And we're off!! (tomorrow)

I have been meaning to post for over a week now, but you can imagine (maybe) our busy-ness at getting ready to leave for 10 months!  This picture is from last week Friday when we brought Bennett downstate to stay at Bob's sister Dana's.  He has two "cousin dogs" he will have fun with, Jack and Chloe, both labs like himself.  It is strange to not have our dog around!  I have found that a dog certainly does make a person walk more.

Tomorrow we fly out of Traverse City at 11 am, short layover in O'Hare, then 16 hours on a plane to Hong Kong!  Finally 3 more hours to fly to Ho Chi Minh City, arriving just before midnight on Sunday night.  We have a driver to the hotel waiting for us...hopefully!  And a lead on an apartment we plan to look at Monday morning.  Do we need sheets?  Towels?  I am packing a towel and pillowcase just in case.  It's so hard to pack efficiently.  I have everything laid out that I could possibly bring but this morning I will weed through and put probably 1/4 of it (or more) back in the closet.

Today my car is going into storage in our pole barn (as soon as I bring one last load to the recycle bins); it will be strange to not drive for 10 months.  Tonight we get a fancy dinner cooked by our son, home for a few days to bring us to the airport tomorrow.  He briefly worried it might clog our arteries for the long flight, but it's how he likes to cook when he makes up his mind to make something special.  I'm off kitchen duty after last night (i.e. I told him I am not cleaning up after him!)

We had one more vaccination (part 2 of a series) Wednesday, and our global health insurance is in place--my big stress for a few weeks.  I'll post a picture of the top of the policy so you can see some Vietnamese writing. We actually pay when we get there!  We hear Vietnamese business is usually transacted in cash rather than credit card.  So in the first day or two we have a mission to find the Pacific Cross office downtown and pay for it in Vietnamese dong.

Insurance policy header

As I finish this it's 8 am and 53 degrees out.  In HCMC it's 7 pm and 81 degrees, according to my little phone app.  I like heat but I will miss these beautiful crisp fall days just beginning. I am off to stuff my suitcases--be ready for a next post much sooner than my last one!  Big changes are coming!