March 13th

Well our bags are packed and we're ready to go- sort of:

This is a big explore for Robb and I as we take the ferry from Newcastle, England to Amsterdam.  Robb has made reservations for us to board the ship, which is also a car ferry, on Tuesday the 15th of March.  We are taking the car to make it easier to get around rather than using the train.  This trip will be a test of Robb's driving skills as now he will be driving on the opposite side of the road from the UK, like we do at home, but the steering wheel will now be on the wrong side.  It is great that his depth perception is good!

Robb could have had a deluxe room
with beautiful windows and ocean views
like this room---

But being the sweet wonderful husband that he is, and wanting to be able to take me along on the company budget- he opted for a little less splash so that I could tag along with him.  And since we are traveling all night, does it really matter?

Our first trip is taking us to a part of the world that we are very unfamiliar with.  We will be landing in Amsterdam and driving through the Netherlands to Germany.  The city we are going to in Germany is almost to the border of Denmark. 

On this map, the UK is the green island country and we are landing in the orange country across from it, the Netherlands, then driving north through the purple country, Germany almost to the pink country which is Denmark.

Robb has appointments in Belgium, the little green nation to the south, northern France, the big yellow country next to Germany, as well as Germany and the Netherlands so we will be driving for about a week after the renewable energy conference.

The Conference is being held in a small town called Husum, which is about an hour and a half from Hamburg.  We did visit Hamburg when we bought our tea for the tearoom but didn't have time on that visit to see much around the area. The one issue we have on this trip is that the conference center charged five hundred euros a day for the set up of the booth, which included a table, 2 chairs and electricity.  Even though the company is paying for the trip they keep Robb on a pretty tight budget and he isn't allowed to do as he pleases so we had to come up with a booth design that we could pack with us!

So.....  We are packing in the car

2 folding six foot tables

3 folding chairs

2 six by six background displays complete with posters of our wind turbine

1 pop up display that we received from the home office

1 small printer to be used to give out free site wind speeds and 2 reams of paper

2 forest green table cloths for tables

1 XZERES six foot banner for front of tables

1 white bowl and three bags (3lbs each) of wrapped candy

1000 fliers in English

1000 fliers in German

1 bag with assorted hooks, tape, scissors and tools

1 fold up luggage cart to move the above

And if all works out well - our suitcase, brief case with computer, a goodie bag and us.

  Please remember that we are driving a Ford Fiesta and I can't help thinking we will look like the car at the circus that all the clowns keep climbing out of! 

What an adventure awaits us.  Robb is doing a practice pack tomorrow!

Love to all,

Dawn