Leaving tomorrow! AHHHHHH!!!!

Happy Fourth of July!! (aka Germany Eve :-)

I'm all packed and this is all I'm bringing:

 

Yes, really! For three weeks! The backpack holds over a week's worth of clothing, a sweatshirt, a present for my host family, two dresses, extra shoes, three pairs of pajamas...everything! It's the best thing ever: super big but really compressible if you don't need it to be huge, intelligently designed with nice compartments, and very comfortable to carry. I also love the color. You can't see it, but the inside is a really cool bright neon green.

Also great: PACKING CUBES!!! These little zip-up nylon cubes from heaven made stuffing in and organizing everything I could possibly need super easy.

I highly recommend them, no matter how much space you're traveling with. A huge thank you goes out to Aunt Sheila for the packing cubes and to Mom and Tod for the backpack and passport holder (and for halvsies on the tickets with Dad and Erin, who also deserve a huge thank you! <3). Other than the backpack, all I'm taking is my laptop case with some books, my phone, earbuds, noise cancelling head phones (thanks Uncle John!), a USB or two with a movie (or movies) on it, and my laptop (duh :-P).

I also got some Euros...(Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) and a plug adapter with two outlets! So I have everything I need for international travel.

I already posted my flight info, but here's another quick run-down:
I'm leaving at ~11am for the airport. Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. leaves at 2:40, gets in at 3:45. 2 hour layover there, then my flight to Munich leaves at 5:40 and gets in at 7:50am the next day (1:50 EST). I have my boarding passes on my phone thanks to a killer United app that also has maps of the airports I'll be flying to, email updates about any changes, and all the info I could ever need. I have an eye mask and the hope of being able to sleep, but an outlet, laptop and an entertainment screen at my seat should that fail. I'm ready. Nervous and still in shock, but definitely excited and ready. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight :-)

Next post from Germany! Wish me luck!
Megan