leaving on a jet . . . train?

Well, our bags are packed and we're ready to go--well, almost, anyway. Our train to Shanghai leaves tonight at 8:10 pm--it's 3:50 as I write--but we're planning to leave our place just a little before 6:00, so we have plenty of time to get to the station, grab something to eat, and make it to our train on time.

I'm currently trying to reduce my baggage. So far I have narrowed everything down to a backpack and a duffel bag, which I think is an impressively small amount of stuff, considering we plan to be on the road for more than three weeks, and we're going to be changing climate zones a couple of times. But Ben keeps looking at my luggage skeptically, so I guess that means I should try to narrow down further. Or maybe I should just try to pretend that Ben isn't looking at me. Ah, well . . . .

We're going to try to post blog updates and pictures as much as possible during the next three weeks, but don't worry if you don't hear from us for several days at a time. It won't be quite as convenient as usual for us to hop online and post an update. That said, it's not like we're leaving civilization entirely, so . . . well . . . we'll be in touch.

I think I mentioned before that we're kind of leaving our schedule up in the air a little bit, going where the winds blow us, so to speak. But in case you're following along on a map at home, so far we're planning to train overnight from Tianjin to Shanghai, then we'll be in Shanghai until about the 24th. After that, there has been talk of going to Nanjing if we can, or maybe to Guilin, but we will have to see about the ticket situation.

More to come . . . .