Resurrecting the blog

As our next trip fast approaches it's feeling more and more similar to the 'big' trip, than to any of the intervening holidays, so I thought it was time to resurrect the blog.  Welcome back!   In a time not so long ago we decided we could not go on another round the world adventure until we had finished the photo albums from the first one.  Well, you'll be pleased to know they were finished at the end of last year, and the contents of this blog were incredibly helpful in reminding ourselves not only what happened, but how we felt about it.  The notable lack of blog posts for the last 3 months of our trip led to many "do you remember where we went next?" discussions.  I must confess that the final photobook is slightly more fictional that the first two!

As the current trip will involve a rather diverse range of activities I have resolved to regularly write updates.  Over the next 2 and a bit months we will be:

• Dogsledding in the far north of Sweden (hopefully under the aurora borealis) 
• Canyoning in the middle east
• Marveling at the ancient city of Petra
• Sleeping under the stars in the dessert
• Attending the wedding of a dear friend
• Snorkeling in the Red Sea 
• Hiking along the Italian coast
• Catching up with friends and family who live in that part of the world and most likely meeting aunts and cousins I didn't know existed a month ago.

We are currently remarkably unprepared, and I'm not even sure what we need to do before we leave in less than two weeks.  Suspend internet connection, redirect mail, inform our banks of where we are going, do a practice pack, book the first night's accommodation in Jordan and a million other little details.  I have at least started to compile the clothes I'll need together.  The pile on the right is the clothes that are needed just for Sweden, the pile on the left is the rest of the clothes I'll be taking.  Sweden is really challenging my pack light philosophy!!  Any ideas for packing light when traveling to the Arctic in winter?!