Saturday, November 14, 2009

Does 60 into 4 go?

Well, 60 is certainly divisible by 4, but I am wondering this morning when we get up, whether we can get our total luggage allowance of 60 kgs into 4 bags - 2 large suitcases, one on-board size suitcase and one packpack. We seem to have accumulated far more 'stuff' than we left with!

We have gathered a bit of other currency too and I will need to put this somewhere safe to exchange when we get back to Sydney. Better be careful though, last time I put something somewhere safe, I lost my little purse that I bought last time we were in Switzerland in 2006! Found it this morning! No point in exchanging the money here though as you lose on the double exchange between currencies (initially to pounds and then to Aussie $). In hand we have:
- 196 Chinese Yuan Renminbi
-
150 Czech Republic Koruny
- 120 Polish Zlotych
- 300 Croatian Kuna
- 650 British Pounds
Plus god knows how much more in loose change - that little bag is surely heavy! We will change the notes and the coinage can go to the airline's UNICEF collection bag when we complete our flights. Trouble is, that all the currency that we are changing does not really amount to a great deal!

We are packing one suitcase with the mid-season and winter clothes we have been wearing and also putting other things we won't need immediately in this one. The other ones will have the 'summer' clothes that we will need when we land in Sydney. And then is our bright little small carry on size suitcase that I bought to take to Paris when I met Helen, we will put a change of clothes (hmm memories of being in Atlanta, USA with none of our baggage and no 'smalls') and precious elements such as the cameras and my jewellery. We also have the laptop (my precious!) and a backpack with books etc. Gosh!

And I have just uploaded the last of the photos on to the external hard drive and on to DVDs - so I know exactly how many photos we took! In fact, there are a whole heap of statistics that are interesting:
- 21 countries (Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, United States, Spain, Portugal, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Vatican City, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, The Netherlands)
- 54,917.25 kilometres driven (doesn't include the side trip to the USA)
- 79,050 photos taken!
- countless new friends

Now, hows THAT for some numbers!

There was one last dinner to be had at the Premier Inn. And while the menu was the same there were still choices that we could try for the first time. This time it was
Entrees:
Drunken duck Pate - smooth pate enriched with sweet wine, truffles and Bramley apple jelly served with toasted rustic ciabatta and spiced onion marmalade (Michael)
Crispy seeded chicken strips served with Mandarin chili sauce (Maria)
Mains:
Smothered chicken - grilled chicken breast topped with crisp bacon, Cheddar and mozarella cheeses served with chips and seasonal vegetables and hickory sauce (Michael)
Rump Steak served with chips, garden peas, sauteed mushrooms and grilled fresh tomato(Maria)

We had goodbye calls to Steph and Felix and to Anna today which was lovely and we have phoned the mums to confirm our departure tomorrow. We are not phoning every Tom, Dick and Harry. Its time to go quietly!
So everything is finally in the bags - but we still have to get them on the scales and on to the plane though! We suspect we are somewhat over the weight allowance!!

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