Faster, Sooner, Now.

Todd and I went to the mall last night to buy a couple pieces of incidental luggage for the trip. We both have suitcases, but Todd didn't have a carryon and, because it's virtually impossible for me to walk out a department store without at least two bags slung over my arm, I came away with a stylish little travel tote from London Fog, which will be perfect for the plane. As a birthday present, I bought Todd a messenger bag from Banana Republic, which adds up to, oh, about sixty cubic feet of bag space between us. Perfect. Not that either of us have too much to bring on the plane -- iPods, a couple of books, Hulk Hands -- but you can't plan for a trip like this without having the ubiquitous "honey, are you sure this will fit in the overhead bin?" conversation with your significant other. Just as it's required to participate in several other pre-travel rituals (the haircut, mani/pedi, language classes, underwear shopping) because, let's face it, everyone in Europe knows that Americans are 1) well-groomed, 2) fluent in the native language, 3) wearing very attractive lace knickers that, in retrospect, probably weren't the best thing to wear on the day of the all-walking tour of Dublin.

This trip is going to be surreal. It's hard to believe that, in less than a month, I'm going to go from

this:


to this:


If I've Googled correctly, I believe the gentleman on the right is none other than David Mundell, Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale.