Next Post will be from NL

I'm finishing up all of my "lasts" this weekend. For my last lunch with my Cincinnati group on Friday, we went to the Mexican restaurant that one of my coworkers owns. It will probably be difficult to get Mexican food in the Netherlands, so this was cool. My last drive from Cincinnati to Chicago was marred by road construction, as would be expected this time of year. We had our last Giordano's Pizza on Friday night. And a last dinner with our neighbors, T&T across the street on Saturday night.

In between, I'm getting the last of my laundry done and I'm trying to figure out how to get all my junk into the suitcases. Despite all my planning, I'm afraid my stuff has expanded. My carry-on luggage is getting out of control! You have to carry-on anything valuable like jewelery (not that I have much), important documents, all prescriptions, the laptop and other electronic gadgets. Not to mention the extra change of clothes and make-up in case they lose my luggage. Since I've been a victim of lost luggage before, I'm truly paranoid now. I am making an itemized list of everything in my suitcases and making sure there's an address card INSIDE each bag because the tags on the outside can be torn off too easily.

Despite all my paranoid packing and repacking, I noticed that I left a few items in the hotel room in Cincinnati. Fortunately, it was just some old workout clothes. And you know if I was actually working out, I would not have forgotten them. Oh well, it will make more room in my bags for else.

I'm really looking forward to getting to the Netherlands so I can dig into my job and get physically active again. There has been nothing worse for my fitness level than living in a hotel for three months. You don't realize how much exercise you get just running around the house. In a hotel room, you just sit on the bed. Even using the workout room doesn't really make up for the lack of activity. So, I'm ready for nice weather and I'm ready to get moving again!

So, on Tuesday, I'm off to the Netherlands. Dennis will join me on May 2 with the cat. And with any luck, our household goods will arrive around then as well. As for the customs snafu (needing to have the residence permit to get our stuff through customs), we have had some good news. The temporary residence permit is complete, so our things shouldn't be held up for that.

I'll let you know how it goes as I get the keys to the house in Bussum, get utilities set up, and finalize the immigration stuff. Look for a post later this week!