Developments

Good news!! My sister, who has a stinky butt, is shipping her European, 220Volt Vitamix to our host family in Sweden! She won't tell me how much it cost to overnight the blender but said it was my Christmas/Birthday present. So, perhaps her butt is not so stinky...I will have to think on this...

The good thing is, I will not need to bring the 30lb 220volt - 110volt converter with me to Sweden. Plus, I won't need to pack my blender!! Do you realize how much weight this will save us?!?

However, we are not going straight to Sweden on this trip. We are spending a night in New York, then two nights in Copenhagen before we take a train up to Varberg. So, I will need A LOT of Real Food Blends (26 meals, by my calculations) to get me to Sweden. I had meals sent ahead, and those will be my lunches while we're there, but we are spending another night in Copenhagen and one night in New York on the way home. This will require twelve more meals for the return trip. 38 meals total that I need to pack. This is quite a bit of weight, but we can spread the meals out between all our bags. The bags will get lighter as time goes by and leave room for souvenirs.

If any bags get lost, I will need to subsist entirely on alcohol. Pretty sure it can be done.  Also, a lot of restaurants have Vitamixers, so I can always wander around until I find one to blend my food during our days in New York and Copenhagen.

In other news about things you need to know, but secretly don't want to know, I have to carry a heavy suction machine with me on trips. This is to suction the drool and prevent it from collecting in the back of my throat. I also bring multiple dish towels to spit into. Up until now, we have carried the suction machine in this cumbersome bag:

Make your bed!

That bag becomes extremely painful on my shoulder after carrying it through multiple airports.

Ok, let me rephrase that. That bag becomes extremely painful on Betsy's shoulder after carrying it through multiple airports. So, we were looking at luggage and decided to get one of these small roller suitcases for my suction and other carry-ons:

Ever seen a one-armed guitar player? Me neither.

This will make navigating airports a whole lot easier. The only thing is I need to empty the suction container frequently because if it ever spills into that nice bag, it'll become a biohazard.

We leave tomorrow!!! The big dog is bummed we're leaving him, but our neighbors are over here frequently and they take him on better walks, so I think he's secretly happy.

He looks big, but it's mostly fur