Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin

Planes Trains and Automobiles - Photo courtesy Dawn Harris

In the immortal words of The House of Pain...I'm jumping around!  Not because I am listening to rap music, not just because I am excited to go but because getting ready for trips is not my favorite thing and I like to "Sweat The Small Stuff ".  I like the being there part and the getting home part.  Not so much a fan of the planning, packing, flying and worrying. Other then that travel is awesome!

This flight is going to be particularly epic! For those of you who know me as a suave and debonair individual and wonder; "how did he get to be so worldly?" :-)  you may be surprised that I have never travelled this far before. Not even close. I would suspect that if you put your finger on the globe at Halifax, Nova Scotia and then tried to pick the part of the globe that is farthest away from that other finger, The Philippines would not be far away from that 2nd finger.  This is a huge stretch!

Here is the itinerary starting from Halifax's Stanfield airport on Thursday night! 

Halifax to Toronto .... 22:05 - 23:28   -   2 Hours and 23 minutes
Toronto to Taipei........01:45 - 04:30    - 14 Hours and 45 minutes
Taipei to  Manila .......09:30 - 11:40     - 2 Hours and 10 minutes

So 19.5 hours in the air and approx 30 hours after I check in at the Halifax airport until landing in Manila.  What am I going to do with all that time...will I have enough leg room....will I be able to sleep?  Who's going to sing "Soft Kitty" to me ? 

So on to the checklist.

• Wallet, credit cards,  passport, emergency contacts ....check
• Medications/toiletries ......check 
• Project materials for on flight reading printed out..... check 
• Gifts, business cards, laptop.....check 
• Suitcases ..... not quite there yet. 

I am one of the world's worst packers. If I only need 3 of something I will take 6. Ask my wife and my parents. I can drag 40 lbs of luggage for a 5 Day stay in PEI.  "Be prepared"  is my motto!

Here is a typical weekend away in PEI !

Where am I going to put the golf clubs

Anyhow whittling down the packing list and need to leave space for some shopping.  Our hosts tell us the shopping is great over there.  So the prep is almost over! After 4 months of education, reading, planning, preparing.....I am just ready to get on with it. Once on the plane there is nothing you can do about it so hopefully just chill out and enjoy the experience.

#ibmcsc philippines