Thoughts, the night before departure

Holy crap. So not ready, on so many levels. I have two bags packed - they're heavier than I'd like, and I'll probably try to wean them down a little more tonight. Regardless, though, I'm still going to be schlepping them through two airports and one train, so I'm a little worried about that.

More than the bags, I feel like the end off summer came really fast. I've been waiting to leave since graduation, and it seems like I went straight from thinking that I had an eternity to wait until September 1 to having it be tomorrow.

I didn't pack my toothpaste in my carry on, did I? Need to check that.

My aunt brought me a pecan pie as a going-away present. I love this particular aunt's pecan pies, and had a largish piece tonight. There's still a lot of pie left, though, and I'm leaving for the airport at noon tomorrow. I can't really take it with me. Am I justified in having pie for breakfast?

What will it all be like?

I'm going to try to sleep on the plane - I get into Cologne, where my orientation is, at about noon, so I want to have enough energy to explore the city a little and not sleep the afternoon away. I'll try to find an internet cafe there and say something about the flight (which will hopefully be very uneventful and not involve staying awake for 34 hours at a stretch, the way my last trip to Europe did) and the city - i.e., I can actually start writing about Germany on this blog, as promised.

Catch you on the flip side.