It’s time! I am all packed for our big trip (except for my hairbrush and iPhone charging cord — note to self: don’t forget to pack those in the morning). We are taking off tomorrow.

I’d like to think I have remembered everything I might possibly need and that this won’t be one of those trips where I get to my destination only to discover I have no shoes or no deodorant or no hairbrush or no toothbrush or no bra. Almost all of those examples have been taken from my actual life, yes.

Personal hygiene and foundation garments aren’t my top priorities, however. Nor are shoes. The most important things I bought in preparation for traveling to Greece and Italy were camera related. I got a purse-sized, purse-looking camera bag from Jo Totes, so I could carry my camera everywhere without looking like I was carrying a camera everywhere (I bought and love this one; they have a redesigned version on their site now) and a 16-gig memory card to complement the 8 gigs I already have. Taking photos every damned where I go? Yes, that’s priority il numero uno.

I have also been practicing a few Italian phrases thanks to the Fodor’s app I installed. (I don’t speak Italian, but I do speak French so I get the cognates, can understand a bit when reading, and can say and recognize a few phrases.) I have the Greek version, too, but I will admit that Greek seems difficult enough that I am almost not really trying. I am reviewing the Greek alphabet to help me sound out words on street signs and the like, but I don’t anticipate being able to communicate with people in any helpful way in Greek, so I’m not going to worry about it. I will just try to say my παρακαλώ (please) and ευχαριστώ (thanks) and, of course, κρασί (wine).

I’ll be offline during the trip, so I will catch up with you fine people when we get back! A presto!