What Do You Pack?
One day I want to go through my life and figure out how many miles I have flown altogether. I am guessing it’s a bundle. When I was in university alone, we flew back and forth every year, sometimes twice, from the US to Germany.
With all these flights, I’ve made a few rules for myself.
1. Always carry extra underwear and something to sleep in, and mascara.
One time I was stranded in a strange city, with my very young son, unexpectedly. We were given a voucher for a hotel I didn’t know, and a meal voucher. I didn’t have anything with me – no make up, nothing to sleep in, and I didn’t want to sleep in my clothes, no spare underwear. I felt so vulnerable, so unprepared. Guys won’t understand about the necessity of mascara, but we are naked without it.
2. Pack lightly, except underwear.
In your normal life, don’t you have favorites? Clothes you grab because you feel comfortable in them, and you look good in them? Pack those clothes. If you think you might be going out, pack a pretty scarf. (I learned that from British women, who, even trekking in the bush in Africa, have their beautiful pearl earrings and a nice scarf, and even worn with safari clothes, makes you look good in the evening.) If you hardly ever wear it in your normal life, you probably won’t wear it on this trip. (There are some exceptions to this rule, based on cultural sensitivities.)
3. Keep your laptop, camera and good jewelry with you. Passport, favorite credit card, and driver’s license, ditto. Have at least one good book, and if you do crosswords or Sudoku, have them with you, too, to pass the time when your flight is delayed.
4. Figure out the minimum number of shoes you will need, and pack only clothes that go with those shoes. One pair has to be comfortable hiking shoes, even if they are not beautiful.
5. If you have to pack something valuable, be sure it is deeply buried, and like inside something else.
6. You can buy pretty boxes that keep breakables protected so you don’t have to carry them with you. You can wrap the breakables in your dirty laundry. And you can always use a pretty box to store things in or to give a present in.
7. If you plan to come back with more than you go with, pack a suitcase inside a suitcase. Then you have double the space for your return. You can also pack a cloth carrying bag that carries a LOT and call it your carry-on.
8. Always have at least one 1-quart plastic bag with you, with the new airline regulations. Two or three are better – and always pack any creme or liquid in at least one plastic bag.
9. If it’s going to be cold, have layers, and especially have 1 pair of thick socks that can also be worn if you have to walk a ways to the toilet and/or can be worn to keep your toesies warm when you sleep.
10. When worse comes to worse, you can buy another suitcase at TJ Maxx, or Ross’s Dress for Less, etc. for a very low price. This may work in other countries, too, but I don’t know the sources for a last-minute suitcase in other countries.
What are your rules? Any horrible experience you want to share? What will you not travel without?
Qatar Air Doha 1st Class Lounge
This is the jacuzzi for wearied women travellers . . .
Bring it ONNNNNN!
This is where you sleep if you have a couple hours to kill:
And this is where you eat – and the food is YUMMY:
You check in seated at a desk, then go through customs to the duty-free and the excalator upstairs. At the top of the stairs you are directed to the left for Business or the Right to the First Class Lounge.
From the moment you walk in, the atmosphere in the First Class Lounge is soothing and spa like. Sheets of cascading water down glass walls, ethereal soft music, and all watery colors. Easy to fall asleep, and it’s OK, because they come and get you, personally, when you need to board for your flight. Amazing. Kinda the ultimate.
Naaahhhh, I don’t travel first class all the time. Had to get someplace, weren’t any other tickets available. Enjoyed it all the way.
Google Earth – Map Your Books!
More news from Earthling (not quite my co-blog writer, but he sure gives me some good stuff to share with you 🙂 )
“This just launched, very cool. Google books search now lets you see a map of all the place mentioned in a book.
Go to books.google.com
Search for your book
Click the ‘about this book’ link.
example: Pride and Prejudice
The 9/11 Commission Report
911 Commission Report
Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation
By William Temple Hornaday
Vanishing Wild Life
The great cities of the ancient world, in their glory and their desolation
By Theodore Alois W. Buckley
Ancient Cities
The Book of Ser Marco Polo
By Marco Polo, Henry Yule, Henri Cordier
Marco Polo
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
By Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes
Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unoffical James Bond 007 Film Companion
By Alan Barnes, Marcus Hearn
James Bond”
Travels of Ibn Batuta AD 1325 – 1354
Ibn Batuta
My comment: The maps usually showed up on the lower right part of the page, not always immediately visible, you have to scroll down. Not every page had a map, but the reference led to other similar books which had maps.
I didn’t even know Google had a book search section – and it is good! When I am reading, I like to read a train of books on the same subject – and I like the way Google gives small summaries which can give you an immediate indication whether this book will interest you or not. Thanks, Earthling!
