Hey blogosphere,

I made it to my gate. Two posts in one day is NOT something you should come to expect, but there are only so many things to do with an hour to kill at the gate. I already called my parents, my grandma, and Ashley. I called my bank and the VISA people and notified them of upcoming travel. I decided to save my baby bourbon for my train in Italy tomorrow. I survived a TSA full-cavity search. That last part was a joke, they let me through pretty easily.

I'm really not sure I've ever been less stressed while traveling. Everything today went exactly according to plan. I hope this is a sign of things to come.

I did realize that I do not have a map of Siena. I can probably pick one up at the station there... but nothing comes free. Or I could just pray my Italian is still good enough to ask an old lady on the street. I remember Piazza del Campo is roughly south from the station. I'm meeting Carrie in the piazza, God willing, around 7 tomorrow evening. I am very, very excited to be abroad.

First items on my agenda:
1) Get a coffee.
2) Gelatoooo.
3) Pizzaaaa.
4) Absinthe shot. It's a longstanding plan of Carrie and mine.

Until you hear from me again,
Ciao ciao.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Testing the e-mail posting feature.

I'm on my bus to New York, and everything is smooth sailing so far. I slept about 3 hours, and I'm about to try to take a nap. Traveling with a backpack is much nicer than traveling with suitcases.

The one thing I wish I'd brought so far that I didn't: rubber bands. I have power cords nearly strangling me every time I reach into my "carry-on" bag. Zune cord, Evan's iPod cord, my Blackberry cord, headphones. It's like a pit of cobras.

Now, I'm going to doze off to Beyonce, whose new album is, by the way, pretty damn smooth.

This afternoon I'll arrive in New York (7th and 33rd), catch the E at 34th/Penn Station, and head out to JFK. The Italy end is a little less... organized...
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

The Last Night

Tonight is my last night in the United States. It's been really hectic, because I put off ALL of my packing and preparation until today, and I barely got everything done.

I have to wake up at 4 in the morning, which is going to be difficult, to make it to my dad's by 5. Leaving dad's by 5:15 to head into DC, and then catching a bus up to New York. Flying out of JFK at 5:15 PM, 12 hours after I really begin traveling.

This is my bag. It weighs exactly 25 pounds. That's a tiny bottle of bourbon next to it. I'm saving it for the subway ride to JFK. This is a bad picture, but it's late and I'm tired.