Tangled Up & Frozen - a May 2016 Anniversary Adventure! (5/2 update)

[LegoMom3]

What: A Pre-Trip Report to celebrate our excitement over a long-awaited, long-overdue anniversary trip!!

When: May 13th - 17th, 2016

Where: Pop Century (new for us)

Who: DH and Yours Truly


The dates and resort are self-explanatory, so allow me to give a bit more in the way of introductions:


DH: 49-yrs old. Disney-lover. Dad Extraordinaire to our three boys, Assistant Staff to the four cats. My best friend and marriage partner for 24 years. His favorite Disney movie is "Up." He cries when Ellie dies... Every. Time. Actually, the older he gets, the more he reminds me of Carl.

Me: 50-yrs old ::sigh:: Disney-nut. Mom to our three boys, Chief Executive Staff to the four cats. I love horses, cats, and all things Disney. My favorite [new] Disney movie is "Tangled," but my all-time favorite is the classic "Bambi."

Awkward dual-selfie....



We met in college, and right away realized our mutual love for Disney. We took our first trip together in early 1996, when it turns out I was about 3 months along with our first child. We camped at Fort Wilderness (LOVED it.....), and vowed to return as often as we could make it happen. That ended up being three trips with the boys; in 2004 (All-Star Movies), 2006 (POR), and 2008 (POR). I have also made two girls-only trips with friends, a solo (EPIC!!), and a handful of day trips (while visiting my father in the Tampa area).

DH and I currently live in NH; we are both originally from MA, and have also lived in NC, FL, and TX. We share a passion for the outdoors; hiking, camping, biking (and, once upon a time, horseback riding.....). In more recent years, DH has become a motorcycle gang member (not really, but he likes to put on leather and ride around on two [rather loud] wheels.. ). And I am a runner.

True story......

My first 5k was actually the Royal Family 5k in Epcot over the Princess Half Marathon weekend, in 2011. I doubt I'll do any more Disney races ($$$!!), but it was fun once. I did a Half in 2013, struggled with some health issues for the next couple of years, but once again hope to do at least a 10-miler this fall.

Oh, and I love photography!! So I hope to fill this little tome with plenty of pics. My phone takes great photos, but for more detailed options, I recently purchased a Nikon Coolpix L340. It's a digital point-and-shoot (I hope for a DSLR some day, but right now too pricey for my budget). It's got an amazing zoom and takes crisp pictures with vibrant color, and also has some fun built-in editing features. So far I really like it.


Anyway, our adventure begins in 8 short weeks!! I will probably update here about once a week, on the weekends, and that should carry us nicely into departure day. Chapters will be listed as I put them up, as well as an update in the title. For anyone who'd like to follow along on our little journey, welcome!!

​

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CHAPTERS ~

6 Weeks!!!
I Did a Thing!!
Day 1 Plans
Day 2 Plans


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[creativeamanda]

 

[YoYoAurora]

 

[PrincessInOz]

(YoYoA - Pass the Popcorn!!)

 

[kpearl]

following! I'm from MA, born and raised on the South Shore, and vacation frequently up to NH (my grandparents own a cottage on a lake up there, about 45 mins past the MA/NH line)

Pop was a lot of fun! I stayed in the 50's section which was a bit quieter and I just loved the Lady & The Tramp feel because I am slightly obsessed with the movie.

 

[LegoMom3]

Six Weeks to Departure!!!

I thought I'd dedicate this installment to our basic plans for the weekend. I'll give some resort details, and a park overview, and then subsequent installments will focus on more specific plans for each day!

When I first booked this trip, All-Star Sports had the lowest rate available, and while it was most definitely my least favorite WDW resort (simply no interest in the subject matter/theming), this is a quick trip and we will, for the most part, just be sleeping there. But, since I can never leave well enough alone, I found myself checking in every few days to see if anything else became available. One day, there was Pop Century, just $8/night more! SCORE. In short order I had changed our resort to Pop and, if I'm honest, I felt much, much happier about that choice. I've never stayed there, but it looks fun, should provide a great early morning "coffee walk," and I'm most definitely heading across the lake to check out AoA! I've requested the top floor in the '50s section, and can't wait to see where we end up.

