Serbia prep

What's that? Serbia, you say? Yes, I know it's not a tourist hotspot - I'm heading there for work.  Telvent bought DMS for their electrical grid software and now it needs to be documented. Woohoo! I don't think I strictly need to go, but Ang wants to take me, and I try not to turn down travel on someone else's dollar!

We leave on Saturday afternoon, spend 24 hours give or take in travel and voila! It's actually not a terrible itinerary: Calgary, Amsterdam, Belgrade and then we drive from the airport to Novi Sad. My only small complaint is that the layover is Amsterdam isn't long enough to make it worth braving security to get out and see/do anything.  Oh well!  DMS booked our hotel and arranged a car and driver for while we're there.

(I'm hoping to meet up with a LHC member while I'm there and she lives in Belgrade.  I wonder if the driver would take me that far for a field trip???  LOL)

I have a couple of days worth of stuff to do regarding the documentation and the rest of the time, I've been drafted as a scribe for Ang. Considering the haul of jewellery she came back with on her last trip, I'm sure we'll squish in some tourist-y stuff as well, but that's gonna have to be on a fairly spur of the moment basis I think.  She's currently fighting an infection with a fever, so maybe she'll just sleep and I'll be on my own? Oh well, it'll sort out one way or another! It's been a while since I've got to wander alone in a new city - that could be fun!

I used this as an excuse to buy an ereader - Indigo released the KoboGlo in good time! (Take that Kindle and your undetermined outside the US release date!) It's also spurred me to clean up my laptop hard drive and get TimeMachine working again to back it up before I go. I've got the app loaded on my phone with my itinerary and hopefully I can check-in in advance and get an eticket.  (Although, since Ang and I couldn't book our flights together, we aren't seated together and having them change that may boot us back to paper tickets.  We'll see - it won't be the end of the world...  Maybe we can check in simultaneously and adjust our seats then?)

I've been checking the weather forecasts since I bought my ticket and I think I jinxed myself by being too excited. Throughout October, they've been calling for 15-20C and sunshine! But on Wednesday it got sadder... now it looks like it's going to start raining on Saturday and keep it up until at least Tuesday, with highs more like 8C.  Sigh.  I wanted the Riviera, not Vancouver!! This is why Stuart got me the awesome umbrella.

Ang tells me that the Serbian girls like to dress, so I'm basically only packing nice clothes. I'm popping out tonight to look quickly for a pair of boots and maybe a dress I can pair with tights, as I'm sure there will be at least one dinner event. And maybe another blouse or two. This loosing weight thing has really diminished my wardrobe, but I haven't done a major add to it in years, so most of it was due to be replaced anyway; faded colours and worn seams aren't really the look I'm going for these days. 

I'm both excited and still can't really believe I'm going, all at the same time.  Travel is weird - I definitely need more practice!