Less than 1 week to:

• Learn Spanish
• Pack 6 weeks of clothing (and shoes!) into a carry-on rollybag
• Carry on with business
• Errands, errands, errands
• Learn how to blog
• Put blog online
• Get the house/bills/accounts in total leaving order
• Make all outstanding reservations
• Buy all hurricane supplies (we’re in Florida…might be one when we return)
• Stay calm

Welcome to my first blog post in my new bloggy world!  (Just trying to get used to the word)  I’ve been sitting on this post for so long the original title was, ‘less than 2 months to…’ so I decided to take the advice I used to give my kids at the edge of the swimming pool…just jump in!  Yea!  Still a little cold and scary, but here I am!

In less than a week we will be leaving on a 6-week trip to the Pyrenees and environs.  Although I couldn’t have started packing then, 6 months ago, when we started to think seriously about a long-term break, would have been a good time to start the Spanish.

Maps and guidebooks…check

And this would be a good occasion to come up with a powerful mantra, something like…Oooooommmmm…it will all get done, it will all get done…

The ‘to-do’list gets longer every day, with only the odd thing crossed off, like buy the tickets.  Nowhere on the list does it say, start writing a blog.  Aah!  still need a hotel in Bilbao!  What am I doing writing a blog? (Rhetorical, no good answer)  So, this is a peek into how I get organized and ready to leave home for 6 weeks.  (well, ready, anyway)

I am going to use this blog space to chronicle our experiences, in word and photo (including the ‘6-week/1 carry-on challenge’)

Our landing spot is Barcelona, Spain…the closest gateway to the Spanish/French Pyrenees.  Regionalism is alive and well in Spain and that is just fine with us and our quest for local foods and time-honored cultures.  We will be visiting only a few of the autonomies (autonomous regions) and all in the north.

Catalunya…here we come!