OK, here comes the windup to the big trip. We are going to Chile for three months. We leave in one month and 16 days. I have that much time to get ready.  How do I even do that? I've never gone anywhere for three months, and I don't even know what to put on the to-do list.

I'm excited; anxious, curious, and woefully inadequate in Spanish. Fortunately, Gerry, has traveled more than I have; speaks Spanish very well; and he has visited Chile. He should be able to fill in for my cluelessness, but then he wears a t-shirt and shorts or jeans every day of his life. Me, oh yeah, I'm worried about what to wear. 

I'm also quite concerned about my birthday. My birthday is in late October, and we will be in Chile. The problem is that it will be spring there. I am strictly an autumn girl, and I can't think what it might be like to have been born in spring at the bottom of the globe. Will it still be me? I think I'm getting a bit off-track here.

What will we do for three months? Another area of concern. We are renting a small apartment in San Fernando, which belongs to friends G. met previously. It is going to be fun to see what it would like to live in a foreign country. We also plan to travel around in Chile and to at least see the Wine Country in Argentina. I'd like to study Spanish while I'm there, and everything else is to be discovered.

I'm writing now to get this blog started,to elicit followers to this blog, and to say that the link to the blog will also be posted on Facebook. I hope to have photos to share as well. I'm also accepting suggestions to put on my to-do list! (Uh, oh, could be a mistake.)

Enough for now. Next stop Chile. Can you believe we are flying to Toronto to fly to Chile? Me either.