I am a bit of an airplane geek, and so part of the fun of my trip is the process of getting there! I booked my air reservations way back in April (seems like an eternity ago). I will be flying with SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and I booked my reservations directly through their website.

I’ve never flown with SAS before, so it’ll be very interesting. I’m looking forward to the personal entertainment screens. Apparently there’s an option to view the take-off and landing from the pilot’s perspective on the screen via tiny cameras placed outside of the plane!

I also went with SAS because I wanted as few flights as possible. Fewer flights = less chance of delays, lost baggage, missed connections, etc. SAS is one of 3 airlines that offer direct flights from the US to Copenhagen. Delta and Continental are the other two. I ultimately didn’t choose Delta because although they use roomy 767s on the flight, the fare was expensive (over $2000) and instead of personal screens there are overhead monitors above every other seat. Continental had a good price, but they use the skinny 757 for the route, with no personal screens. The idea of sitting in a 757 for 8 hours wasn’t exactly appealing. Scandinavian also had a good price and their on-board offerings are amazing for the price. An Airbus A330, personal entertainment screens, etc. So I went with them!

So my itinerary is Raleigh-Durham to Washington-Dulles on a United 737-300 (SAS and United are part of the Star Alliance) and then Washington-Dulles > Copenhagen on a SAS A330-300.

For the return journey in December, I will be on another SAS A330-300 to Newark and then on a Continental 737-300 back to RDU. Continental is not part of the Star Alliance, so I guess airlines don’t always connect you with other airlines only from their alliance. Either way, I’m excited!!

Well, all of my shopping is done! I spent Friday, Saturday and part of today (Sunday) hopping all over town and buying all of the necessities. It was great because it’s tax-free holiday. I wanted to take full advantage. There are still some things I’ll have to order online or get later, but I got most of what I needed.

My mother put together a nice notebook for me which she organized into sections. I then made a list of items I needed for each section. This was really helpful when it came to building shopping lists. Here are the sections in the notebook:

• Clothes
• Shoes
• Hair products
• Face products
• Body & Bath
• Household items
• Electronics
• School stuff
• Personal items (including documents like passport, tickets, money, purse, etc.)
• Miscellaneous

It was a good way to organize things for packing so that I don’t forget anything! We will be doing a “packing practice” before I leave so that there are no unpleasant surprises at the last minute.

Departure Day is almost here…I still can’t believe how fast time is suddenly moving…