Trials and Tribulations of Packing to Travel
Having planned to do more travelling in retirement than ever before, I have recently come across the hazards of packing. Determined never to repeat the inglorious incident from ten years ago of departing in a mad rush on a fly-drive holiday without my driving licence, I have been trying to pack in advance and with reference to a list.
Sadly I still seem to fall short of a 100% success rating.
On our recent trip to Albania and Greece, I ticked everything off on my list only to find that medication I take for my under active thyroid had mysteriously disappeared from my bag. A similar situation arose a couple of weeks ago on our journey around Suffolk and Norfolk. I was certain that I had packed the charging lead for my camera after it had initially fallen out and I found it lying on the floor near the front door. Indeed I could remember picking it up and placing it in the car. Strangely it was not there when I needed it, upon arrival in our first hotel.
All of this was rather frustrating as you can imagine and certainly involved a great deal of packing and unpacking just to make sure I was not overlooking the items that I was convinced I had included.
Upon our return home the disappearances were readily solved. I had packed the medication, but not in the bag that I finally decided to take, whilst the camera cable had attached itself to the eldest's belongings when we dropped him off on route at his home and where it had lain undiscovered until I insisted that he conduct a thorough search.
I'm not sure what the moral of this story is or if I should be concerned about my lack of thoroughness. It is after all only a year ago when I was blogging about how packing in retirement is a breeze. I am, however, trying to draw a positive from my oversights: I think they are a great marker of how far I have come in my journey to live a more Bohemian and less organised and pedantic life! Please don't try to persuade me otherwise.
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