Packing Up

Packing

I wrote Nick, I'm taking only a carry-on (European carry-on allowance is a couple of inches shorter) and a small duffle bag. Nick wrote back "I will, of course, show up in Belgrade with six or seven large suitcases and a steamer trunk.  I assume porters will be on hand to assist me." He's kidding, of course, but maybe not. We vacationed in NZ two years ago he showed up with a full wardrobe - ready for every occasion. Debra choked when I told her I was only taking a couple of carry-ons. When you only bring one pair of shoes that can double as beach sandals, no hair dryer, of course, but lots of underwear (hmm, maybe I could do without the underwear), t-shirts, and light short sleeve shirts, it's surprising how much you can pack. The airlines are getting fussier  about what's allowed so it remains to be seen whether my two small bags will be within their limits.

More thoughts on communications: Skype seems to be the way to go if you can find a good wifi connection, then the calls, video conferencing, text messaging are free when calling another Skype user. I can also call non-Skype numbers for a minimal charge. I have Skype installed on my iPhone and notebook computer. The next cheapest way to communicate, as an AT&T subscriber, is text messaging. For $10/Mo you get 50 text messages. Incoming text messages from the U.S. are free otherwise they're charged against your 50-message allowance. If you can get a wifi connection, the third way to communicate is through emails - it's free. Beyond these options, it gets quite expensive. An international calling plan for $5.99/Mo only marginally reduces the price of making and receiving calls from $.99 to $2.29 depending on the country. I'm getting a data roaming plan for the iPhone so I can access information over the internet - especially Google Maps. This is going to cost $199/Mo. for 200 megabits. One Google Maps search can eat up 8 megabits, ugh!