Wednesday 22 July 2015

Checklist

We leave for Bali in 3.5 sleeps. 

Miss 12 and I are firmly of the opinion that as we will be too excited to sleep much on Saturday night, and because we will be getting up at 4am, that Saturday night only counts as half a sleep. Therefore, it is 3.5 sleeps and not 4 sleeps.

I was about to make a final check of things to do before I leave, so I thought I may as well write a blog post. This will save me from writing it on post-it note and promptly losing it, plus I thought some of you might have useful tips?

This week
  • Locate passports. (Do NOT leave this until the last minute. Seriously. Trust me on this one).
  • Copy passport (2 copies to be left with responsible people, 1 copy to be in bag away from actual passport).
  • Pack bags.
  • Argue with children about what is actually necessary and what is not.
  • Weigh bags.
  • Make sure you have appropriate weight for your checked in baggage.
  • Take out travel insurance (I have actually already done this, but it is so important).
  • Double check immunisations (Even thought that should really be done a few months beforehand. I did this soon after we booked the trip).
  • Confirm hotel bookings.
  • Print tickets/insurance/bookings.
  • Email copies of tickets/insurance/books to responsible and contactable people.
  • Make arrangements for pets/house/mail.
  • Leave instructions and key for pet-sitters.
  • Buy appropriate food etc for pets.
  • Assure anxious children that the pets will not get totally overweight with pet-sitters. 
  • Let bank know that account will be accessed overseas.
  • Get $US for entry visa.
  • Exchange enough money for the first few days.
  • Pack a Bali First Aid Kit (the girls' Dad made me promise to do this one).
  • Advise people that I won't be contactable on phone (or get global roaming, but I am planning on the first option).
  • Mentally deal with the fact that work goals will not be as finished as will like, and move on.
  • Effect good handover to colleagues.
  • Put on "out of office" and put work out of my mind, guilt free.


The day before
  • Do the dishes and make sure there is no wet laundry.
  • Book taxi.
  • Check in.
  • Write list of things to do last minute as we leave the house.
  • Set alarm.

Ok so the list looks pretty massive, but it's not really. It has been a good brainstorming exercise, and I am feeling a lot more organised than I usually do when I am throwing things in a suitcase the day I leave to go somewhere. 

The girls have been well brought up in Girl Guides. They don't go anywhere without a kit list; if one is not provided, or if the quality is not good enough, they write their own. I haven't seen their lists for this trip, but I will see if they will let me share. 

In the meantime, can you think of anything I have forgotten to do? What is your last minute routine before you go away?

Happy adventuring,

Cath xx

Tuesday 21 July 2015

Winter Wanderings

4 July 2015 saw us celebrating. No, not the independence of the American colonies from the British Empire, but the beginning of the Bridgetown in the Winter Festival. The night saw "snow" (complete with snowfights, snowangels, and snowmen), a hawkers' lane filled with lots of yummy food, the Bridgetown Town Hall turned into a Winter Wonderland, and the official turning on of Bridgetown's Blue Lights.

That was simply a teaser. The Bridgetown in the Winter Festival is Lela's project so I will let her tell you all about it. All I am going to say is that there are some great activities on offer, lasting all the way through the winter months, and that the myth that Western Australia's South West is purely for summer has been well and truly debunked.

The girls and I are trying to make it one of our missions to see something a bit different each time we go down South. This trip we took a drive down the scenic Blackwood River Tourist Drive.





It was a truly beautiful drive. Miss 16 put herself in charge of taking photos (which was useful as I was driving), and these were the only four she deemed blogworthy.

Are you spotting a flaw with the pictures? Did you notice there was no river?

I can confirm that there were several sightings of the Blackwood River along the drive, however the route we were on did not follow the river. It was fun playing spot the river though!

Enough about recent trips. There are still exciting things to come! Currently I am looking forward to a planning meeting with Lela for our big NZ trip on Friday ... and my trip to Bali with the girls next week.

Stay tuned for more posts, and happy adventuring.

Cath xx