RTW Adventures of J&M

I can't remember when J and I ever observed Valentine's Day. I don't think we ever did. However, I have gradually learned that he cuts me a lot of slack on this magical 14th day of February. I get to be a little less logical and a little less responsible.

For example, this year on Valentine's Day I got to the following in front of J without him shooting me dirty looks of disapproval:

- Buy and eat sour rope candy from The Rocks Weekend Market. In fact, once he saw that I was looking at the stand he started digging in his jeans for pocket change.
- Snack on french fries from the McDonalds at Circular Quay. 
- Eat Smith's Thinly Cut Sour Cream & Onion potato chips from the bag.
- Drink coke with the 2L bottle in front of me ready to re-fill my glass.

Yes, I got to do it all in the same day! =)

For those of you who know J, all know he's a very meticulous man. The example I always like to use is the 6 months of research it took him to find his perfect TV. For this trip, he spent hours and hours on the internet looking for the most compact power adapter, the best reviewed point-and-shoot camera and the most practical/economical luggage piece. I must admit his power solution is working quite well right now and his camera is also very nice. However, despite all that planning and researching on luggage, he got a little green-eyed as he watched me pack my Eagle Creek ORV SuperTrunk (a graduation gift from J's mom) and decided to get himself a SuperTrunk from REI  the next morning - 6 hours before we left for the airport.

At REI, meticulous J showed his face again as he compared the two floor models of the SuperTrunks side-by-side:  trying all the zippers and looking over every square inch for defects, etc. Unhappy with the floor models, he asks REI for an unopened one from the backroom. After careful inspection of the unopened product, he paid for it and left the store.

4:30 PM - IL comes home to take us to the airport. We gather all of our luggage and take a picture together to post on this blog.

4:40 PM - J goes to put on his socks and realizes he packed the ones he originally set aside for today so he goes to the dresser to find himself another pair. This conversation occurs:

J: uhh….. I forgot to pack my underwear
Me: Huh? Some of it or all of it?
J: ummmm… all of it..
Me: Are you serious?!  You're not serious are you??

4:41 PM - J rips open his meticulously packed luggage (weighed multiple times to be certain it's under 23 kgs) and stuffs all of his boxers into the bag  in under 20 seconds. He refused to pose for a picture of shame so this is all I got (Picture 1).

At the airport, he weighs his luggage - 25 kgs.  Some re-packing occurs and we're off.

When we collected our luggage at London, I noticed that  one of the corner bumpers on J's SuperTrunk was dangling by a thread. That night and the next morning we searched wherever we could for duct tape so that we can secure the bumper before our next flight to Barcelona, but to no avail. Finally, we found an alterative solution at London-Heathrow: saran wrap (Picture 2)

What a way to start the trip! You can't make this stuff up.