Blame it on the Rain
(I apologize to Milli Vanilli, whose music and look I really liked, even though they were totally frauds.)
I thought I had it beat. I am getting about six hours of sleep a night, pretty normal, not bad. But . . . wide awake around four every morning – four if I am lucky, 3, 3:30 sometimes. So up at 4 this morning, do you know how quiet it is in Kuwait at four in the morning? Its like quiet-squared. Stopped by the French bakery for some goodies, spent time with a good friend from 8 – 10, we had intended to walk but too much rain! We explored photo management and uploads for a while and then I headed home.
I didn’t intend to nap. The Qatteri Cat got cozy and the next thing I knew . . . I had slept from noon to 4:30, slept like a dead person. Of course now I am WIDE AWAKE. I can’t imagine how I will sleep tonight. When will this end, when will I be back on local time??
Alhamdallah for the Trip from Hell
Remember what my husband says? A good flight is where the number of landings equals the number of take-offs? Alhamdallah, I am safely arrived back in Kuwait and the safe landings equalled the take-offs.
Having said that, this trip back to Kuwait was not a trip I want to do again any time soon. It’s all small stuff. Small stuff adds up. (Sigh.) It gets old.
There’s a direct flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. Because I booked so late, I couldn’t get on it. I kept trying, KLM kept laughing and saying “it is BOOKED!” I made use of that “weather window” to drive to the airport a little early, hoping a seat might open up, someone might now show up. No such luch. Even as the flight boarded, I asked if there was any possibility of getting on and they just laughed.
No big deal. My flight to Minneapolis was just a little later, and it was uneventful, except for leaving late enough that I had to RUN from one end of the Minneapolis airport to the other to reach the gate for my Amsterdam flight, and it was a long long way! Most people were already on board, but I had an aisle seat and I was just happy to make the flight. This flight, too, was fully booked. I didn’t see a single empty seat.
And that was not good news. I was tired, so quickly fell asleep, only to awake to the sound of a flight attendant using her loud voice to say “Sir! Sir! Can you hear me? Can you hear me? If you can hear me, you need to respond!” and when the man sitting behind me didn’t respond she was about to call for medical assistance. At that moment, he vomited copiously all over himself and all over his seat. Pretty awful, awful for him, awful for everyone sitting around him. Ummm, remember when I told you there were no empty seats?
They did their best to clean things up. Oh well. Safe landing.
Boarded the flight to Kuwait in Amsterdam, uneventful, smooth . . . “hmmmmm, haven’t we been sitting here a while? We were supposed to take off half an hour ago . . .?” The pilot comes on and says the plane has been loaded with contaminated fuel and they are trying to figure out what they are going to do. Three hours after we boarded we are deplaned, given vouchers for dinner and a phone call and 50 Euro coupon toward our next flight. We are told to be back at 9 to reboard.
So I go once again for the upgrade – I really need more space to sleep, and I really need some sleep. I tried to use that fancy-schmancy 50 Euro coupon but the ticketing office said it is only good for booking a totally NEW ticket. Ah well, I paid 100 Euro to upgrade, worth EVERY centime. I was asleep even before the plane taxied down the runway for takeoff. My sweet husband was there to meet me at the ungodly hour we landed in Kuwait. The air was cool and fresh and smelled clean.
OK, OK, nothing major, just a lot of small annoyances. The number of safe landings equalled the number of takeoffs. Alhamdallah.
Weather Window and Scent of Pine
This morning we had a “weather window” after last night’s wind storm. On our way out to dinner last night, we took a slightly round-about way to the restaurant to avoid the large major road on which all the traffic lights were out. Seattle motorists are so civil; the lights go out, they take turns going through the lights. Even so, traffic backs up to kingdom come. I figured out a way we could avoid that dogpile, and we got the the restaurant with no problem. The wind was sending the rain in lashes, but at one of the most popular restaurants in town, a parking spot was available right in front.
On our way in, a group of women on the way out hollared “It’s a 45 minute wait!” and we just laughed – my Mom is a smart cookie. We had reservations.
Finally, I am on local time, and when we got home, I slept like a baby. Early in the morning my sister came to my room and told me how she had been up most of the night, worried about the wind blowing. Trees were falling everywhere, and she was worried about the house. She said the wind didn’t die down until the early hours of the morning. She has lived in Seattle thirty three years and had never experienced a worse storm.
But there was a “weather window” this morning. Bad weather behind us, bad weather ahead of us, but for right now, right this minute, the sun is shining and the roads are clear of ice. As I drive, I smell pine everywhere, and in our neighborhood, the road crews have already been out clearing trees off the roads and pushing all the debris to the sides. The smell is pure heaven, pure sweet pine scented air.
