On the road again...

Packing again.  It seems like I've just finished unpacking, doing laundry and putting things away. Now here I am debating about what clothes to take, what to leave, how much to take, what the weather will be, and all the other things that traveling involves.

Just 10 days I ago I came back from seeing friends and doing some work in Holland.  This afternoon I'm back on a plane to Amsterdam to see the very same friends.  Life is such a merry-go-round.  It is actually very easy.  The flight is under an hour, the tube journey to the airport is about 90 minutes.  We get picked up at the airport (yippee!) and the car journey to the Humaniversity is only 30 minutes or so.  All this adds up to three hours and yet the total travel time adds up to about 7 hours with all the peripherals and airport wait times, security checks, taking shoes off, belts off, emptying pockets and all the other small annoyances that add up to stressful travel.

I've spoken before about airports and how much waiting around there is, but I realised today that the art of packing is a lesson in constant frustration.  I dress pretty well at home.  I look tailored and fairly well put together and yet, in the name of traveling light, I always look a bit of a mess when I'm away.  I never take the shoes I would like. After all, you can't fill up a suitcase with loads of shoes.  I never take the handbags I would like - one's enough and usually that's got to be big enough to store a small army in.  Sweaters and tops are limited and usually have to pass the versatility test - can they be worn in different ways and also are they warm enough.  Do I have enough layers so when the North Sea wind blows in Holland is always a major consideration too.

The ongoing question of 'do I look fat in this?' also limits what I want to pack.  The tops that make me feel thin and elegant are only going to be suitable if the weather is right, there is an occasion when they can be worn and they fit easily in my case.  Usually I wind up trying to follow the instructions in magazines to colour-coordinate my clothes and therefore make packing easier.  This inevitably means that I wind up with a suitcase of all black clothes. My poor husband feels like I'm constantly in mourning.

Well, now it's many hours later and I am sitting in a room in Holland having enjoyed a delightful evening with my many friends.  Too many glasses of wine and whisky later I realise that tonight , attempting to update my blog, is a useless undertaking.  I am going to abandon this day's entry to the joys of alcohol.  I am not much of drinker and a couple of shots of whisky and I'm ready for an early night, so see you tomorrow and with any luck the Dutch sun will shine on the tulip fields and I can have my herring breakfast. 

I will not look at any election results this evening since I do want to sleep without feeling angry and frustrated. I wish all of you and myself some  very pleasant dreams.