As of today we're officially one week away from leaving for our Pre-SOF: PD Parisian Prelude, or, as I like to call it: P-SOF: PDPP.

Thankfully, we're nearly done with anything the needs to be done before the trip and are quite enjoying the fact that, for the first time ever, we're in a position to actually relax before a vacation. That's quite a good thing too considering the amount of time and effort that has gone into getting ready for this trip. It certainly wasn't something that could have been put off, in our usual fashion, until days prior to departure.

So, as it stands now, we only need to finish up a few things. Packing is 98% completed with only a few items to throw into the suitcases. Both of the suitcases we're taking and the two carryons we're taking will have their final weigh-in marginally below the acceptable weight limits. But, alas, under by 1/2 a pound is still under!

The house will get its final clean-through in the coming days before Friday and the August bills will be pain. The paper has been stopped and the fridge emptied of anything that won't keep. The SOF: PD F@S is finalized and uploaded.

It's always kind of bitter-sweet when the waiting, organizing, and planning comes to an end. But, alas, onward to the SOF: PD!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a procrastinator to a sickening degree. Leave it to me to put things off until the last possible minute and then complain that I've done so. Interestingly, I'm only like this with certain things, one of which is cruise preparation and packing. And, given that Travis is no better, this usually leads to some painful pre-embarkation nights.

That's why I'm quite happy to revisit my "What do you have left to do?" list since we've made considerable progress.

1. Purchase airfare from Tampa to Paris.
2. Purchase trainfare to/from Reims. (Purchased online!)
3. Book hotel stay in Paris.
4. Get confirmation on visits from various Champagne Houses.
5. Book Train of Fools (Paris to Barcelona).
6. Pay off cruise.
7. Buy clothes and pack them. (60% completed.)
8. Arrange for someone to watch the cats.
9. Find transportation from Clearwater to TIA.
10. Book excursions and Palo.

We've also completed a slew of other pre-cruise planning:

Cleaned out refrigerator and freezer.
Purchased cat food and medication.
Located timers for lamps so the cats don't have to sit in the dark.
Photocopied passports and all credit cards we'll be taking.
Opened up bank account to use overseas.
Purchased Euros.
Placed a stop on the newspaper for the vacation dates.

So, for once, we're WAY ahead of the game. And we're practicing the Rick Steves approach to no-stress vacationing in that we're planning on having all details taken care of 48 hours in advance of leaving. I think we'll make it!

Yesterday we received a confirmation from the Veuve Clicquot Champagne House regarding our tour. We're in!

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (also known as VCP) is a wonderful, full bodied Champagne that has become the second-largest Champagne house with worldwide sales at more than 9,600,000 bottles per year.

VCP's prestige cuvee, Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame, is most magnificent! Thankfully this house provides for direct sales to the public.

So, as it stands now, we have two booked and confirmed tours with Pommery and VCP. With two other houses so close in the area of our scheduled tours we'll try to fit in one or two more fly-by visits.

One more thing to finally check off the planning list...

47 days until departure for Europe!

Posted by ThreeCircles at 6:23 A.M. on 6.28.07

Although not officially on my Ship of Fools: Part Deux cruise planning check list, I have been keeping a close eye on the Sunday ads for a well-priced MP3 player to take along on the cruise. Well, today I can officially cross off that unofficial item from my cruise planning list!

I noticed last weekend that Office Depot had a really good price on the player I wanted. The Sansa Express USB MP3 Player comes with a 1 GB built-in memory, an expansion slot for Micro SD cards (which can add an additional 2 GB of memory and possibly more), FM tuner and recorder, all packaged in a sleek little body with a nice LCD scrolling display.

It seems easy enough to use... Just plug it directly into any USB port and drag and drop song files (or other types of files) onto the device. Unplug and, voila! Music!

Now, as I sit out on one of those comfy Deck 4 loungers and watch the ocean and world sail by, I can add my own musical soundtrack.

And in the "other-not-so-exciting-news-to-anyone-other-than-Jason" department: My second to last car payment was withdrawn from my account this morning. Only one more payment to go!!!

Things finally seem to be falling into place regarding completion of Ship of Fools: Part Deux plans. That's the good news. The somewhat bad news is that there remains a lot left to be accomplished before Continental Flight CO219 departs Tampa International Airport on August 14th.

After countless hours spent online looking over various hotels near the center of the City of Light, and even more hours spent reading online reviews at hopefully reputable sites, I've booked two nights at Hotel Britannique (seen above) in the ler arrondissement. The hotel offers such creature comforts as private bathrooms, air conditioning, and wi-fi access, which are all pluses, but the real selling point was location. The hotel is located almost on the banks of the Seine and within short walking distance to Notre Dame, the Louvre, and no less than three Metro stations.

From the reviews it seems the hotel is classy and certainly has that "French flair" and falls well within the normal rates for such an establishment located in the heart of Paris. All in all, I'm just glad I finally have a booking and can move on to other planning needs.

Thanks to the steadfast work of Arlene and Erica we've also got our transportation from Paris to Barcelona confirmed, if not paid for, and we're happy to be traveling with the Train of Fools on the Elipsos overnight. Sure, it's 12+ hours on a train but hopefully we'll catch up on our sleep after spending 68 hours on the run through Paris and Champagne. And, if not, well, I'm sure the bar car serves Champagne.

So, looking back on the "What do you have left to do?" thread, I can update my list considerably:

1. Purchase airfare from Tampa to Paris.
2. Purchase trainfare to/from Reims. (Doing in Paris.)
3. Book hotel stay in Paris.
4. Get confirmation on visits from various Champagne Houses.
5. Book Train of Fools (Paris to Barcelona).
6. Pay off cruise.
7. Buy clothes and pack them.
8. Arrange for someone to watch the cats.
9. Find transportation from Clearwater to TIA.
10. Book excursions and Palo.

Now, I just need to add all the new things I have to do.

55 days until departure for Paris.

Posted by ThreeCircles at 7:02 P.M. on 6.20.07.