One more sleep ...

What started as a casual remark while hanging out at St Pete's Beach one afternoon in August 2013 will soon be a reality.  I was in St. Pete's for a meeting with the Association of American Feed Control Officials and my longtime friend, Ken Green (he'll always be Kenny to me) had driven across Florida to hang out on a different beach for a couple of days.  

Kenny was recently retired and had been bitten hard by the travel bug so when I casually mentioned my desire to go back to Vietnam (I was there as part of my Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2008), he just said "Let's do it!!" Our original plan was to make the trip in the winter of 2014 but for a variety of reasons, we decided to delay until 2015.  Our flights have been booked for the better part of a year and the rough skeleton of our trip has been in place since last spring as well.  We've picked our hotels, identified a few tours and activities that we decided to lock in and many more that we will fit in if and when we can. We had enough vaccinations to feel like pin cushions.  Malaria medicine along with our just-in-case pharmacies are jammed in our mostly packed (in my case over-packed) suitcases.  How much stuff do you need for five weeks? 

So here we are and it's the night before an adventure that has been almost two years in the making and my traveling companion and partner-in-crime is as excited as I am.  It's always hard to sleep the night before heading off on a big trip.  There are so many last minute things to do and the excitement of what's on the horizon gets your blood pumping.

"Meals on Wheels" at The Cutting Room

As a woman of a certain age with no apparent "silver highlights", one of my last tasks was a trip to see my hair stylist, Sylvain Compte at The Cutting Room.  Sylvain not only kept the salon open late tonight especially for me but he also bought wine and sushi for us to enjoy as we waited for my hair to cook.  That's the kind of service that you only get from a friend.  Thanks Sylvain.  My next salon visit will be in Vietnam so you never know what colour my highlights will be there!!

Escapade-ready hair courtesy of Sylvain

Home now I am catching up on the latest episode of General Hospital and avoiding other last minute chores.  Maybe that's why I rarely sleep well before traveling as i am an expert procrastinator!! Better get to it.  More to follow ...