Fancy Flip Flops

Alan wants to know what jazzy flip flops look like. Well, for me, THIS is jazzy.

They look a little pink in this picture but they are actually a kind of dull gold color or perhaps more descriptively, bronze-ish. Not too flashy (I'm not a flashy girl.) but will keep my soles from frying when going back and forth to the pool, and will look nicer than my orthotic sandals for dining experiences. It IS the Caribbean after all! For all other walking experiences it's the orthotic sandals, EXCEPT when we go cave tubing. I have a cheap pair of Ked's-type sneakers that I can chunk if I have to, but are required. You MUST have closed-toed foot attire on when cave tubing. The flip flops, by the way, are sitting right on top of my suitcase!

The list for what goes in the suitcase is now about 75% checked off. My new tote bag came yesterday, and so it will hold my purse, a change of clothes (in case there's a delay in suitcases catching up with me), my medications and other odds and ends. The really important stuff stays with me, and it can double as my beach and excursion tote during other portions of the trip.

I imagine this sounds very boring to most people, but for me this is EXCITING stuff! I've never done this. My daughter's been on two cruises; this will be her third! Eric's parents have been on several cruises, I think. I know they went on one last year to Alaska. How amazing it is that Liam will be taking his second flight! (Two summers ago Jenn and Liam and I went to Salt Lake City for a week.) Jenn flew many, many times as a baby, but that was because her daddy worked for a now defunct airline. I was 25 or so before I took my first flight in an airplane.

I guess the only trip that has generated this much excitement in me, was when the world came to Atlanta in 1996, and I left. I always wanted to see the Grand Canyon and so I loaded up my truck, and went. Yes, I went camping all by myself across America. And it was just fine. I loved the Grand Canyon but hated how the brown colors of the west disturbed my equilibrium. MY world is green, not brown. I enjoyed the "Painted Desert," but I despised the high, high temperatures (117 in Flagstaff as I left for the north rim of the GC). It's all a learning experience.

I can't wait to see a bit of Honduras, a tiny bit of Belize and to visit a different area of Mexico. It fits in nicely with the probability that I'll be doing World Geography this coming year again. It's always nice when I can say something about the places we studied. Jenn and I have chuckled about me going to Honduras. When I quit my job in 1989 to go back to college, and I was terrified that at age 39 I'd fail miserably because my brain had turned to concrete -- my Spanish I class assigned me to do a poster/paper on Honduras. Jenn helped me with that project and we'll both always remember the flag of Honduras and the capital (bonus points if you know). Click HERE to see if you're right.

There is a piece of Mexican pottery that I regretted not getting for myself when I last was in Mexico. (Juarez, 1997-98?) I'm planning on traveling with a mostly empty suitcase that I can bring home cool suveniers in. This time I will not regret not getting something!

It's officially less than a week before we take off, literally! How cool!