63 hours to go...

Here I am sitting in my room surrounded by suitcases and boxes. I'm allowed 2 50-pound suitcases, as well as my carry on. I have the two suitcases, but a sinking feeling that they are both over the weight limit. Last night I started taking stuff out of them, transferring things I won't need immediately to a box that I'll have Mandy send to me when I have an address. I also have a bag of things that will be staying here, mostly summer clothes that I definitely won't need in the Russian winter! Most of what still needs to be packed and organized is stuff I'll be using before Tuesday morning. My flight leaves at 6:30 in the morning, and I'll arrive in St Pete at 1:20 pm local time (if all the flights are on time....) That gives me pretty much 24 hours of airports and flying. Not sure yet how I feel about that, but I'm sure my body will tell me somewhere between Chicago and Frankfurt that this was not a good idea!

I think I'll be using this to give updates and post pictures. If you have a gmail address then you can easily post comments. Otherwise, just email me! I probably won't post again until I arrive in St. Petersburg. Until then, hope everyone is doing well!