At this moment in our house there are four pieces of luggage littering the hallway. They will become our ticket out of town, out of this wretched winter.
In November we were all quite smug in Alberta as one unseasonably warm day stretched into another until before we knew it the whole month had become a blessing. ?Hey, this is really gonna shorten the winter, eh?? became a common refrain. Hah. As anyone who has frozen their butt off with the prolonged cold spell and dangerous wind chills knows, That’s not how this played out. December was brutal and January has only been tolerable in the last week or so.
So very soon, we’re outta here. Off to Los Cabos, Mexico for sun and surf, to lie about doing absolutely nothing if we so desire. Or go on tours. Or do nothing. Or shop. Or do nothing. Or perhaps do nothing but eat and drink. Oh, and of course read.
But between all that and us is a helluva lot of work. Studies have shown that as employees prepare to leave on vacation their productivity soars in those last few days as they bear down and really get ?er done. That seems to be true for us as well. Work like mad at work getting everything done plus do the same at home.
Write some ?From Where I Sit? in advance. Do the two GST returns for the last quarter of 2008. Pay the bills due now and before we get back. Make time for a nail fill and a pedicure. A home hair colour job is likely tomorrow night. A salon cut is also booked for next week. Ask my sister to water the plants and check the house. Figure out what we’re going to do with our car for the week we’re gone. Put some valuables in the safe. Talk to the kids about the wills.
And then there are those suitcases. Given what happened with luggage at most airports during Christmas we need to plan for the likelihood that our checked suitcases may not make it when we do.
The classic dilemma: what to put in carry-on and what to check? What size is allowed for toiletries? How big can the suitcase be? What’s that about quart-sized zip-lock bags? We obviously don’t fly often enough to have this come as second nature. That’s also why I’ve been nagging Roy to get involved and help with some of the thinking and planning.
That’s also why I’m throwing things into those bags as it occurs to me. Roy hasn’t found his sandals yet. I still need to figure what clothes I need. The packrat in me will want to overpack. It will take discipline to cut it back to essentials and leave room in the suitcases for new purchases. I usually go overboard with books. Heavy books. More books than anyone could realistically read in a week at a resort or during two four-hour flights. This time, going lightly is the goal, from where I sit.
