Easter went rather well. One of my cousins was there who rarely appears at holiday gatherings, although usually we see her once a year at least at my birthday party (since I'm literally the only person in the family who still agrees to have one and that's mostly because otherwise we don't see everyone), so that was a nice surprise. I arrived at my aunt's the night before and helped her prepare what we could ahead and basically was the sous chef for everything since she's getting older, and it's difficult to prepare a multitude of dishes by yourself. My cooking skill is hardly above basic but I'm finally getting the basics down where it matters.

I've also just signed up for Babbel to learn simple German phrases since in a month and a half my parents, aunt, and I are leaving for an eight day cruise from Basel to Amsterdam along the Rhine. Simply because of the ports of call, I'm guessing German is the most useful one to at least have some usefulness for directions or reading a few signs, and no one in my family has any experience in the language except my sister who won't be with us. A little knowledge can be dangerous, I know, but it's better than none at all as long as you acknowledge your limitations.

I'm excited and nervous about the trip, like most of my other trips starting about a month to a week beforehand and the only alleviation is preparation. There's always the fear that documents/flights/hotels won't be prepared, or I'll forget something vital, or something as stupid as leaving my alarm on so it goes off every day annoying the neighbors. For about an hour before I leave the apartment, even for a weekend or short four day trip to my relatives in NJ, I'll wander around talking to myself to make sure things are packed, off, unplugged, and otherwise ready to leave without worrying about a fire or forgetting things.I'm a little OCD in case you can't tell. And I'm third least OCD out of the four of us who are going, imagine THAT!

In the end, I intellectually know it will work out fine. We have a tour company who will be responsible for smoothing any bumps in reservations, etc, and we've all traveled internationally before. I'm taking positive steps to try and smooth things over with language barriers to cover stilted German-English conversations, along with planning ahead for all of my doctor visits, medication refills, and health issues that I may need to address. If anything I think I need to travel more to acclimatize myself to the uncertainties instead of the daily grind. I doubt it will happen, but it would be nice!