10 days and counting...

Well, we're off, it's real - we are heading out into the world en famille. After much to-ing and fro-ing with passports and itineraries we are all confirmed and even packing up the house at last. The littles are having great fun with the boxes (see, who needs TV?) and things are slowly but surely falling into place.

We've rented both home and business to two lovely Fuel baristas from whom I've been buying my coffee for the last year or so. They are friends so there will be some good synergies there for them and they are just lovely people - we are all very happy with arrangements. Plus we can leave our pictures on the walls, lamps, shelves, table and chairs etc in the house as Louisa and co. don't have much house stuff, so much less to pack.

Not scintillating stuff, but necessary! I have had a lovely time booking planes and trains (no automobiles yet...) and hotels online to fine-tune the first few weeks.

So far the itinerary looks like this:

• Depart (AirNZ) Sat 11th for LA, stay there with Gwen, baby Honor and Graham for three days.
• Tues 14th fly (United) to NYC overnight arriving first thing Wednesday. Right now I have a hair appointment booked for 11am but may change it to the next day - figured I may as well get my long overdue roots done there and have a lasting NYC experience at John Masters Organics!
• Stay with the wonderful Peggy and Will in the city, and maybe Eileen and Bob and family (my best nannying friend) a night or two in Astoria, Queens. We are cutely going to her 7 year old son Justin's birthday party the first Saturday, which will be wonderful - the kids will be in heaven too!
• Take the AMTRAK train on the morning of the 29th August up to Montreal. Stay at a hotel downtown (thanks to my aunt Sally and her Swissair connections!) with a rooftop pool (!?!) and explore the lovely bilingual town. One night at Sally's near Dorval then on Saturday 1st
  
• Over to Toronto by train and one night in a downtown hotel there with a 4 story waterslide - Conrad will be in heaven this time! And we are catching up with some family friends of Conrad's which will be cool
  
• Up to Kitchener Ontario on Sept 2nd to visit my aunt Rosemary and a wildlife park and various other things then we depart (Lufthansa) Toronto for Frankfurt on the 3rd.
• Arrive Frankfurt on 4th September then fly that afternoon via Ryanair (amazing bargain flights) to Venice til the 8th and hope to catch up with friends there who are on their way back to NZ.
• Fly to Paris on the 8th (again via Ryanair to Beauvais, 100kms or so out of Paris) and the unknown adventure begins!!!

All very exciting. Til then need to pack house, bags, finish up at work and do things like go to dentist, joy. It won't feel real til we step on that plane. The littlies are getting excited and asking many questions. They are going to love even the plane rides I expect - screens right in front of their little faces - the forbidden fruit!

: )