Bruises, castles and Lochs

I have 9 bruises on my legs and counting. Each one larger than a quarter. And one larger than ... A piece of toast? I fell up the stairs in Bordeaux. I'm only sharing this because all of the bruises are showing up now and hurting! HA! Too much bumping around on trains and planes and with luggage.
We had an absolutely gorgeous drive through the Scottish countryside today. Mountains, rolling hills, fields, sheep, fuzzy cows, clouds, blue sky, lochs shimmering in the sun... Lovely. Jeff is getting the hang of driving over here so todays drive was even a little relaxing! Made it to the castle, Stonefield Castle, just in time to hike around their small island before sundown. Saw jellyfish, tons of shells and beautiful sunset on the water as we hiked. Had an incredible meal in the restaurant. We splurged on a fancy meal here, and so worth it! Tried some new scotch of course in the "lounge" before dinner. Up early tomorrow to catch the ferry to the Isle of Islay (pronounced Isla) and excited to stay in one place for a couple days. :)

Munich

Was eerie sleeping on.the train. Kept waking up and sounded like a scary movie. But we survived!
Get to Munich tired and sweaty and sore.
After stowing bags in lockers, Caught train to Dachau concentration camp, an emotional experience. So glad we did this, but was hard to see.
After we took the train back, found our cute hotel! Pleasantly surprised with how close to.the main city center, and how cute it was!
The Guys got to enjoy beers downstairs with Gunter, hotel owner and manager, hear about his Ferrari.
Walked around, since so close to everything. saw st Michael's cathedral, other churches, the famous Glockenspiel, got to watch it chime!
Decided to brave the touristy Hofbrauhaus for dinner ... Great decision. Met a nice guy from Israel, and some other people from Germany, heard some tips about Oktoberfest for tomorrow...
Walked home. Bed by 830! Wiped out!

Test run

All right - here goes nothin'! Last night we pulled out our packs, and did a test run. We don't have quite everything we need and are planing to get before we leave, but we tried putting everything in our bags, subbing some things for items we know will be in there later.

Here's my bag, stuffed with all the things I pulled out last night - it didn't include any toiletries, electronics, or paperwork, etc. but there felt like there was plenty of room to still stuff things in the corners. It weighed 18.6 pounds, so I still have about 3.5 pounds of flex to still be able to carry on those budget airplanes...

This picture is sideways, but it is a general look at some of the clothes I was trying to fit in. I used packing cubes, and I'll post some more pics later, because we might need to borrow some smaller ones from my parents, but I fit a surprising amount of clothes in my pack by rolling and stuffing them in the packing cubes. More than I thought, but it will definitely still be tight. I think I've narrowed down my shoes, too, to Toms, Chaco flips or sandals, Born Boots, and my low Keen hikers. Will wear all the heaviest/bulky stuff on travel days, but I'm really glad I got this pack - I put my Keens and my toms in the lower "sleeping bag" compartment, and the outside front pocket is perfect for stowing my flip flops, a rain jacket, beanie, etc.

Jeff's pack weighed in at 16.7 pounds - same deal. Not all the exact items were in there, and no toiletries or electronics, but I think we're both in pretty good shape!! We both eliminated at least 2-4 items of bigger clothing, 2-3 pairs of underwear/socks each, since we are planning on washing clothes every couple days in the sink.

I will need to pick up a more versatile pair of jeans, that I could wear by themselves and tucked into my boots. Also, need one or two more quick-dry, mix & match-able tops. Other than that, I think I'm pretty good. Looked at the weather last night, and it's going to be between 50's and 60's the whole time in almost all the places we'll be. A little warmer in France. This is why layering is important! We still could run into snow in Switzerland while hiking, and pouring rain in Scotland while hiking, and be hot in France! Who knows - we'll keep our eye on the weather.

24 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And 23 days until James & Amy come up to Seattle, and we will probably second guess everything we all decided we wanted to pack once we look at each other's gear! HA! :)

Let the packing begin!

After hours of research, playing with packs at REI, annoying the employees at REI with our questions, and constantly changing our minds, we finally bought our packs tonight!

We both had other packs we could have used. But none were small enough, yet big enough for all our gear, to allow us to carry on the small inter-country airlines which have much stricter carry on size limits.

We wanted packs that would be comfortable for carrying all our gear around town for the days we will be gone, but practical for getting into our stuff once we reach our destinations.

Jeff decided to get the Deuter 32 Act Trail, because he liked the pockets, front panel access and stuff pouch. I got the Gregory Sage 38 after much deliberation, because of the pockets, front panel access and suspension that doesn't take away from pack space, as well as the separate bottom sleeping bag compartment I plan to use for ny dirty shoes. These packs should serve us well on this trip, but we also bought them plannig to add them to our backpacking gear, for more ultralight and shorter overnight trips.

Now the trial and error of real packing begins. Stay tuned!