Our flight gets to Orlando at 5:55pm. I am thinking, because of the hour, that we will retrieve our own bags and take them on DME with us. I've never had issues using the yellow tags, but I've also always arrived mid-morning, and I just worry that the bags may be arriving at the resort when we are otherwise ready to turn in for the night. So, this seems the better option in this case (would love to hear others' thoughts on this!).

We won't be heading to a park on Arrival Day, due to the hour. I do have things to decorate our window with (a first!!), since we'll be celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary! We'll unpack and I'll get the window done, then I figure we'll head out and explore the resort. IF we decide to get refillable mugs (jury's still out on that one....), we'll get them and be ready for morning. Otherwise we'll decide on some food, since it'll be past dinnertime for us and we'll be ready!! Maybe Disney Springs??.....or we may save that for the weekend, since my dad and his wife should be driving up to meet us there for a visit. Monorail-resort hopping is another fun choice. I'd like to see what the Poly is looking like these days, and DH has never seen the GF (!!!), so we should make a point to get there. Anyway, this is going to be one of those times when we just go where the wind blows, and enjoy our evening!!



Now, when FP+ was first introduced, I was not a fan. I mean, SO much can happen in your day, and trying to plan what you wanted to ride/experience, two months out, seemed ridiculously over-scheduled. But, I've found that fine line between making sure we get the FPs we want, and still leaving room for "whatever" in our days. They used to bug me, but I've decided that having these advance FPs is really like having a guarantee that you will do your absolute "musts" at least once on your trip. So, there's that.

First off, we will have Park Hoppers. After our last family trip in which we did NOT have Hoppers, I will never, ever tour again without them. My carefully crafted week-long plans of a certain park on a certain day, were all tossed out a very wet window when the remnants of Hurricane Ike whipped up through central Florida and changed everything. We missed quite a few things over the course of two days because they were shut down or canceled due to the weather. What I've done this trip is booked my advance FP+ for the morning park, and then can always try for more at the afternoon/evening park(s). And, here is what we have:

Day 1: DHS Morning ~
*Toy Story Midway Mania
*Muppets 3D
*Indiana Jones


Day 2: Animal Kingdom Morning ~
*Kilimanjaro Safaris
*DINOSAUR (if I'm up to it.....is it extremely jerky?!)
*Kali River Rapids


Day 3: Epcot Morning ~
*Test Track
*Spacehip Earth (it just kills me that you even *need* a FP for this now.....)
*Turtle Talk with Crush


Day 4: Magic Kingdom Morning ~
*Big Thunder MRR
*Pirates of the Caribbean
*Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Choosing FP for DHS and AK was sort of hard for us. They are both half-day parks for us, and poor DHS is giving us fewer and fewer things to see and do these days..... DH would have enjoyed Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show, but that'll be gone. I always liked the Backstage Tour, and that's gone. Ugh...! Tower of Terror will be a "see how I feel that day" ride, and I don't do Rock 'n Roller Coaster so if DH wants that, he can use the Single Rider line.

At Animal Kingdom, I also felt limited. I'd love to see the Finding Nemo show, but I have this weird mom thing going on, that because one of my sons wanted to see that last time, and we didn't, I won't see it until he can go back with us. Yeah, I know....

Everest is another one I can't do. Used to love it, but it's too much for me now so DH can use the Single Rider line if he wants to go on. I may or may not even end up doing DINOSAUR. I definitely won't do it on a full stomach! Kali I've never done, and yes, I will be sporting a poncho.

Epcot was easy, and actually the only thing at that park I don't like is Mission Space (either side....too claustrophobic). I didn't book a FP for it, but we've got Memory Maker for this trip and I'd love to do the Character Spot meet. Hopefully we can either get a FP for it on another day, or catch it without a huge queue.

Magic Kingdom really needs no explanation! I love everything there and just can't wait. We'll have been there prior to this last morning, but at least we'll get in our faves just before we have to leave.

So there we have it! Please join me again next week as I break down each day into more detailed plans, and revisit some past touring experiences!