The wind and rain have washed all the dust away, the air itself sparkles, and the trees still standing are an amazing shade of green, a green so dark it is almost black. It’s a morning to delight the senses.
Transitions
This week, my Mom bought a new bright red, lightweight suitcase for her trip next week to Portland. We went to the train station yesterday to buy her ticket. She can get on the train here in our little home town and off the train in Portland, Oregon. It’s her first trip all by herself in a long time. She will meet up with her brother and friend in Portland.
Little Diamond is presenting at a conference this week, and then will head back for Seattle en route to her apartment in Beirut. She is SO excited.
Mom and I will go see Precious Diamond and her little Diamond Chip this morning after dropping Mom’s car off to be serviced. Precious Diamond is experiencing that huge transition called Motherhood. Whew! I remember that one! No one can tell you ahead of time how your life will change, how utterly and completely a tiny infant can become the center of your world.
And I am packing up in anticipation of my own transition back to Kuwait. I am flying a new route, as I had to reserve my flight so late that my regular route is totally booked. More take offs and landings, fewer hours. Go figure. I am guessing that with all the holidays falling in the same time frame, I am competing for seats with Eid travellers as well as Christmas/New Years travellers.
See y’all soon.
Desperately Jet Lagging
The shift from Kuwait to Seattle is 11 time zones. It means that no matter what time it is, my body time is almost exactly the opposite. Sometimes I hardly notice. This time, it has been miserable. I am like a newborn baby, up and wide awake at all the wrong times, and falling asleep at all the wrong times.
Not one of us made it until midnight last night. My son and his bride are also jet lagging from their trip back from Kuwait, and also their red-eye special to Seattle for Dad’s services on Saturday. We are all fairly wrung out with the emotional toll. By nine last night, everyone was asleep. My son and his wife and Little Diamond all had early early morning flights, so my day started early – I never could get back to sleep.
So early on this New Year’s morning, I headed over to my Mom’s, stopping first at the little local Starbuck’s – yes, open even early on New Year’s morning.
Parking was plentiful, a welcome surprise, but I was not the only customer. There were several people and a city policeman having a get together so early on New Year’s Day. It is cold today, windy, rainy, cold and damp, it penetrates and chills your bones. Ahhhh, yes, a perfect time for a Peppermint Mocha.
You can see the Olympic mountains in the distance, with a fresh coating of snow. Can you feel how cold it is?
Photos in the Bleak MidWinter
As I was waiting for the shot I wanted, I had a visitor:
Not for long:
It is SO cold here – this is 3:30 in the afternoon, it feels like the sun will set any minute, you can see it sparkling on the snowy mountains:
The Family Gathers
The flight from Amsterdam to Seattle runs around 10 hours – more or less depending on headwinds and tailwinds. Thanks to my almost-fully-flat seat, I was able to get about 6 good hours of sleep, just exactly what I needed to face immigration, customs, car rental and a drive through Seattle (four to five lanes of traffic in both directions) to a northern suburb.
It is COLD in Seattle – like the high is about one degree above freezing. It is also a damp cold that makes you shiver, and when the wind blows, it feels freezing. It is supposed to drop down below freezing tonight. I just hope it doesn’t snow again; driving can get problematic in the snow.
Grabbed a quick Pepperming Mocha (I don’t know why they don’t do these in Kuwait, but they tell me there would be no market. How do they know? Have they ever tried it?) and headed for my Mom’s. One sister, her husband, and Little Diamond were also waiting for me there, Little Diamond’s sister, Precious Diamond (sometimes called Pregnant Diamond; she is due to have a baby any minute!) and my other sister, her husband and son came by a little later, and we all had dinner together.
Mom has asked me to make a kind of photographic tribute to my Dad for the service on Saturday, so we got out all the photo albums, collections, boxes and had a lot of fun going through and remembering all the good times with Dad. I have a stack of photos from different times in his life, and will take them in to get them copied, enlarged, etc somewhere where they can do it FAST. Little Diamond will help with the graphic design and Fonts – she wrote the obituary for the paper and did a truly masterful job.
Thanks to the sleep I got on the plane, I was fairly fresh . . . well, I did fall asleep for a while after dinner, but rallied and got another couple hours of work done.
I am guessing I will get a good night’s sleep and dive in to all the work that needs to be done tomorrow. With everyone in the family taking a part, it should all work out smoothly. I found the photo of me sitting almost on top of the mountain. I will see if there is a way I can blog it.
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Early Voting in Florida
