Coming and Going
posted 7 Mar 2003, 12PM | 16 Comments
Naturally, the same evening that I'm planning to shower, shave, and run a load of laundry before tomorrow's annual flight to Austin for the SXSW Interactive convention, the water main to our apartment blows; it wont be repaired for 24 hours. I guess I'll be up at the crack of dawn to hit up the old Coin Op Laundr-O-Mat before my flight out of LAX at noon.
That's better than the usual stuff I do the night before a trip, like A) staying up all night working on a design project, layout, or episode, then climbing into the plane cracked out and with back pain, ir B) drinking for hours and hours, then oversleeping and underpacking, or C) deciding that as long as I'll be packing for a trip, I might as well clean my entire room inside and out (which usually involves a partial furniture re-arrangement project abandoned midway through the night for two hours of box-of-memory exploration and letter re-reading.
Still, I can pack for any trip in 20 minutes. What is preparation like for you? What do you never forget?
There are 16 Comments
7 Mar 03 at 09:09AM Erin said:
Underwear and socks come and go but man a good book, my discman, some cds, and plenty of batteries are absolutely essential.
By the way, anyone please feel free to respond with "yawn. how boring. how true, but how boring."
And for some reason I always seem to forget my bloody camera, but manage to pack a disturbingly diverse supply of gastrointestinal medications. bizarro.
7 Mar 03 at 01:57PM dave said:
How about how Joshua convinced me not to bring a walkman for the 32-hour bus ride to New Orleans for Mardi Gras? "C'mon, man...I'm not bringing one. Why would you?"
We didn't plan on completely running out of crap to say to each other by day 3 down there.
8 Mar 03 at 12:59AM dan said:
aBOVE All else, paper and a good pen, but the bag you pack your stuff in is very important. Yes I have a wee bit of a fetish for well designed high end bags. mmmhh compression straps...
8 Mar 03 at 07:22AM liam said:
drugs! you need to have drugs to keep you awake. My drive down to Key West made me realize that while Red Bull has some good qualities, it isn't the fuel that get you their the fastest. Nothing like rolling into South of the Border at some ungodly hour in the morning. A little bit of Mexico in the heart of South Carolina. Anybody been to the Risque(sp?) Cafe? Topless diners are really overrated. Makes legs and eggs at the Foxy Lady seem like heaven.
8 Mar 03 at 11:33AM Adam said:
I always overpack and take too long. It's the fact that I might be somewhere and might need that 'adapter to let you listen to a discman without batteries' that always kills me. Grr....
9 Mar 03 at 09:19AM ryan said:
seriously. it's kind of a challenge, now, surviving the weekend on only the 155 dollars I had when I started. I'm getting thrifty, and I'm glad.
9 Mar 03 at 03:40PM manda said:
when packing, i hardly ever do. i wait until the last minute and then throw things together. i always forget my toothbrush... i also suffer from the tendency to get sucked into memory boxes and yearbooks...
10 Mar 03 at 12:42AM liam said:
i found on my recent trip back home I often pack and then think about possible changes in the weather and repack. I had my trip in two nice daypacks and ended up with this huge ugly yellow duffle bag with my mom's name stiched into it. The only benefit of the big bag is that i couldn't lose it in a dark cave.
10 Mar 03 at 12:52AM jonas said:
always remember (or write down on an actual piece of paper) where you are staying for each destination. it's always hilarious to get into a cab at the airport and realize you have no idea where you are supposed to be. maybe hilarious is the wrong word for it.
10 Mar 03 at 03:51PM rabi said:
I brought about forty cds to barcelona with me, and I've bought a few new ones since arriving here. of course, I will have only listened to half of them at best by the time I get home on thursday.
the only time I've forgotten anything, I think, was when I went to new jersey (under protest) for easter last year and forgot my pajamas. I just slept in my clothes.
11 Mar 03 at 07:42PM EricaLucci said:
Pajamas...I always forget them but they're really essential when you're sharing a hotel room with 2-10 other people.
12 Mar 03 at 09:23AM katia said:
I've actually surprised myself on my last few trips. After packing I realized I still had room in my bag and couldn't see that I had forgotten anything. I even doublechecked. And it wasn't even my biggest bag. I think I finally learned that you don't need twice as many changes of clothes as days you'll be gone. I also finally got tired of lugging all that stuff around for no good reason & then feeling like I had to wash the unworn clothes just b/c they had mingled with the worn ones...
And I never bring music anymore. I like listening to what's going on around me in these new places and situations I'm moving through as I make my way to my destination. Or maybe I just got tired of lugging that too. Although I know I'm not *that* lazy b/c I always seem to do a major cleaning/rearranging as I'm packing; I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. :)
12 Mar 03 at 04:46PM karen said:
I, for one, am very glad erica found something to sleep in this trip.
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7 Mar 03 at 05:22AM Matthew said:
I never forget my leatherman or my hat. If I got stuck on Surivor, my Leatherman would be my Luxury item.