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[PrincessInOz]

changed our resort to Pop

YAY!! You sound much happier with this resort choice. Enjoy.

we will retrieve our own bags and take them on DME with us

I've always done this rather than let Disney retrieve them for me. This way, I know I have my stuff and I can unpack when we get to the room. Given your plans for decorating the windows, it seems like the best course of action.

this is going to be one of those times when we just go where the wind blows, and enjoy our evening

I vote for Disney Springs!

we will have Park Hoppers

I'm also a fan of the park hoppers. It just gives you so options for the park days.

booked my advance FP+ for the morning park, and then can always try for more at the afternoon/evening park(s)

This is one of those interesting WWYD situations. I agree with you.....book for the morning park and try for more at the second park. However, the stand-by queues are generally less crowded in the mornings than the afternoons. Hmmm. What to do? What to do?


(For what it's worth.....I did try this exact strategy on my last WDW visit and it worked out great for us.)

 

[LegoMom3]

....

This is one of those interesting WWYD situations. I agree with you.....book for the morning park and try for more at the second park. However, the stand-by queues are generally less crowded in the mornings than the afternoons. Hmmm. What to do? What to do?


(For what it's worth.....I did try this exact strategy on my last WDW visit and it worked out great for us.)

This is a great example of how the new system can be overbearing.... I totally agree about lines being better first thing, but in the end I opted to "plan" the morning park, and leave the rest of the day for some semblance of "winging it!" I have a rough plan outlined for each day, but that can be changed if we decide on something else. Also, I love being at a park for Rope Drop, and this plan lets us do that once in each park.

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[LegoMom3]

I Did a Thing!!


Remember in my last installment I made the comment that I cannot seem to leave well enough alone? Yeah.....I can't. For some reason I got the idea in my head, what if we switched our flights so we arrived early and departed early, instead of the opposite way around (I blame the fact that I'm in the "Under 60-days Dead Zone." All the big dates have come and gone and there's nothing left to actually do.....lol!). So I've been stalking Southwest's website. Keep in mind it's the ridiculously low fare I got initially that finally got me to book this trip in the first place (did I mention that??!.....well just in case, it was a ridiculously low airfare that prompted me to finally book this trip!). Now, those fares are long gone (I seriously think they were up for a matter of hours and I just happened to pop in at the right time), but the current fares are not bad, per se. Long story short, today I switched our flights! We now land at 10:00am, and depart at 8:30am the following Tuesday. This makes for early mornings on both travel days, but I like the flow of things a lot better.

We should be at our resort by noon, and will have what we need in our carry-ons should the room not be ready. I will also leave the hauling of the luggage to the DME folks, as now we have time to allow for the bags to arrive. This allows us to head to a park on our first actual day (!!). It did, however, require some schedule-tweaking.

Now that departure day is only that, I had to cancel our FP+ for that day, add some in for arrival day, and rework some of them in between. Here is what the new days/selections look like:


Day 1 ~ 5/13: we are heading to Animal Kingdom on the afternoon of our arrival, since we will not be going there Sunday morning as originally planned.....
*Character meet at the Adventurer's Outpost
* Kilamanjaro Safari
* Kali River Rapids


Day 2 ~ 5/14: this schedule remains unchanged, DHS morning, EP afternoon/evening.....
* Toy Story Mania
* Muppets
* Indiana Jones


Day 3 ~ 5/15: here we opted to head to the Magic Kingdom for opening, since we lose the chance to do so on Tuesday. When it came down to the choice, I'd rather lose the AK opening than an MK one. However, most of the morning FP's were already gone, so we've booked for the evening (planning to go to opening, take an afternoon break, then come back for the evening).....
* POTC
* Big Thunder MRR
* Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
(I'm super excited to do the latter two at night!!)


Day 4 ~ 5/16: last full day, also unchanged (EP morning, afternoon/evening....??!)
* Test Track
* Spaceship Earth
* Turtle Talk with Crush


I'm very excited about the change in schedule; I've always arrived in the morning, and this feels "better." It also allows us to get home in the afternoon, rather than almost midnight, so we can catch up with the boys, put the house back together, and generally recoup before going back to reality the next morning.

