Crisscross Applesauce and Cucumber Sprout Sandwiches

Day 1: Preparing to Travel

Preparing to travel can be grueling. And I'm not talking about packing a suitcase...that's the easy part. I'm talking about all the peripheral stuff-- paying bills that will come due during the time you will be gone, arranging for coverage for work and home duties, and most importantly preparing kids for time apart from mommy. Lucky for me my kids have a great hands-on dad and an awesome grandma ("Babu") that will keep them pretty entertained while I am gone on my 10 day adventure.

In addition to me preparing myself and my family for my travels, there is also another kind of preparation that had to happen before I could leave for Spain and Portugal...Babu had to make sure I was prepared for potential hazards and how to avoid them. Now before i go into detail on this, let me give you the background on Babu. If you don't know my mom she is a wonderful, caring mother who maaaayyybe might worry about things a little too much sometimes and who is self admittedly an avid information junkie. What I mean by this is that she reads random news articles, medical journals, etc and then relays the information she learns to my brother, sister and I in her own special brand of "Pearls of Wisdom."

So in this instance of Babu's Pearls of Wisdom, her preparing me for my trip, she issued a warning of a massive e.coli outbreak in Europe and the suggestion (or rather insistence) that I avoid at all cost any cucumbers or sprouts, as these apparently are the foods that have had the most reported cases of e.coli. In addition to this, I was told to make sure I move my legs as much as possible while in flight to prevent any blood clots from forming in my legs due to sitting too long and lack of circulation. Ahhhh, Babu. :)

Being the smart-ass I am, I told Babu I would be sitting crisscross applesauce (otherwise known as "Indian style" if you don't have any kids in preschool) all the way to Madrid, and that upon arrival in Spain I would have a delicious cucumber sprout sandwich. heh heh heh

So far I've had a couple cocktails with Kim, a few snacks and a couple inflight movies. I am happy to report there have been no sprouts or cucumbers yet, and I should be free and clear of any potential pulmonary embolisms since the airplane seats are way to small to accommodate crisscross applesauce. 

More to come later after we get to Spain. Hasta luego...

Caryl