What cities should we visit? What should we see? Where should we stay? How are we going to get there?

Passports? check. 

Flights? check.

International Driver’s Permit? check. 

Map? check.

Guidebooks? check. 

Hotel reservations? check.

Tours booked? check.

And then there’s the packaging strategies. I kept reading this info, never being said the same way, but always meaning the same thing: PACK LIGHT!

“You’ll meet two kinds of tourists – those that packed light and those that wished they had.” We are trying to avoid the stress of hauling too much stuff around. This extra planning has definitely taken some time & effort but hopefully it will pay off when we are dragging our belongings across cobblestone piazzas & hauling it up flights of stairs to our no-lift (elevator) accommodations.