Adventures in Traveling

First, a quick reminder: the Bound in the Wild contest is still going on! If you want custom-made Torn Bracelet, click here and get the details.

Second, it is cross-country season, which means I have a ravenous exhausted eleven-year-old, and I follow her all around the northwest suburbs with water bottles and exhortations to eat carbs. As my idea of cross-country is to watch BBC dramas with lots of pretty landscapes and imagine myself strolling through them, I am baffled yet proud.

Third, today is an adventure! I am going to the post office, where I will not only mail out a package (an adventure in and of itself) but also...apply for a passport. Here is how NOT to make an appointment for your passport:

Government Employee Lady: And how many passports do you need?

Me: One. Just the one. Because you can't have more than one, right? Unless you're a spy. Which I'm totally not.

Her: ....

Me: I just need the one passport, please.

Note to self: maybe watch not so many spy shows, hmn?

No, I'm getting a passport because for the first time because, I am going to be traveling outside the country! Rube that I am, my precious feet have never left US soil. But this December, that changes -- I'll be teaching on a cruise that will be going to all sorts of places in Central and South America. (I've also never been on a cruise. It's good to try new things, I tell you.)

The trip is actually three weeks long, but I'll only be staying a bit past the first week so that I can be home for the holidays. But I'm definitely going to stand on the deck and shout "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!" when we cross through the Panama Canal. Because I can.

Since most of you are more well-traveled than me, what should I pack? Bring? Do? See? Be aware of? All advice welcome!