Xin Chao!

We've finally made itto Veitnam... so I am allowed to say "Xin Chao" now!
For any of those still wondering, that's how you say 'hello' here.

Of course, knowing me and my travel luck, it was not easy getting here... and to tell you the full story I will have to start a couple of days before Steve and I were scheduled to leave (May 1st).

You see, I am graduating this summer, and as such I needed to get all my Guelph belongings back to Kingston before the big trip. I had packed up 335 Gordon with Christina and Steve well before our departure, but I had no way of getting all my crap to Kingston. Kindly, Steve offered (...kinda...) to drive it down for me on the 27th of April. Perfect!

I had already packed Rex (Steve's car) to the brim with stuff and made my way to Kingston a week before. Mom, Dad, Maddi and I had driven down to Baba and Grandpa's to meet up with Kiki, Dora, and Uncle Andy to celebrate Baba's birthday, and I was in a mad rush to make it back to Kingston to meet Steve when he got to Kingston with a truck and trailer full of all my belongings.
Of course packing took longer then expected and there was traffic to boot, so Steve was so late getting in. It was pitch black when he finally arrived (10:30) and we had no time to unpack so we left it for the next morning.
I didn't know I had so much stuff. HOLY!

Unpacking was fine, and seeing as there was already a truck and trailer in Kingston, Tash had asked me if perhaps we could pack up her friends house (Enis) and drop him and his stuff off in Torontoon our way back to Guelph. He is moving in with Tash for the summer (exciting!). Of course Steve and I said yes.
BUT...we had an appointment in Guelph on the 29th at 3:00 that we absolutely couldn't miss...we were getting our last vaccine for the trip.

On the afternoon of the 28th, the fam and I met up with the most fabulous group of people for an awesome game of road hockey, after which Steve and I zipped over to Enis's house to start loading the trailer. That went smoothly enough, and after an awesome 'last day' in Kingston we called it quits and went to bed early. After all we had to be up super early to hit the road...Our plan was to pick Enis up downtown and finish packing his stuff all by 9 o'clock so we could make it back to Guelph for our appointment.

Of course when we woke up in the morning it was raining...and I wish I could say that this was the most of our troubles....unfortunately that wasn't so.
Steve and I go outside to prep the truck and of course it won't start. I was already so disappointed and was convinced that 'the curse' (as I like to call it) had commenced. Steve and Mom told me 'not to think like that'...all I could think was "just you wait"...
Of course it was mom to the rescue, or should I say Goal Patrol.
Brupp brupp brupp bruppppp....there comes the Millennium Bus rolling down the driveway. We get Steve's truck started with a Millennium Goal boost (by this time we are 2 hours late to get Enis) and are on our way...
There was NO WAY that we were making it back to Guelph in time for our appointment, so I had agreed to stay in Kingston another night, and meet Steve in Guelph the following day (secretly I was happy that this happened!).

So I follow Steve into town to help with the packing.
As soon as we get to Enis's house, Steve shuts the truck of, and of course it won't start AGAIN! So we decided to do all the packing, and get someone to jump us when we were done.
I'll never get the picture of Enis delicately packing his Prada shirts into the back of Steve's dirty work truck. To this day I am sure Enis thinks I am nuts.

Anyways, after we were done packing, we flagged down Enis's landlord and asked him for a jump. Of course that didn't work. So now we had to brainstorm how to 'fix the truck'...let me assure you- none of us are mechanics.
We did notice however that there was a bit of water in the fuse box...and we were convinced that this was our problem. This time it was Enis to the rescue.
Out he comes from his now (almost) empty apartment with Q-tips and a hair dryer... this is how we would attempt to 'fix' the truck. I can only imagine how we looked to the passer-byer... ABSOLUTELY NUTS.
There we were... three grown people huddled around this massive truck with a hair dryer...literally drying the fuse box as it poured rain around us.
By some stroke of luck, once we were 'done'... the truck started with aid from a boost, and Steve and Enis were on their way.
It took Steve seven hours to get home...and he said by the time he made it to Orangeville every light in the truck was flashing at him. It is  miracle it didn't explode while barreling down the highway.
It took his Dad less then an hour to fix the real problem... which had absolutely nothing to do with the fuse box... go figure.
Here we thought was the only set-back in our travel plans...