First reflections

I'm still organizing the photos, so I'll just put up a little bit today.
First, there are some things we take for granted in the US that are completely unheard-of in Spain. Like Bufferin. And Pepto-Bismol. And stick anti-perspirant.
Second, I already miss the Spanish wines.

As a first taste of the pictures to come, I will put up this one, taken while walking through the Dublin airport. (We flew to Dublin on United. Then we claimed our packs and switched over to Rynair to fly to Biarritz, France.)

This lovely garden was below the window of the crossing hallway.

The shops in Dublin airport have never heard of Pepto-Bismol either, on a day when my stash of the little pink chewables was already securely checked-luggage inside my pack. :-(
Our flight on Ryanair was uneventful; the airport at Biarritz is intimate and easy to navigate, even for people who have no French.
We had been going to stay a day in Bayonne (2 miles away) and start walking after that rest day, but in the first of many serendipity moments, we encountered another pilgrim and shared a taxi ride with her to St. Jean. Then we found a pension room, picked up our shells and a handout about the Route Napoleon, and went to bed. It had been a very long day.

Oh the many, many to-dos

This past weekend I got a (nagging) email from Ryanair: "someone in your party has not checked in online." They were right--I hadn't yet. I can't check in for our first flight until later this week. My plan was to do all the online check-ins and boarding pass printings at the same time. Apparently this waiting until not quite the end of the window was too much for their computer.
So I did the Ryanair online check in. Also I reviewed the cabin bag sizes and (for a change) converted the centimeters to inches. (Metric conversion.org I think was the name of the site.) Oops. Those two cabin bags are basically a medium sized purse and a small purse. Better check sizes of things!

After I had selected fabrics to make a tote, we went to Wal-Mart with an extensive list of little things to buy: start-out shampoo, little deodorant, etc. We walked through the purses and totes while we were there and found a pretty green one, inexpensive, big for a purse but small-to-medium for pool or beach use. We got it with the plan to carry the cameras, cell phones, Kindle, and a few snacks in it. Also the boarding pass collection.

But I am reasonably sure that if I get the tape measure out the green beach bag will be pushing the limits. Drat. Back to sewing. (Well, since I did all that measuring and drafting and fabric-picking, why not? It will get some stash out of my sewing room.)

So the Aggie Bag is back on again.

With 2 strap handles, outside pocket (no closure or dividers--this will become significant later) and inside pocket, a biggish loop to attach things to inside and a small one outside, and boxed corners to give a little room for the stuff at the bottom. It will certainly fit under the seat in front of me--in fact that is the purpose of its size.

I don't have time to put a long post about it up today--must pick up youngest from college and bring her home for the summer--but I will put up a picture of the stash that I have on hand. (It's gotten worse since then!) So you can see why I am all excited about using up some of it!

 

 

And this isn't all of it!