Typically Matt and I travel with a small carry on and maybe a back pack or two so it was kinda unusual to look down at the large mass of luggage we were checking in at the American Airlines counter.  Granted we brought a lot of boat parts, food and miscellaneous stuff that we planned to leave on the boat, but wow the lot of bags we were looking at was surprising.  I can only imagine what the boys on the boat will think when we walk up the dock with all this stuff.

We do have a very long flight ahead of us, but I am armed with a super soft blanket (that will stay on the boat), my Ipod with lots of cool music, and of course my Kindle with over 100 new books that are craving my attention!

Turkish airlines completely spoiled me as a coach airline passenger!  They fed us every couple of hours (real meals that were yummy), provided free alcoholic beverages and sweets, had a great onboard computer with a fun variety of movies, wonderful flight attendants and did I say free alcoholic drinks?  Flying on American used to be great.  Even though I still fly AA a lot around the U.S. and have my one and only credit card supplying lots of miles to American, I hate to fly them to international destinations.

The food is less than appetizing, the flight attendants tend to have an attitude and the seats are not nearly as comfy (some don’t recline or have head rests)!  I can’t wait for SWA to get their flight to SJU so we can fly them back to the islands.  AA is losing me

Typically Matt and I travel with a small carry on and maybe a back pack or two so it was kinda unusual to look down at the large mass of luggage we were checking in at the American Airlines counter.  Granted we brought a lot of boat parts, food and miscellaneous stuff that we planned to leave on the boat, but wow the lot of bags we were looking at was surprising.  I can only imagine what the boys on the boat will think when we walk up the dock with all this stuff.

We do have a very long flight ahead of us, but I am armed with a super soft blanket (that will stay on the boat), my Ipod with lots of cool music, and of course my Kindle with over 100 new books that are craving my attention!

Turkish airlines completely spoiled me as a coach airline passenger!  They fed us every couple of hours (real meals that were yummy), provided free alcoholic beverages and sweets, had a great onboard computer with a fun variety of movies, wonderful flight attendants and did I say free alcoholic drinks?  Flying on American used to be great.  Even though I still fly AA a lot around the U.S. and have my one and only credit card supplying lots of miles to American, I hate to fly them to international destinations.

The food is less than appetizing, the flight attendants tend to have an attitude and the seats are not nearly as comfy (some don’t recline or have head rests)!  I can’t wait for SWA to get their flight to SJU so we can fly them back to the islands.  AA is losing me

This time next week, we’ll be in the Canaries trying to find our boat. Its been a long month of watching the previous owner bash his way across the Mediterranean, with every email comes some new project. From the emails we have received, they have really only gotten to use the sails for a couple days total. Wind and waves on the nose, lots of rain, and cold weather is what they have endured to get to the Canaries by the time we arrive on 11/21/2010.

As we start to pack we have a plethora of items to drag across the Atlantic with us, hopefully to leave on the boat. These these are some of the repair/spare items that are going to be in my luggage.

• 4 Impellers – 1 used when melted crossing the med
• 4 Belts for the alternators – to replace 2 shreded crossing the med
• 1 Vacuum switch for the vacuflush toilet that was submerged when the escape hatch came open and filled the starboard hull with water.
• Spare Handheld VHF
• Replacement transom show, the one on board leaked when we were there in July
• Xantrex solar charger to make better use of the solar panels on board, supposed to be a 35% improvement in battery charging power
• Oil changing pump – with all the motoring changing the oil in the Canaries is top on the list.
• Loaded the iTouch with tunes/movies
• Swifer to keep it clean
• Spare water pressure pump, so if a pump goes down, we’ll have a backup.
• Some new knives cause you know what kind of knife snob I can be – we’ll see how long the nice ones last on board in the salty air
• Compass covers – the old ones have been beaten by the sun

Gotta have your parts

Fit in a suitcase?

I have set the blog up to receive updates via email, so we can send emails from the middle of the ocean via the SSB and update the website. Also expanded the spot reporting to add all the people who have asked to follow along with us. If you follow along, spot tracking is a little sketchy, sometimes misses an update or we’ll forget reset it after the 24 hours has passed but we will try to keep it tracking. You can click the “current location” link above or use this link

Loaded the laptop with charts and weather programs.

The weather is still a bit on the cool side in the Canaries so we’ll have to be bringing more that tshirts. Highs around 70, lows around 62, chance of rain when we land – at least the wind is forecast from North NorthEast so the wind is coming from the right direction.

Getting a little nervous about keeping food fresh for 20 days, or at least the vegetables, and wondering what we’ll find in the super markets in Gran Canaria. I know it’ll be fine, probably have fresh veggies for the first 2 weeks, then it’ll be canned.

Currently they are about 150 miles from the Canaries, after leaving Gibraltar on Thursday.

Its gonna be a fun adventure..