medical emergency. We have 90 days of Malarone for malaria; and another 180 days of doxycycline for malaria, plus several rounds of Z-pac for the occassional Montezuma's revenge (although we won't be in Mexico - draw your own conclusions). Toiletries. Insect repellant
Tom V Traveler
Introducing . . . Thomas V. Traveler with more than 10%!d(MISSING)eet. Various over the counter remedies - Immodium, pepto, tylenol, tylenol PM, bennadryl, etc. Serisouly, we have more of our bags filled with non-clothing items than actual clothing items.
And, Introducing Thomas V. Traveler
On a recent client dinner, prior to depature, I received a little yellow parachute man as a cracker jack prize. Mind you, it was a fancy cracker jack ice cream dessert, with a blue box from the Blue Water Grill. But, a cracker jack prize nonetheless. I agreed to take the little parachute man around the world, and take pictures of him in various places. If anyone has a request, let me know, and I will take it as a personal challenge. Once it was decided that parachute man would be joining us on the safari, he needed a name. After several ideas, we came up with an homage to the man that allowed me to "abandon" him for this journey - and we, therefore, named him Thomas V. Traveler - or Tom Traveler. He is pictured here with our gear. Stay tuned for his future adventures.
Our "Assignment"
A very wise man gave us an assignment. He said that if we don't wake up every morning of our trip and realize how lucky we are - and to ensure we take advantage of every day of the trip - he would be sorely disappointed. We will do our best to enjoy life and to take advantage of every opportunity - no fear.
We are currently at the Red Carpet Club at O'Hare, awaiting our flight to LAX and then off to Sydney. Our next entry will be from the land of Oz. See you down under.
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Greg
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Hasta La Pasta
It may seem strange to suggest this to a couple taking an entire year off to travel but, "take time to smell the roses." It's a big world out there and it is more than okay to lose a day or two (or even a week/month or two). Enjoy, and I will see you in Japan.