Traveling to Barcelona

Since the better part of today will be spent traveling from London to Barcelona, I thought I’d talk about packing.  We belong to the group of Classic Overpackers. 

Just as we have the cardinal shopping rule for travelers (Charge It-Ship It), we have 2 basic rules for packing.  First is the “What if rule.”  Second is the  “We don’t travel to report on great self-laundry facilities we have seen.”  I think I inherited from my mother the first rule.  You never know what strange malady you may run into.  Hence we bring some of everything in the medicine cabinet.  Likewise I never travel without my roll of duct tape.  It can be useful for so many things.  Unfortunately it’s also pretty bulky and heavy.  I guess I could make a fashion statement and wear it as a bracelet.  The second rule complicates the amount of clothing we haul with us.  On our cruises recently we’ve had access to free laundry services which always came back the next day.  That meant if we packed enough clothing for our days pre-cruise plus 2 extra, we would be good to go.  On this trip we’re spending a week ashore first and since we’ve never been on Seabourn we have no idea if their laundry will be as efficient.  Add to that the fact that we’re traveling from cooler London to warm Rio where you don’t even need to wear clothes on the beach, unless you count a thong. So we prepared for all climates.  And then there is dinner clothing on the ship.  There are formal, elegant casual, country club casual, and whatever else they come up with.  The upshot is we have four large suitcases and two big carryons. 

I did have a moment of revelation as I packed at home.  We always make a list of things we need to pack.  I  try to pack so we don’t have to open all our suitcases during the land portion.  That nevaer seems to have worked before.  There was always something tucked away in another bag.  This time it hit me that I needed two lists.  The things to pack list and a list of what’s in each suitcase.  So I’ve attached a numbered sticker to each bag and I made a list of everything that went in each suitcase as I placed it there.  That’s worked really well and we haven’t needed to open every one.  It only took 60 plus years to figure that one out.  I’m learning.

So now we sit in the British Airways lounge waiting for our flight.  Al is feeling better.  The weather looks good and hopefully the day will be uneventful.  More later.