Spent a great relaxing weekend with Mom and Gary. No agendas, no plans. I felt a bit guilty for sleeping in most of the time but it was worth it. It really felt good to just get away from it all and unwind. While I was there, we did a bit of shopping for the secret trip. I picked up a guide to the secret place from Lonely Planet. I really liked their French Polynesia guide from the 2001 trip, and so far I am happy with the current book.
The big score from the weekend was in the luggage department of Macy’s. We were at the Scottsdale Mall wandering around and were looking in the different department stores to see if they had any deals on luggage. I need to replace my old set courtesy of Mom in her SkyMall days due to excessive wear and tear. We entered the mall through Macy’s and gave it a cursory look. Nothing notable seemed to present itself. We made our way down to Robinson-May and noticed that they had a set of 4 variable size bags for $99. After some hemming and hawing, they convinced me to get it. While I was inspecting which set I wanted, the sales lady (who was already getting on Mom’s last nerve) mentioned that a lot of people were having issues with the luggage and not getting good responses from the company. I agreed with Mom that the lady probably didn’t want to deal with any return hassles.
So we ended up at Dillard’s. I fell in love with this deep plum 26″ rollaway from Skyway. It looked so elegant. I felt like I was going to be traveling in first class. Mom convinced me to keep looking (especially since there was a Dillard’s closer to her house that we could get the bag from if indeed we didn’t see anything else.) So we headed back for the car at Macy’s empty handed. I decided to make a b-line for the luggage area. Mom told me to check the price on this one 30″ bag that appeared to have five different prices on it. When I went over to the scanner, it registered “Regular $117 – On Sale $35”. I checked the other price tag, “Regular $350 – On Sale $80”. Mom told me that one way or another that bag was leaving with us. I told her there was no way they would sell it for $35. Mom replied, “Watch Me!” Off she went over to the counter and sure enough they sold it to her.
So now I get to borrow the steal of the century for the secret trip. When I got it back home I couldn’t help but think how is this huge suitcase going to fit in that dinky hotel room. Somehow, I will manage!
The other big events for the weekend included the world premiere of Covina Chaos the DVD for Mom and Kevin. Both liked it. It’s now time to start work on Dome to Dome Twice. One problem: I’m thinking about taking the laptop with me since I want to download the pics so that I can be sure to have enough space. I am toying with just picking up some CF cards while I am there if I need them (like buying more rolls of film). If I do take the laptop, then the hard drive I need to digitize Dome to Dome will have to stay external meaning that I will have to wait until I get back to start work on the DVD.