By Joanna Miller, Staff Writer
It’s T-minus seven days until lift off as I write this.
In other words, in exactly one week at this very moment, I’ll be freaking out about forgetting to pack something while waiting in line at the airport.
Act I
The traveler glances around the bustling airport before beginning her soliloquy:“Do I have my boarding pass? Yep, it’s right here…and getting increasingly wrinkled as I fold it and recheck it a thousand times.
Tennis shoes? Yep, those are strategically shoved to the bottom of the suitcase.
Socks? Urgh.
I knew there was something! Early onset Alzheimer’s? Oh well. (Shoulder shrug)”
End scene
No matter how many packing lists I rehearse, er…write, there’s always airport drama.
But that’s what makes it an adventure. How boring would life be if I didn’t forget things now and then? There would be no reason to make mini trips to various markets and stores while on vacation.
It will mean another chance to practice Portuguese and to shop if I realize I forgot something behind (although, my already full suitcase indicates I’ve brought pretty much everything imaginable, so I shouldn’t stress out too much).
The Rotary Group Study Exchange Team departs April 28, lands in Atlanta for a 2 ½ hour layover, then it spends 9 ½ hours making a little jaunt over to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
By 8:45 a.m., we’ll reach our first travel destination – Vitória. (Trivia fact: Vitória is one of three Brazilian capitals located on an island.)
Images of the waterfront in Vitória are amazing. I can’t wait to see it in person, and I promise not to edit pictures in Adobe PhotoShop to make the water look bluer or flora and fauna look unrealistically vibrant when I post them to our Web site at www.rotary5960.org/gse/ (click on “2008 Outbound Team to Brazil (2007-08).”Alas, there hasn’t been much time for pre-trip daydreaming.
We’ve been busy finalizing our presentation and polishing an informational brochure, business cards and T-shirt designs. We also tracked down sample-size wild rice packages made in Minnesota and some Wisconsin cheese and summer sausage to deliver in gift baskets for our host families.
It’s a little beyond my typical summer travel to worry about updating yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations (I got mine just in the nick of time for the “10 days before travel” suggestion).
Visit the Rotary Web site during the next month to check in on our travels. I’ll post photos and updates there.
And, of course, I’ll share more from my journals and photos with Prior Lake American readers when I return.
Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.