We’ve all been there…especially us women with our need to pack for a week when we’re gone for a day! Most women I know anyway…if you are among those who have perfected the art of packing perfectly…I bow to your superior knowledge and self-control 🙂
Me, I’m seriously challenged and either pack too little or too much; forget the essentials or cart along numerous unnecessary baubles! Who knows what one might need? How does one pack a life in a single suitcase? So everything goes in – toiletries in large sizes (the small travel sized ones never last the length of my trip unless it’s just for a day or two and I hate having to watch how much shampoo I use!); too many clothes; two pairs of glasses, sunglasses, reading material (a minimum of two books and a few magazines); a makeup kit filled to bursting with stuff that I know I’m not going to need, but feel compelled to carry, ‘just in case’; way too many accessories; shoes (am I the only one who thinks two pairs are a minimum requirement and why doesn’t hubby ever share my shoe-dilemma?); bedroom slippers; my first-aid kit; odds & ends – nail clippers, detergent (Uh huh!), pens, safety pins, wipes, a pocket mirror, ear buds, the cell phone charger, the iPod charger, the adapters for those chargers…sigh…it goes on and on. I am not even thinking about having to pack when we start travelling seriously with Ishaan…packing for a toddler is just too scary…I’ve seen the humongous amounts of stuff they travel with…diapers, toys, and food, food, food! I know one can buy a lot of the stuff along the way or at your destination, but you can never be sure, can you? Better be safe than sorry…isn’t that what the wise women say? I know my Mom does and my Granny has lived by the dictum her whole life! I love to travel light. I’ve gotten better at it over the years, especially with the clothes and accessories, but it’s still very much a work in progress. I think it’s a woman thing, but also an ‘Indian’ thing. Traveling with an Indian family by train can be a great adventure – for one, you’ll never ever run out of food! Nor conversation (be prepared for every personal question that’s nobody’s business except your own.)! Nor entertainment (think children running around, women chattering, singing songs, men chewing paan and striding in the passage ways, getting in your way, until your head spins.)! I exaggerate! I exaggerate! It’s a circus of sorts, that if you let it, can end up becoming an experience of a life-time 😉 All it takes is patience and lots of alcohol 😛
The hubby of course with his irritatingly, annoying efficiency, has a neatly typed out travel check-list that he primly ticks off during his short, focused hour of packing! Ugh! I’m not a list person and the only thing I manage to do with a list is lose it! That’s just who I am.
I’ve realized I’m still dragging my feet on packing for Kerala…I leave tomorrow evening and I don’t even know what bag I’m going to be taking. It’s just 5 days with 2 days spent travelling, which means jeans, which is simple. But then there’s the tiny matter of the wedding…and that means sarees, which mean blouses that match (not to mention fit ;-)), a petticoat (a kind of skirt) that goes under the saree, and jewellery. That’s an issue – ‘coz carrying jewelery by train is a risk. And yet, this is a wedding…sigh…decisions, decisions….will have to resort to the time-tested method of stuffing what little stuff I do take into a velvet case and stuffing said case at the bottom of my hand-bag and using said hand-bag as my pillow. Of course now that I’ve disclosed my brilliant strategy for the whole world to read (ambitious much ;-)), it’s rather self-defeating. Oh well, wasn’t much of a strategy anyway!
Ah, hubby’s just signaled that we start packing at 7 pm IST, that’s in 10 minutes from now…so I had better wrap up this post and prepare myself for the ordeal that lies ahead! Oh and don’t even get me started on unpacking! A whole other post! Again I say, Wish me Luck!
p.s. I know I said, I wouldn’t bug you guys with any more posts until next week, but this one just sort of wormed its way in 😛
H is for Happiness 