Next week, my family and I are flying back to Athens, Greece.

Long story short, a local mission organization found out that I possessed a British passport.  They needed a European to manage their work among the refugees in Greece.  So, they contacted my family, we said yes, and my wife is now the field coordinator for Servant Group International in Athens, Greece.

Earlier this month, I posted a letter from her.  You can read it here: https://dwanethomas.com/a-note-from-my-wife/

As for me, I will be studying Greek.  I will be teaching Greek again in the fall.

Sooo… what is the tip of the week?

Okay.  Here goes.

Pack light.

We are going to be in Athens for four months.  How do you pack for four months?  Turns out, it isn’t that complicated.  I will be traveling with my wife and my four girls.  Each of us will carry one backpack.  Yep.  Just one.  How can we do this?

We rely heavily on the advice of the world class traveler Rick Steves.  Rick showsexactly what to pack on this page: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/packing-light/ricks-packing-list.

In fact, if you click on the link: Download Rick’s packing checklist, you will find a printable file.  Today, I printed 4 copies and handed them to my girls.

Okay.  I am not telling the full truth.  We will bring one extra suitcase.  Just one.  (Each of us will not bring an extra suitcase.)  The extra suitcase will be filled with a few schoolbooks, and items we could not find in Greece the last time we were there.  Peanut butter, for example.  My girls like peanut butter.  Good luck finding peanut butter in Greece.  Nutella flows freely.  But, peanut butter?  Bring your own.

Check out Rick’s packing list.  You might be surprised how little you need to take when you travel.

By the way, this is my 100th tip of the week!  Thanks for reading along with me.  If you want to see the tip’s you missed, I keep them all here: https://dwanethomas.com/tip-week-archives/

Have a happy Saturday!
Dwane Thomas