Toilet Paper, Immodium, and Ear Plugs

I mean if there is anything that will make you decide to just stay home it's the suggested packing items for Morocco! I was aware of the toilet paper issue. Having personally stood over a gap in the earth called a rest room in Italy, I was not worried so much about the toilet differences. I was already a little leery about the sanitary eating issues though when I was getting poked and prodded for my Hepatitis shots.

I was also not aware that prayers were called at night. So I plan to pack ear plugs, but still doubt I'll be able to hear much over the noise of my aunt's IPAP and snoring (kidding!) (kind of!).

So basically extra packing things for Morocco needs to include :

Wet Ones (I have these oil of olay wipes I'll probably take instead)
Anti-diarrhea medicine (though I usually have the opposite problem when travelling so I'll take that too)
Ear plugs
Toilet Paper
Sunscreen (I don't really like the way I look in hats, so taking one will be a chore for me) and
A hard sided suitcase for all the undetermined fragile things I'm taking back home.

Still trying to determine if the awesome Moroccan shoes are made in giant human sizes.

Andrea Bucket List - Part 2

As much as I love food I would think this section of my list would be longer. It seems I need to stretch my imagination a bit more on this one! I probably should look over the list of foods to eat before you die. I know there is one out there! (Update seems imminent)

GASTRONOMY

Eat poutine in Montreal

Become a Wine Connoisseur

Eat 5 deep fried foods at the Texas State Fair

Collect 30 wines that can age.

Take the Kentucky Whiskey tour

Drink Absinthe in Paris

Drink a pint of beer in Ireland

Do vodka shots in Russia

Have a formal dinner party with wine pairings

Eat tapas in Spain

Eat kimshi

Visit the Heart of Charleston and eat Low Country Cuisine

Stuff myself at Maine’s Lobster festival

Eat at Charlie Trotters in Chicago

Eat at SuperDawg in Chicago

Eat peanut pancakes in Singapore

How to pack your life (or two months of it) in 22"

Pay attention, Nancy, it goes fast (or so Matt says!)

I think I've seen this method before in ancient rugs and baskets. And also? I don't like to do laundry on a trip but then the chances of me needing to pack for 60 days is very, very low. I think the little handy, dandy scale is really cool.

Oh you want to know the REAL price?

I noticed this weird trend on Delta lately (where I look for most of my flights). It says the ticket price to a place, which actually doesn't look to bad. But in TEENY TINY letters you see the taxes which in effect DOUBLE the cost! Like for example I was looking at a fight to Nairobi in October (just for the heck of it, this is what I do when I have a project due in four days) and the big numbers say $1063, but then little digits below show there are over $600 in taxes. That's a big difference! So glad then to see this:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Now if only I can get them to notify me when the prices get within my budget (other sites do this!). And convince Craig that I need to go :)

Because everyone needs ANOTHER list to complete

I admit it. I wasn't really aware of UNESCO sites. When I happened on the blog PostCards and PLaces, I decided to look it up.


Here are the places I have already been (like 1% of the sites)
Czech Republic
 Historic Centre of Prague
 Kutná Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec

France
Palace and Park of Versailles
Paris, Banks of the Seine
Bordeaux, Port of the Moon

Germany
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (Berlin only)

Italy
Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (HILARIOUS what the call the Vatican!)
Venice and its Lagoon
City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto
City of Verona

United States of America (small shame that I have only been to ONE!)
 Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville

Place I will be going in just a few weeks(WHOOT!):

Morocco
Medina of Fez
Medina of Marrakesh

However in reality I don't intend to complete all 900+ sites. Many of them are very naturey and while I am not opposed to nature in theory, it is not my preferred travel destination. I am more for culture and people than beautiful scenery. I do however find the many pre-historic items on the list fascinating and might add some of them to my bucket list.

The Bucket List Shoving Match

I had all the best intentions of starting my New Year's Resolution to donate platelets once a month. I drove to the Blood bank. I answered all the questions about medication and travel. Oh I need to check something, they say. And then they came back.

Oh. Umm. Sorry? But Labadee, Haiti? Not good.

What do you mean? I didn't have sex with anyone. There were no blood transfusions done. What is the deal?

And then I flash to the gorgeous scenery. That much green. That much rain. It means mosquitos. Malaria carrying mosquitos. So here I've been stressing over Morocco in March and it turns out I'm high risk NOW.

So yeah, and since I'm going back to Labadee in say two weeks, this means I won't be donating  anything blood-like for at least another year. So I need to add something to my 12 for 12 to replace my failed blood attempt. I thought about buying flowers once a month for a year, but really trading a bucket list contribution item for a bucket list beautifying item? It seems a bit off.

So I went to my bucket list of contributing items and one jumped out at me. Contribute a microloan at Kiva.org

I thought I'd start small. You can loan as little as $25. This is the cost of a lunch out with the kids for me and when they ask if we can go out, I'm going to tell them no. We cannot because we spent the money helping Stephen. And they will be all WHO IS STEPHEN? And I'll show them Stephen. See that FULLY FUNDED notation? I DID THAT! He only needed $25 left to complete his loan and I gave the last $25. So somewhere in Africa a farmer is being told that his loan is ready. It took 32 strangers to help him out and frankly it brings tears to my eyes thinking that this man needs enough to support his family of six on LESS THAN WE PAY FOR OUR MORTGAGE IN ONE MONTH.

Perspective people!

Am I guaranteed to get this money back? No. Is this more than I can afford to lose? No. Do I feel an enormouse sense of accomplishment for doing it? HELL YEAH!

If you have never heard of Kiva and/or are interested in helping people in other places from the safety of your home, please check it out!

I love me a good packing post

I always find it interesting what people find as important to pack and also what they don't. It was nice seeing CeCe at Life's Little Victories list the medications she (as a nurse) finds important:

 Tylenol, Tums, Imodium, Dramamine and Motion Sickness patches, Benadryl (as a sleep aid), Sudafed (the real stuff). Don't forget bandaids and some topical antibiotic (like Neosporin).

I would like to add that I also love Gas-X strips. If you haven't heard of these, check them out because they are LIFE SAVERS! Also on cruises or when there are chances of a sunburn, I can't travel without aloe gel.

Mic has broken it into a science and I learned about the Eagle Creek Pack-It system. Cuz that's all I need. ANOTHER packing system!

How do you pack? Anything you never want to forget?