Great input. Much of it overlaps my own thinking, and believe me, as much as I want this trip, I am not going with someone unqualified or unready. I especially like the reminder that she doesn't need to (just) trust me, but must trust herself to be competent enough to extricate herself if things go poorly. We have a looong way to go before that will be the case. I am not adverse to putting it off another year, maybe even two, but it's getting harder to convince myself that I'm 18 as the calendar nears 60...

Again, thanks for your thoughts. Feel free to chime in with any ideas you might have.