Figuring Out the Final Details

Venice, 2008

Now that we only have 9 days until our departure I have finally turned my attention to getting the final details in order. Fortunately, I remembered that the July 4th holiday happens to fall next week. This might have made getting things done a little more difficult than they need to be. This post is serving as both a bit of advice for my travelers and a reminder to myself of the things that I still have to accomplish.

The first thing I will take care of tomorrow morning is the quick phone call to my bank to inform them of the fact that I will be travelling and using my bank cards outside of the country. I don't want to get caught up in the unpleasantness of having my accounts locked out while I am on another continent. My bank allows me to order foreign currency online, so I took care of that this morning. I ordered $100 worth of each of the three currencies that we will be using in Europe (British pounds, Euros, and Swiss francs), just to get me started.

Tomorrow I will also take care of my cell phone and cellular data issues. Luckily, AT&T has made it simple for iPhone and iPad users to manage all of that through apps. No need to sit on hold with a representative. I know that most of you will have no need for cellular data in Europe. I plan to use it to keep this blog up to date and tweet from the road. Most of our hotels have WiFi connections available, so I won't need a huge data plan.

I spent a little time this morning putting together some of the essentials for this trip. I packed up my toiletries and shower kit, and made sure that I had all of my electrical and electronics needs taken care of. Steve Jobs and the USB have made this much easier than it was in the past. The iPad has taken the place of books, magazines, and even a laptop. Almost everything I use plugs into a USB port to charge. Now I just carry a USB charger that has multiple ports so that I only have one or two things that I might need to plug in.

 

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