They've Won.

I packed two large boxes today and filled them full of things I felt I needed in Seattle.  I checked the weather in Seattle for the summer... yeah, not too warm.  Raincoat and fleece, long sleeeved shirts I can wear under cuter shirts... an umbrella, and some practical clothes for rehearsal and tech.  I have a really cute hat.  I threw it in.

Went through my (very large) stage management kit and pared it down to a shoe box, with a bottle of vodka tucked inside.  I'm trying to prepare for 10 weeks away in a city where I'll not have a car.  Yikes.  Difficult.

I want to travel light.  I don't want my suitcase filled with high heels and boots, (or staplers, scale rules and extra pencils.)  I'm sending them all off Tuesday.  (Monday is a holiday.  So annoying.  WE don't get holidays!)

I will have to travel with my headset and stopwatches and two syringes.  (Worried I'll get stopped by Homeland Security.)

I hate flying these days.  I avoid it as much as I can. I detest having to take off my shoes and open my computer.  Last time I flew to NY, I was wearing a brace on my wrist.  I had a choice.  Take it off and put it in the scanner, or wait twenty minutes for an investigator who would determine the brace was not dangerous.  (It was a velcro strap with a buckle.)  I put it through the scanner.

Love my work.  Love going to new places. HATE hate hate what we have to go through to work.  What can we pack anymore?  I need to pack my cigarettes.  That would imply I need lighters.  No lighters allowed!  So the lighter industry gets me to buy more lighters.

No vials over some odd ounces.  Okay.  So I have to buy cream and shampoo at my destination.  I swear it is a plot to help the economy.

I'm shipping a bunch of stuff.  Including oatmeal and popcorn.  I need what I need.  I don't see why I should have to double the expenditure home and away.

Oh, and do you realize you can only check one bag?  You can only carry-on one bag?  There are business travelers who are gone for weeks and weeks.  (I will be gone for ten.)  I am trying to anticipate this.  I've packed two boxes.

Fed-X.  Gotta love 'em.

I will travel light. (I'll send the heavy stuff ahead.) I will wear shoes easy to take off and put on again.  I will not carry nose scissors in my luggage.  I will have one bag to check in, and I will have one bag (that fits under my seat) to take on.

My purse will be packed and in my luggage.  My computer bag will hold everything...

What happens when we travel abroad?

We've become so paranoid. I think they've won.