Four of the Nine Suitcases for the trip

After all our household furniture and appliances were given away and our art collection packed for the shipment, we still had to keep clothing, bank papers, tax papers, medical papers, customs and passport papers, computers and all the attachments, work documents and personal items. These many things were packed into 9 suitcases for the voyage on the Independent Pursuit container ship bound from Antwerp to Richmond, VA. We needed everything for six months while we search for a place to live. We rented a short term furnished apartment, but the suitcases are filled with the stuff and stuffings of our lives. Like gypsies, we have to know what is where and what should be on top and what can wait. The shipping company allows 250 kilos of luggage per passenger, and we are nowhere near that amount. Although the angle of the gangplank could cause some embarrassment. We don't know what deck our bunk will be on, but we hope it won't be six stories up from the main deck. Actually, there are no elevators on a container ship, so we will be hiking up and down the inside and outside stairs for two weeks and should be stronger and healthier by the time we have to carry the bags off the ship. We chose bags with wheels, but stairs will be a hassle. Yesterday, Judy looked up the web site of the ICL and they announced that they will not be taking passengers in 2008. So, maybe we are the last ones to take passage with them. Everything is ready for the drive to Antwerp. Our friends will drive the rented van from The Hague to Antwerp and then help us with the bags and then drive the van back home. I think the last official duty we will have is to go to the passport office in Antwerp and get our passports stamped with the European Union Belgian exit stamp. Then, off to the ship and ready for the trip. The Independent Pursuit goes from Antwerp to Liverpool and then across the Great Circle Route on the Atlantic to Chester, PA and finally to Richmond, VA. Our daughter-in-law, Rikki, will drive up from Chapel Hill, NC and take us to her home with ALL the bags and two slightly greenish in-laws. Can't wait.