Expedition ready

Tomorrow we leave on a two-week vacation. Two. Weeks.

Unheard of in this family.

What’s even stranger is that those bags you see above were packed nearly a week ago. That just goes to show how big a deal this trip is to us, a trip we first started talking about nearly 20 years ago.

We’ve spent the past months plotting routes, reading guides, making lists, researching gear — and now it comes down to this: two weeks wandering around northern Italy and getting lost in a slice of Italian summer.

As part of my preparation, I’ve loaded some apps on M’s iPad so I can attempt to share some of our adventure along the way, when wifi connections allow, of course.

Tomorrow, we set off on the first leg: Vermont to Montreal, where we hop a flight to Verona, Italy, by way of Paris.

Tonight, oddly, we’re hanging out, listening to Vic Chesnutt, reading Harry Potter, and writing this post, not frantically packing, organizing, and getting ready. I guess we’ve learned we can be ready on time if we give ourselves 20 years.