The Stuff of Nightmares

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One of the issues with travelling can be packing, unpacking and repacking. As readers of this blog will recall I have had the unfortunate experience of forgetting vital medication on one trip and mislaying a camera charging lead on another. I have not repeated these blunders, although I did manage to leave a favourite item of clothing  on our journey through India, but have replaced it with something that's actually more comfortable, so, in Caree's World, it doesn't count.

Generally I have always taken the view that so long as I have passport, credit card and travel tickets, nothing can go wrong whilst away that can't be fixed, at least temporarily. It's still a good philosophy and one I continue to hold steadfastly in retirement.

However in retirement you find that you have time to think about your belongings and the need to pack and unpack them. To make life easy I have even bought some packing bags that lift in and out of my travelling holdall and slip into hotel room drawers with the contents readily accessible. Moreover time allows me to fill them and lay them out in the spare bedroom several days before a planned departure. It all seems very civilised and far removed from the mad whirlwind of stuffing suitcases with anything close at hand and remotely appropriate that seemed to dominate the pre-holiday departures of my working life.

What therefore is there now to stress about packing? Once bitten twice shy: medication and charging lead are underlined in red on my re-usable packing list and everything is under control snug inside the packing bags.

Perhaps it is because one has more time to think and to plan, not least in an effort to ensure the mistakes of the past are indeed consigned to history. Time to think but also time to check, and double-check. Then time to worry and check again. Time to stress and allow those lingering concerns to enter the sub-conscious. Imagination runs riot and worry over things that haven't even happened begins.

At least that's how it seemed when I awoke in the middle of the night last week, just a few hours before we were scheduled to leave for home from our lodge in Langdale. I felt panic gripping me, as I sat bolt upright yelling out to Mister E that I had left my books behind. Then just as suddenly as the grip had tightened, it was loosened and I lay down, murmuring,"Oh, we're still here!"


Comments

Library Spy said…
Love the idea of packing bags. And had to laugh at the spare bedroom image. My case is already on the spare bed for a trip that is three weeks away.
31 January 2016 at 09:23
Caree Risover said…
And to think that when I was working I never saw the top of the spare bed for clean laundry waiting to be put away, unless of course a guest came to stay
31 January 2016 at 22:17
Tracy Altieri said…
I ho estly think that I'm less organized in retirement! When I simply "had" to have it together while working, I did! Now, I find that I put things off because I'm sure that I will always have p,entry of time to do it. It's a bad habit.
2 February 2016 at 17:28
Caree Risover said…
So it's all down to procrastination then. I feel rumbled!
2 February 2016 at 19:30
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