Emailing in Kanji and Measuring the Luggage

So here's an email I sent to one of Japanese friends: 日本語お学びます。漢字は難しいです！頑張っていきたいと思います。Jodyわかりますか？ Sent from my iPhone

My sentences aren't rocket science or anything, but I kind of can't believe I figured out the Japanese keyboard all by myself! Two of three alphabets are listed there! He replied to this saying he can understand my Japanese and that the Kanji is good. We'll see how well I do in actual conversation after decades have passed with little to no practice. At least my husband should be impressed.

A friend is also vacationing abroad for Spring Break. She's packing 5 outfits for 12 days. I'm packing 3 outfits for 9 days. My friends have washing machines, so it should all work out.

Our first hosts asked us how big our suitcases are. They feel like their Prius is pretty big, but wanted to make sure we could actually fit everything in their car. So we measured: length x width x height. I took him seriously by answering the question, because our other hostess, who owns a Corolla, got into my Corolla last time she was here and said, "Okii!!" I laughed. She said, "SO BIG!!" If she thinks MY Corolla is spacious...then we may have to adjust our thinking about the cars and how much they can hold. Hence, we measured the luggage! In centimeters.

How do you prepare for your trips?