WE BE LEAVIN' TOMORROW!!!!!

Incredible, but true!!!! We are packed and ready to go, with a car coming to whisk us away to airport hell at noon tomorrow. (It's the flight that keeps on giving and giving . . . and giving. JFK to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Kathmandu. We leave afternoon of November 1 and arrive afternoon of November 3. In Economy Class. Arrrrrgh.) I do feel like we have an unbelievably small amount of gear given the type and length of trip. Here is a little before and a BIG after shot of what I'll be taking and how tiny it all packs up. It is probably still too much, but we weighed it and are well within the limits. So POW! BIFF! KERBLOOIE! Take that anonymous pollster who didn't think I had it in me!

Here's the obligatory shot of my Dad and all of our combined crap. No shot of me as I was rockin' the unattractive-for-blogging combo of long john top, baggy sweat pants and unmentionable hair-in-an-unwashed-bun. We're both willing to admit that we do have sooooooo much stuff, which includes enough wet wipes (all sizes, types, packaging), toilet paper and spare batteries to arm an extended focus group, replenish Sam's Club aisles, sell for a profit to less-worldly Americans. Plus delightful yellow plastic spikes with which to dig our own personal toilet holes. Good stuff, Maynard!!!!

To the immediate right, I think I've captured my Dad in an artful and truthful depiction of how we both feel after an exhausting day of shifting, rearranging and consolidating our various gear and documents. The QBeez behind him are in various stages of travel trauma as there will be no QBEEZ FOREVER on this trip. If the frame captured Zootie the Clown, he'd be hoisting his scary glass higher because he is no longer allowed to travel from his poster-framed prison. Fear not, however. We did rally to the West Village Halloween cause after a might tasty dinner at Po. The wine was flowing, the pasta/lamb/veal at its finest, the conversation stimulating, the service impeccable and the check - well, it was small and we certainly can't find fault with that. Night and au revoir.