I Need Fen-Phen for My Suitcase

Up until now I've been going on general hearsay and outdated notions regarding baggage allowances for overseas flights. Up to now I've squeezed my eyes tightly shut, pressed my hands over my ears and sung, "La-la-la-la, I don't want to know the truth..." I know, I know -- travel light. Everyone from Rick Steves to the grocery store bagger has been telling us this. But hey, we're going for a freakin' year!

I finally mustered up the nerve to go the the Swiss Airlines website today, to get the scoop on the luggage restrictions. Wow! We're screwed. I think our suitcases weigh more than the total weight allowance -- empty. Here it is: one suitcase and one carry on per person. I'll spare you the math, but the total weight of everything we can take -- checked bags, carry ons, family of four -- is 246 pounds. That's 61.5 pounds per Redpath human. It may sound like a lot to you, but it's frightening to me. My lunch weighed more than that today (Brenna made lasagna last night!)

In recent years we've traveled mostly by minivan. If we thought we might want to take the crockpot or entire World Book Encyclopedia set with us, what the hell, pile it in the back. Now we have cameras, tripods, computers, hard drives, microphones, and Brenna's shoes to take with us! The good news is, we can pay a "little" extra if we go over the allowance. $20 per pound extra! We're planning on a "practice packing" session soon, but now we'll have to add a bag weigh-in to the protocol. I'm thinking about making everyone wear six or eight layers of clothing and maybe stuffing shoes and toiletries in our pockets. I even considered hiding a five pound tripod in my pants, but then I had a "Spinal Tap" nightmare and thought better of it.

Listen To Our Interview With Madeleine Brand!

Madeleine Brand is a terrific interviewer. We know, because she interviewed US recently! Madeleine Brand is also a terrific editor. We know, because we just listened to the interview we did!

Madeleine is the former host of Day To Day on NPR, which has recently been canceled, much to the heartbreak of fans of the show, like us. She now has a blog called Parenting On The Edge, and our interview with her is the featured podcast for this week.

Listen here, and be sure to tell her how witty, pithy, intelligent, and wise we sound. (You can comment on her site. You don't need to call Madeleine personally.) Lie if you need to. We don't mind.

Video Blog: April Fools! Sometimes You Just Need To Compromise...

As you may know, we've been searching for a business partner to sponsor us on this journey. Well, we've finally been made an offer we can't refuse and we're absolutely delighted to share the news.  [Click the link above to read on!]

Click to read more ...

Haiku Alert!

We have a new The Great Haiku Garage Giveaway ready for your perusal.  Go peruse!  We also have voting up for the GHGG#7. Go vote. (In fact - you will be voting in both places, but you won't know that until you get there.  Hmmm... Sounds mysterious and intriguing...)

I'm out

An Itinerary Of Our First Few Months

OK! Let's talk about where the Redpath family is going once we FINALLY leave (in 88 days!). First stop - the small village of Serbanovac (pronounced ser-bahn-oh-vatch), near the spa town of Sokobanja (soh-koh-bahn-ya), in Serbia. We'll be there 3 weeks. Actually we fly into Belgrade (bel-grade), stay a few days to recover from jet-lag and hang out, and then head to Serbanovac.  

Why start with Serbia? We're going with our dear friends Paul and Dora and Chloe.  Dora grew up splitting her time between Serbia and the US, and Serbanovac is where aunts and uncles and cousins still live. This is going to be such a cool way to start this trip! I suspect that Bob and I will spend the rest of the year trying to replicate the personal, non-tourist glimpse of places that we'll get with Dora and her family on the farm.  AND - she speaks the language, which is the only time for the rest of the year that we'll have that particular advantage!

Belgrade, Serbia. Not a bad place to start - huh!

Here's what's left of the fortress at Sokograd near Sokobanja. It dates back to Roman times. Dora promises a hike here.

Next stop: Krakow Poland. Why Krakow?  Well - a few reasons. One is that we realized we were trying to find cheap lodging in Europe in August, which is stupid because: 1) Everything costs a fortune. 2) Everyone else in the whole world is in Europe, and it's SUPER crowded. 3) It is nearly impossible to find lodging for a month at a time at that time of year. The other reason Krakow is killer is because it's NOT Rome, or Nice, or Paris. It's just a little bit off the beaten path, and we don't know as much about it.

We'll take a train from Belgrade to Krakow, and we'll be there from mid-July through the end of August. We have an apartment in an old building very close to the historic center of the city, which is the largest medieval town square of any European city, and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Krakow is over 1000 years old. 1000 years old!! (Man, America is young!) And it's close enough to Prague and Bratislava to take the train and spend a few days in those cities too.  The family who handled our rental has a brand-new baby, and I've seen her picture! So there!

Krakow Square. This will be my neighborhood!! I'm imagining Eleanor and I wandering around a farmers market in the morning, buying vegetables for a lovely lunch. Then Owen and Bob will say they'd rather go out for zapiekankas AGAIN, and we'll be all like "You don't even Like mushrooms!" and the whole day will just go to hell....

Next: Bamberg, Germany, in the Bavarian region. Why Bamberg?  Well - we were looking at cities in Bavaria, and Bob was making fun of the name Bamberg, doing a whole Emeril thing with it, so I started looking there to make him laugh, and we found out that it's one of the few cities in Germany that wasn't destroyed in WWII, so the buildings are original.  The whole place is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site too! (How many of these sites are there anyway?) Bamberg is on the river Renitz, and the apartment we'll be staying in is right on the river. In fact, go here to see the exact house we're renting. We'll be there for about 3 weeks.

We'll stay in a place like this on the water in Bamberg.

So this takes us to the end of September, and then we'll be homeless again. Where next? Who knows? Since it will be almost October, we want to head down south. Greece? Italy? Spain? Portugal? Although Bob might be angling for more Germany so that we can hit Oktoberfest.

Anybody know anyone in Bamberg or Krakow? Maybe someone who is taking a life turn and choosing their uncertainty?  Let us know! And - if you have a favorite place that we should go, or people we should meet elsewhere on the continent, let us know that too.  We're waiting for your good advice and extensive connections to come in handy.