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[LegoMom3]

(YoYoA - Pass the Popcorn!!)

following! I'm from MA, born and raised on the South Shore, and vacation frequently up to NH (my grandparents own a cottage on a lake up there, about 45 mins past the MA/NH line)

Pop was a lot of fun! I stayed in the 50's section which was a bit quieter and I just loved the Lady & The Tramp feel because I am slightly obsessed with the movie.

Just wanted to say a quick howdy and welcome and thanks to those of you who are following! I appreciate it.

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[LegoMom3]

following! I'm from MA, born and raised on the South Shore, and vacation frequently up to NH (my grandparents own a cottage on a lake up there, about 45 mins past the MA/NH line)

Pop was a lot of fun! I stayed in the 50's section which was a bit quieter and I just loved the Lady & The Tramp feel because I am slightly obsessed with the movie.

How is YOUR planning going?!....It's got to be exciting but I'll bet at times it feels like it'll never get here!!

I'm so excited for Pop; I do hope we get 50s (true confessions time: I'd be happy with anything but the 90s.....it just doesn't do anything for me. But, if it means getting to be in WDW, I'd take it!!). We are definitely going to spend time exploring this resort, too.

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[sscamarogirl2000]

Aaaaahhhhh......we are going to be at magic kingdom the same day but it will be our first day. Me and my hubby are also doing a first trip by ourselves. I'm so excited but time seems to be going so slow i feel like the date is getting further away instead of closer.lol.

 

[LegoMom3]

Aaaaahhhhh......we are going to be at magic kingdom the same day but it will be our first day. Me and my hubby are also doing a first trip by ourselves. I'm so excited but time seems to be going so slow i feel like the date is getting further away instead of closer.lol.

Oh I hope you have a magical time!!


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[LegoMom3]

Day 1 Plans!


Since our true Day 1 is now also Travel Day, it's going to be BIZ-EE!! But that's ok. I like busy, especially when it comes to a Disney vacation.

With the new flight time of 7:15am, we will have to be up before the sun and out the door around 5am. It's a little less than an hour to our airport, and since it's mostly meandering through small, wooded towns, there's no traffic to contend with, per se (unless you count wildlife...). I'm factoring in time to park the car and get to the terminal, which again, shouldn't be busy but it'll just depend on how far out in the lot we have to be. We'll check our bags, get through security, and wait to board!

A little aside regarding me and traveling: I am the proud owner of the World's Smallest Bladder (or, most over-active bladder....maybe both. I know where the closest restroom is at any given time, in any Disney park!!). I am also a coffee drinker. That's the first thing I do when I get up is make coffee. And finally, I *hate* having to use the "broom closet" that masquerades as a restroom on a plane (mostly because I am a window-seat-sitter, so that leaves me having to clamor over two poor souls on my way to the aisle). Anywho, this all presents a problem when I have an early-morning flight, which I usually do when I fly to Florida (I make fairly frequent trips there to visit my dad in the St. Pete area): 4am wake-up.....no coffee until almost 11:00.

SO!...upon arrival at MCO, my first stop there will be Starbucks. Oh sweet brown elixir of life. Now I'm a born and bred New Englander, but I like a dark roast coffee. I never order anything fancy (ordering a coffee shouldn't involve short paragraphs), but their basic Pike's Place is right up my alley. We are actually bringing a pre-loaded Starbucks gift card with us, now that they have locations all over the World, and will use it for morning fuel-ups and maybe a pastry or two.

Ok, end of tangent, back to Day 1 Schedule!!.....I figure us to be at the resort by noon. My track record with the room being ready has been very good, but of course it may not be, so we'll have anything we may need for touring right in our carry-on, which of course we can stow with Luggage Services if needed. At this point I'll be so giddy (oh all right, who am I kidding, I'll have been giddy since at least the night before!!) that it'll be hard to decide what to do. I expect we'll be hungry, so perhaps a stop at the food court. We had discussed skipping the refillable mugs, but I know once I see them all stacked in neat sections by color, I will probably change my mind. Not only will we use them for early morning coffee, but when we walk from DHS to EP, for instance, we can stop at the Boardwalk Bakery and fill up on either more coffee or soda. I think we'd use them if we got them.

