One hour to go!

Its torture, with just one hour until we leave for the airport. Andrew is very relaxed playing World of Warcraft while I try to keep busy. I am very anxious to be on my way, I love the journey and am looking forward to whatever adventures may come along.
The planning and the packing are one of my favourite things, along with the anticipation comes the pleasure of getting everything I need into one suitcase. Even though I travel with one of the smaller, 55cm, cases I always take too much stuff. What does that say about how we collect "things" and "stuff" around us.  Motorcycle trips are similar because there is only so much you can take on a bike.
Whats in the suitcase?

• sleeping bag for camping
• travel hairdryer
• 1 pair jeans
• 1 pair hiking pants
• 1 skirt
• 2 pairs sandals, 1 dressy & 1 hiking
• raincoat
• underwear and socks
• togs & travel towel
• complete set of merinos for hiking/canoeing
• 3 t-shirts
• toilet bag
• stuff for Alan & Kallan (mostly sweets)
• crochet hooks, scissors, needles

and in my cabin bag:

• laptop
• iPad
• iPhone
• cords & connectors for above
• wool & plastic crochet hooks
• passport (ha! got it)
• tickety wickety
• sweets & almonds
• glasses
• wool
• empty bottle for water

Alan has set of already to Toronto where him & Kallan will stay overnight and spend the day sightseeing before they pick me up.

11 sleeps to go

Last night the booking was made and in just 11 sleeps I will be going to see Alan. He is in Kingston, Ontario - there are some mean looking motorbike shops on Ontario and lots of places to hire a Harley!
Being away for 3 weeks means working while I am away, unless I want to come back to an horrendous backlog of work that is. The logistics of any number of our team working remotely at any time are interesting.
We are not one of those companies that shunts you around with voice messages when you call. We are very proud of the feedback we get from customers about our friendliness, responsiveness and that we answer the phone. Here's what we do.
The team mainly talk to each other by Skype when working remotely.
We have two team meetings, called scrums, each week via Skype video calling.
The phone line has call transfer on it so we can transfer any incoming customer call to the person they want to speak to.
Working from Ontario looks very do-able. The next step is to manage the costs as I have read stories in the press about some poor sucker that got a bill for thousands while overseas working, I don't want to be that person.
Right, now where was that Honda shop in Toronto?