It should come as no surprise to us that the departure times for our trips over the years do ultimately approach.   It's not like we didn't have enough time to prepare for this one.  We've had three years to prepare, actually.   Our last trip was in 2019, before COVID arrived and changed our world completely.   We thought seriously about a trip last summer, but the world the way it was at the time, we kiboshed that plan.   I actually felt the need to look this word up and according to TI (The Interweb): it is believed to come from the Arabic word “qurbāsh,” referring to a whip used for punishment.  Hum.

You'd think three years of planning would suffice. We've had lot's of lockdown and indoor time planning and thinking about where to go once this whole thing is over, but time is a slippery thing and it gets away from you.  And, so it does.  Funny thing...time.

Sue has worked from home for most of the past 2 1/2 years.  Online meetings, countless emails, and on-line team building exercises executed with precision-like awkwardness.  

I, for one,  have taught grade six with a mask on; trying my best to emote and teach with eyebrow raises and squinting eyes, urging my class of 29 students to try to social distance; to sanitize and keep windows open and urge one directional traffic in the halls:  no sports, no coaching, no field trips, no parents in the school, no assemblies in the gym, no school performances and plays etc.  This has been a horrible time for the social development of our young people (and old people) and I think it needs to be recognized.  I'm so lucky and fortunate that I love what I do, and I get back way more than I give.  But, seeing the end of June each year for teachers is just like watching a donkey chase a carrot on the end of a stick.  It just never seems to get close enough.  

We have all made our collective sacrifices over the past couple of years.  Many people in our society hit harder than others.  Hopefully, this experience has somehow made us think of each other a little bit more than we used to...hopefully.

So, the time has arrived that it is relatively safe for us to travel again.   And now there are three weeks to go, and we are all of a sudden getting anxious, thinking about all of the things that need to be done.

But, if I take my own advice from our last tour (Pau to Porto 2019):

"Packing for a tour is actually surprisingly straightforward.  The bikes go into boxes.  The gear gets packed.  We get ourselves to the airport."  

Sounds easy enough.