I think at this point, unless our room IS ready, we'll likely want to head out and save the exploration for later in the day.

We are heading to Animal Kingdom this afternoon. I will, by default, take my time wandering through the Oasis. I love, love, love that area. We have a FP for meeting the characters at the Adventurer's Outpost from 2:10-3:10 (I made that one just in case we are delayed for any reason, if we miss it, it's not the end of the world). We have the Memory Maker package and I want to use it at every chance! When I look back at the photos of past WDW trips, there are hardly any pics of me, because I am always the one taking them! Despite the fact that I normally despise seeing photos of myself, it's a special anniversary trip and I'd like it recorded properly.

Next FP is for Kilimanjaro Safari. Not sure how much we'll see for animals in the middle of the afternoon, but what they hey, there's always something out and about.

Final FP is for Kali River Rapids, and this just prior to park closing. I will have a poncho, although if I did get soaked, we'd be heading back to the room anyway, so I'll just take it as it comes! I have never been on this, and I'm looking forward to the experience.

Depending on how much time we have in between all this, we'd also like to see Flights of Wonder, It's Tough to Be a Bug, and walk the jungle trails to see the animal exhibits. AK is a park where I enjoy the walking and taking it all in almost more than the rides. I like watching any live entertainment that we might happen upon, and finding "hidden" character meets off the beaten path (on my last trip, Daisy was out in a spot more or less across from Flame Tree BBQ, but you could hardly see her on first glance, and the poor girl had hardly anyone there in line!).

Upon leaving AK, I expect we'll head back to Pop. If the room wasn't ready, it will be now (and our bags should have arrived), and we can unpack, decorate the window, etc.. I'll probably be ready to change clothes, and then we'll decide where and how to spend the evening. Magic Kingdom? (who doesn't love at least popping in there on arrival day?!)....Disney Springs?....monorail-resort-hopping? Whatever we feel like at the time, that's what we'll do! And be in bed before it gets too terribly late, to be ready for our crack-of-dawn start to the first full day tomorrow!


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[PrincessInOz]

What a great 1st day......all except for the no coffee until 11 am part!! YIKES! I would not cope at all.

And you definitely need to come to visit me. We can go on a coffee crawl together in one of the snob-coffee capitals of the world!! Bwa ha ha ha ha.

 

[LegoMom3]

A few exciting things have happened since my last installment: These arrived a week or so ago.....

The green and yellow set are from the trip we booked last year and had to cancel, and the purple and orange set are the new ones. I plan to wear both! I have my real name on the original band, but I opted for "Edna" on the new one (I had wanted to put "Edna Mode" on mine and "And Guest" on DH's!!) The older set is less than a year old so should be good for basic use, at least.

And THESE!........CAME TODAY!!!!

You know you're getting close when your luggage tags and travel documents arrive! Doing a big ol' happy dance here right about now. But without further ado, may I present the next installment of LegoMom's PTR!



Day 2 Plans

6:00am!......Rise and shine!!! Time to get dressed and go get that first magical cup of caffeine to start the day. I haven't stayed at many WDW resorts, but of the ones I have, my absolute favorite for an early morning coffee walk is Port Orleans Riverside. We always stayed in Alligator Bayou, towards the back of the property, so it gave me a nice long walk. First I'd go get coffee, then I'd make a complete loop around Ol' Man Island. It is SO. BEAUTIFUL there in the pre-dawn light..... French Quarter is a very close second.

Anyway, we're not staying at POR on this trip, we're staying at Pop Century! And because this is our first stay there, there will be more commentary on the Coffee Walk in the post-trip TR.

What has worked well for me in the past is to be at the bus stop by 7:30 (stopping for Coffee #2 on the way out!), which gets me to a park by 8:00, which puts me first in line at the turn-styles. The hour wait goes by quickly and being among the first through will help with my strategy for this Hollywood Studios morning!

