Subject: Trip Debrief --Addendum #2 Packing

good morning mele -

I forgot to mention a couple of travel related things that i wanted to pass on to you:

1) I live in levis and so decided to take a pair with me. I never for a moment regretted it. Yes, they are bulky, they are a pain to hand wash and take forever to dry but they are what i like to wear. For me the advantage was that I was comfortable in them and they can be worn forever w/o washing--so one pair was adequate. I only had to wash mine once in three weeks and altho it was an experience it worked out ok.

.......... so, for those people who wear levis - I say go ahead and take them.

2)  For drying my levis I used a neat trick that I'd read somewhere (one of Rick Steves' newsletters, I think)    I took some baloons with me and put my clothes over them to dry. This worked really well for heavier fabric items like tee shirts as well as the levis. I didn't find it necessary for lite weight items like undies, silks, polyesters, etc but it worked really well on those items that are slow to dry.

3)   I just stumbled into this one: while organizing my papers here at home before I left, I started separating things by destination and putting them into manila envelopes (I used the 1/2 size - 8 x 5, i think). I took these with me on the trip and found that not only did they continue to be a big help in keeping everything organized and manageable but they even increased their usefulness while traveling. They gave me a place where I could put all of my receipts, brouchures, ticket stubs, etc from each place we visited. This way I was able to have all of the pertinent papers easily accessible and not have to deal with those that I'd accumulated or had yet to use.

Again, Mele, I would like to thank you for all of your help in planning our trip. Your pack lite class was a godsend - wish I 'd taken even less than Idid. I shudder to think how much unnecessary stuff I'd have dragged along with out the benefit of your guidance in this department.

Your tips on places to go, see, do, eat at and stay at were most helpful also. It is absolutely so that without your generous guidance, assistance and support our trip would not have been the same. You are truly the "goddess of cost effective, fun European Travel."

mahalo nui.         aloha

Marlee

ps - give me a call if i can help you with anything.

marlee