Plucky Survivors See Europe: T-Minus Two Days

People keep asking me if I’m ready for my trip to Europe.  The answer is “no.”  It will continue to be “no,” probably long after I’ve boarded my flight and perhaps after I arrive in Europe.  That’s just who I am.

I did another test packing run yesterday and am disappointed to announce that the suitcases with the cupholders will not be going with me.  Although they would be more convenient, they are smaller than the clamshells and I couldn’t fit everything into them.  With the original set of luggage, I can get everything and have room to spare so clamshells it is.  In especially small hotel rooms, they can have the bed.  I’ll sleep on the floor.

I’ve done all the printouts of my itinerary, list of embassies, doctor’s letters, and copies of my passport and international driver’s license, all of which have also been uploaded to a secure place on the interwebs.

I set up all the QR code luggage tags, which are very cool.  If someone scans it, they can send me a message through an app instead of seeing my phone number, email, or address.

I’ve cleaned out my cupboards and refrigerator.  I was shocked at how much food I had that was already expired.  Why did I have a box of crackers that went bad in 2022?

I got my last set of prescriptions and dry cleaning.  When I picked up the latter they said, “you have an envelope.”  I said, “huh?”  Apparently, I had left about $150 in cash in one of the jackets.  I have no idea where it came from.  I gave them a $50 tip.  Thank you Curry Cleaners for being so honest.

The main things I’ll be doing over the last couple of days are stuff around the house.  Yes, there are clocks I haven’t changed over to daylight savings yet and no, I won’t be around to see them, but it’ll bother me if I haven’t set them correctly. 

Meanwhile, I keep making changes to the itinerary.  In the last couple of days I’ve switched hotels in Florence and Bilbao, both primarily because of anticipated issues with PluckyMobile.

The hotel I had booked in Florence is in a ZTL (limited traffic zone) and the instructions on how to get there and what I had to do to avoid heavy fines read like the instructions on how to disarm a bomb.  In addition, the only available parking is in a public garage that is nearby but not nearby enough for my taste.

It took me hours to finally settle on a different hotel, and it was mainly because I had to stop searching out of fear that my eyes would stay permanently bugged out of my head from looking at the prices.  Florence is f-ing expensive!  The one I chose is about 50% more than what I was going to pay, but it has parking, isn’t in the ZTL, and has a balcony overlooking either the Arno River or the basilica where Michelangelo’s tomb is located.

The hotel in Bilbao wasn’t in a ZTL, but the parking situation was even worse.  The nearest public garage is nearly a mile away and doesn’t offer pre-booking of spots, plus there is nowhere at the hotel to pull over and drop off luggage as it’s on a narrow, one-lane street with no stopping allowed.  This would have meant parking in the garage and either grabbing a taxi with my bags to the hotel or lugging it all a mile.  No, thank you.

Now, I’m at a hotel with its own garage that is about two blocks from the Guggenheim. 

Even though I have way too much to do in every city I’m visiting, I’ve added a few more sightseeing stops to the list. 

On my first night in Paris, I’ll be seeing Aura Invalides, an immersive show that shines light projections on the inside of the Dome des Invalides, the church where Napoleon’s tomb is located.  I’m sure he’d love it.

After seeing the series finale of “Hacks,” I added a possible visit to Paul Bert Serpette, billed as the largest antiques market in the world, in business since 1885.

On the day I had already planned to explore the Cote d’Azur, the International Fireworks Festival will be having a massive pyrotechnics show in Cannes that I will hopefully be able to see on my way back to Nice about 20 miles down the road.

And while I’m in London, I may take a train a couple of hours away to Gaydon to visit the British Motor Museum, where they have an extensive collection of ancestors to my car run by the Jaguar Heritage Trust.  They used to do Jaguar factory tours in Coventry but suspended those until they start actually making cars again.  That’s a long story.

So, yeah… I’m pretty much ready.  But I’m totally not ready.