Packing Wars

The VERY worst part of a long trip, or a short one for that matter, is packing.  When you are going to other countries you may not find what you need.  For example, I went on a business trip to St. Kitts in the Caribbean with Bill some years ago and my bag was lost.  St. Kitts is a very small island with no Target or fat girl clothing stores.  I spent 3 days wearing Bill's clothes.  I have no vanity - they were functional and quite comfortable.  Someone from his company finally said the company would pay for some clothes if I could find any in the gift shop downstairs at the hotel.  Mind you, this was a ritzy hotel and apparently fat girls don't buy many clothes there.  There was no way I could squeeze into sizes 2 and 4.  I ended up getting a man's Hawaiian shirt and continued to wear Bill's boxers.  The lesson in this experience, is always cross pack with your traveling companion.  That way if someone's luggage gets lost, you at least have something to wear.  A very hard lesson to personally learn.  Needless to say, I have very few pictures of me on that trip.

In preparing for this trip, I realize that my husband has learned very little from previous trips.  He packs in about 5 minutes - men can do that.  I have been squirreling away toiletries and stuff for every kind of emergency I can think of.  Bill proudly announced that he had everything laid out on Monday night.  He had four pair of pants and four pair of shorts.  Here are the problems I have with this: (1) We are not going to Hawaii and shorts are not appropriate.  The highest temperature we will probably see on the best day is in the low 70's.  Bill announced, "Well, that is short weather!"  The low temperatures at night are in the 30's.  I reminded him that we would be as close to the Artic Circle as we have ever been and I didn't think he would need shorts.  He declares, "Well, I am taking them anyway."  He also packed his sandals to go with his shorts, (2) On a cruise ship there is one dress up night - formal night.  Women get really decked out and some men even wear tuxedos.  I think it is stupid.  The real goal is to get everyone dressed up like they never would in real life, take their pictures, and then sell them.  However, I do like to fit it, albeit with nice pants and blouse. That is the best meal of the cruise and you can get as much as you like.   I asked Bill if he had something like dress pants and a tie to wear.  He announced that it was stupid to get dressed up and we would eat in the room that night.  I reminded him that we couldn't get seconds if we did that and we would have to smell the food in our cabin for days.  Then he asked, "Well, can I wear shorts?"Again this would be at night with 30-40 degree temperatures.  I guess I will eat alone that night. (3)  One of the last things Bill said to me last night was, "Will we need a bathing suit?"  The last time Bill wore a bathing suit was Memorial Day in the kiddie pool with Gabe.  It was obvious from his skin tone that he has not had one on in years - in fact, I can't remember the last time he had one on.  I attempted to patiently say, "No Bill, I don't think we will be swimming."

P.S.  I should never have told Bill that I was writing this blog.  He is trying to infiltrate it with comments under the alias "Ole Willie."  Please ignore any comments he makes.  He told me that he didn't want me to write about him but I told him he is the main character in this story.  I think I will have more patience if I can see the humor.