Packed and ready to rock -- Day 1 dawns

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Geo: 45.0236, -123.113

We depart from home in Salem in one hour.

All that's left to do is wash the dog and narrow down the number of Ireland guidebooks we're actually going to pack. The challenge is made greater by our self-imposed limit on luggage -- one 21x14x9 carryon and one personal bag each. No side trips in Paris for our bags! Tried to stay light and lean on this trip, so we'll have to see how this works out.

Flights out of Portland and Salt Lake City were PACKED (in fact, we could have taken an $800 voucher each to give up our seats PDX-SLC, wait a day, and leave from Seattle instead), and it started snowing as we left Salt Lake City on the 10-hour, overnight flight to Paris.

Geez, what some people will do to get a reasonable fare!

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