We have a 9:30 FP for Toy Story Mania, so we will head there first and just ride via stand-by. Once we come through that, it's almost time to hop in the FP line, so we'll get in two in a row. Our second FP is for Muppets. I didn't see this my last couple of trips so I'm excited to go again! I love the Muppets. Also excited to see (eventually....) what they do with the new Muppet Courtyard area. But that's another trip entirely. Our last FP is late morning for Indiana Jones. I've never watched this; looking forward to it. Since there is no more Backstage Tour, I may as well see something to do with "behind the scenes" movie magic! In between all this we will try to catch The Great Movie Ride, walk through "One Man's Dream," and stop for any characters or Streetmosphere we happen upon.

After Indiana Jones, if we've seen and done all we want to at this park, it's time to head over to Epcot via the walkway (weather permitting). DH has never done this. I discovered it on a solo six years ago and just love it. So much of the magic of Disney for me is just being there, stopping to smell the roses as they say, so a walk like this is a perfect opportunity to slow down a bit and just enjoy my surroundings. We'll probably stop at the Boardwalk Bakery for at least a mug fill-up, if not a little tasty morsel of somethin'.

We'll be entering Epcot via the International Gateway, of course, which puts us squarely in World Showcase! I have no real plans for this afternoon. We will try to snag a FP before leaving DHS, but otherwise it's likely going to be a slower-paced afternoon around WS. I'd like to see the drummers in Japan if they're performing, see The American Adventure, oh and the film in France!.....never seen it! We'll also sample some international food along the way, snacking our way around rather than planning a meal somewhere. After a tour of WS, I'd like to head to Future World and see the Flower & Garden exhibits and topiaries. Really looking forward to seeing all this! And I've been trying so hard to avoid looking at photos on the Internet!!! This is also the night we'll try to take in Illuminations. We may or may not take a break back at the resort. Depends on the day!

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[PrincessInOz]

Woo Hoo! Disney mail and Disney GPS Big Brother wrist bands!!

Coffee is my first port of call. Looks like a good morning at DHS and a slower afternoon at Epcot. Magic!

 

[rdkeim]

Following along I went on a sisters trip in March and we stayed at Pop Century. I would have preferred to stay at a moderate (POFQ being my favorite) but we wanted to keep the cost down. We enjoyed Pop very much! We had a top floor in the 70's section. Nice and quiet and not far from the AOA bridge. Your plans sound good - and, love the purple magic band!

 

[LegoMom3]

Woo Hoo! Disney mail and Disney GPS Big Brother wrist bands!!

Coffee is my first port of call. Looks like a good morning at DHS and a slower afternoon at Epcot. Magic!

Oh my word that's essentially how DH views these things! But he's not fooling anyone, he's pretty excited to wear them.

Following along I went on a sisters trip in March and we stayed at Pop Century. I would have preferred to stay at a moderate (POFQ being my favorite) but we wanted to keep the cost down. We enjoyed Pop very much! We had a top floor in the 70's section. Nice and quiet and not far from the AOA bridge. Your plans sound good - and, love the purple magic band!

Hi and aboard!!

I wanted to stay at POFQ so badly on this trip, but just couldn't justify the cost (I booked Pop on the late-spring room-only discount and I'm not sure FQ was even included?.....that, or they didn't have availability at that rate). But really, since this is just a 4-day trip centered around park time, I don't think we'll spend a ton of time at the resort, so Value it was! I'm excited to try Pop, though!!

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[LegoMom3]

A quick update.....


....for my faithful followers!

I hope to have a regular installment up in the next couple of days. I missed one this past weekend due to back-to-back health issues and just having too much to deal with. Thursday night I almost ended up in the ER with what turned out to be (at the Dr.'s the next day) a bladder infection that had backed up into my kidney (didn't even know it could do that?!....

). It was incredibly painful and I don't recommend anyone try it.

Got my antibiotics, felt better, went to work Sat. morning, then later that afternoon at home, I do something to my back. As in all I can do is lay flat on my bed...... Ok, body, REALLY??!!

I know I just turned 50 but seriously!!! I was able to go to work today and get by, but by the time I got home I was very uncomfortable again, and have spent the rest of the day to this point sitting with a heat pad on my lower spine.

::sigh:: .......

Meanwhile, we leave in 11 days! So I have until then to be functioning normally again, at least on a physiological level.

I make no guarantees to my mental state.