And we're off!

Our big journey to London is about to begin!  For those of you who may not know, Bari, Caitlyn, and I are spending the spring 2014 semester in London, England, while I teach as part of the London Law Consortium.  We are very excited for the adventure.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind as we prepared for the trip.  Bari finished her Master's degree at the University of Kentucky in Teacher Leadership (earning a 4.0!).  I had 82 exams to grade.  And we had to deal with about 563 pieces of logistics to make this all work.  Here's a small sample:

• Finding a good place for the pets to go while we are gone:  Rudy will be at our next door neighbor Kurt's house.  The cats will be with one of my students.  Thanks to both of them for agreeing to care for our pets, who we adore.  It was sad to say goodbye to them tonight, but we know they are in good hands.
• Preparing the house:  After months of searching and advertising, we finally found two people to rent our house while we are gone.  This meant cleaning out my closet, eating all of the food in the house, writing a lease, etc.  Lots of little things.
• Dealing with travel details:  Figuring out things like insurance, bank accounts/credit cards, travel documents, etc. has taken a lot of time.
• Packing:  We are bringing three big suitcases, three small suitcases, three backpacks, one car seat, and one stroller.  The airlines have strict weight limits for the bags, so we have been packing them carefully.  I think we are at about 49.9 pounds (with a 50 pound limit) for each of the large suitcases!  Caitlyn has been very helpful in choosing which books, toys, and stuffed animals she wants to bring.  She had to make some sacrifices:  her doll Nikki is coming, but Nikki's stroller can't fit (sorry Mom!).

The cab arrives at 5:29 am tomorrow morning to take us to the airport for our flight to New York City.  We'll be in NYC until Monday evening for my work conference.  The conference is significant in that during it I am heading up the creation of a new Section on Election Law, which will give needed focus to my field.  The trip also happens to coincide with my brother's vacation to New York, and we are really excited to see him and his family.

On Monday night we fly to London, arriving on Tuesday morning!  We are renting a townhouse in North London that is the home of a Shakespearean actor (he'll be in NYC playing King Lear for most of the time we are in London).  We'll have a few days to settle in before I have to start teaching.

In addition to seeing London and the surrounding area, we will also use London as a launching pad to other European -- and Asian! -- destinations.  Right now we have trips planned to Paris, Dublin, Scotland (Edinburgh), Italy (Rome and some hill towns), Bangkok, Beijing, and Tokyo!  We might try to add a few more places, such as Berlin, Prague, and maybe even Iceland!  Caitlyn is insisting that we go back to Barcelona.  Caitlyn's passport certainly will be filled up by the time we return in mid-May!

We'll use this space to chronicle our journey.  Tonight, our friends and neighbors invited us for dinner so our daughters could play.  (Thank goodness--we had no food left in our house!).  Here is Caitlyn saying goodbye to Ellie...at least until May!

First stop:  New York City!