At some point you decide you've prepared as well as you possibly can. There's not much more you can do to head off disaster. Time to sit back and let come what may.

I know I've had several "departure days." The day I left work, the day I left on my east coast trip. There's still one more to come, but I think today's a big one. My Dad and I leave Virginia on our way to Tampa today.

"This part has gotten rather interesting."
Down there I'll stay with a friend for a couple of days before taking the Yucatan Express over to Cancun. Actually, this part has gotten rather interesting. I thought I'd been very lucky that the public bus I'd need to take from my friend's house to the Tampa port went straight there. Not true. I'll have to change buses in downtown Tampa. Woo Hoo.

And... the ferry doesn't really go to Cancun. How's that for a surprise? The thing really docks about 11 miles south of the city. It's also not too easy to catch a bus north. But I figure... it's a ferry. It's full of people bringing their cars to Mexico. Surely I can get one of them to give me a ride into town. If not I can just catch the bus. A pain but not impossible. Just kinda sucks to have a hassle for the first activity abroad. But I guess that's appropriate.

"What's with me?"
I finally completely packed my pack last night. Everything went in easily. There's still extra room in there, but it's pretty jammed. I think it weighs over forty pounds. More than I expected, but about right considering that's about what I had on the Appalachian Trail. Interesting to see my entire life packed into a dark green backpack... again. What's with me that makes me keep doing this?