C'est Piece of Cake...
I’m here! Haven’t gone anywhere… of course by here I mean earth… and well, I’ve been busy…. My frequent flyer card says that so far this year I have flown 13 thousand miles, and that is not taking into account the 3500 miles I’m about to fly back home in a couple of hours from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to Newark/New York, nor the 3000 miles roundtrip that I will have by next Wednesday when I come back from Mexico…
Have I mentioned before that I love traveling? But I hate the “traveling” part in traveling… I mean the preparation…. I hate, really, really, really hate packing to start with… that stress that comes upon you knowing that you have to pack, get ready, not miss anything will life still goes on… when you travel a couple of times a year or a couple of times a month… you just don’t want to loose anymore time with that… so you leave it until the last minute… sometimes it’s easy, well, believe me… well at least some parts are easy… basic…. My list always goes…. Pajama… Check!… underware…. Check!…. (although a couple of times that has been forgotten…) things for my hair: shampoo, conditioner, styling products, hair dryer, straightening iron, product to use while you use this horrible artifact… ) Check!… things for my face… to take of makeup, clean face, moisturizer, for the day, for the night, makeup…. Check! etc, etc, etc… so far piece of cake… and then comes the cloths… I always try to minimize… I promise…. But…. What can I do… I start thinking, I have a meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Paris, then I go to Marseille, I can re-use what I used on Monday and Tuesday… less cloths… but what if I go out to a restaurant Monday night with my work cloths, it will get stinky because of the cigarettes… then I need extra cloths… so we start again, Monday, Tuesday meetings… if I go out on Monday, I should wear something else… oh no… my meeting on Monday includes somebody who is based in Marseille and will see me on Monday and Wednesday, so I can not repeat cloths… no, no, no…. so now it becomes, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and why not something different for Thursday and Friday, two or three outfits if I want to go out at night and throw in a little bit more so I can always have the chance to choose…. Great… oh and by the way, if it’s summer… then there is the must have summer cloths on top of the going out cloths and the work cloths… ok, what’s next… shoes…. So outfit on Monday and Wednesday goes with black, for the other days it can go with brown… but what about the nice top that goes so great with the green shoes… and well, I’ll have some walking shoes, just in case…. Some high heels, low heels if my feet hurt, slippers…. Open shoes in case it’s to warm, boots in case it’s to cold…. Oooooops! Shoes do not fit in suitcase…. I guess I have to take all my cloths out and color coordinate them so I can take only 2 or 3 pairs of shoes…. And of course one bag… because shoes HAVE to match the bag and if they don’t there has to be slight color popping out from the shoe or the bag that will go with the other… OK, you see people and I still have not left the house!!!!!! So it’s stressful and well, in 10 years I’ve improved this process and I can now travel one week to Europe with a carry on bag and pack in 30min… with the thought process explained above…. After this you might think that it will be a piece of cake to pack for when I return… BUT! There are other factors to consider…. Will I do any shopping in my destination? If yes, then whatever… just bring a bigger suitcase…. You’ll always have plenty of room, you can fit your non coordinated cloths, shoes, scarves and so on and of course I will have place in my suitcase for everything…. Of course until the day before at 12midnight I realize that there might not be space for the 3 bottles of white wine, 3 bottles of red, the crème de cassis, the 3 fois gras from the south west of France… where else would you dare to buy fois gras from? Please….. the 10 bags of green and black olives… lavender honey, calisson, navettes de flor de orange, tapenade, confit de canard 4 cuisse…. Cheese, chocolate and very important chewing gum… but not any chewing gum… Hollywood, or like my friends in France say… Ollywood J and believe it or not, it doesn’t exist in the US!!!! My friends in France are perplexed when they learn that I carry about 10 boxes of “Ollywood, because in the US we have not….
Have I mentioned before that I love traveling? But I hate the “traveling” part in traveling… I mean the preparation…. I hate, really, really, really hate packing to start with… that stress that comes upon you knowing that you have to pack, get ready, not miss anything will life still goes on… when you travel a couple of times a year or a couple of times a month… you just don’t want to loose anymore time with that… so you leave it until the last minute… sometimes it’s easy, well, believe me… well at least some parts are easy… basic…. My list always goes…. Pajama… Check!… underware…. Check!…. (although a couple of times that has been forgotten…) things for my hair: shampoo, conditioner, styling products, hair dryer, straightening iron, product to use while you use this horrible artifact… ) Check!… things for my face… to take of makeup, clean face, moisturizer, for the day, for the night, makeup…. Check! etc, etc, etc… so far piece of cake… and then comes the cloths… I always try to minimize… I promise…. But…. What can I do… I start thinking, I have a meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Paris, then I go to Marseille, I can re-use what I used on Monday and Tuesday… less cloths… but what if I go out to a restaurant Monday night with my work cloths, it will get stinky because of the cigarettes… then I need extra cloths… so we start again, Monday, Tuesday meetings… if I go out on Monday, I should wear something else… oh no… my meeting on Monday includes somebody who is based in Marseille and will see me on Monday and Wednesday, so I can not repeat cloths… no, no, no…. so now it becomes, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and why not something different for Thursday and Friday, two or three outfits if I want to go out at night and throw in a little bit more so I can always have the chance to choose…. Great… oh and by the way, if it’s summer… then there is the must have summer cloths on top of the going out cloths and the work cloths… ok, what’s next… shoes…. So outfit on Monday and Wednesday goes with black, for the other days it can go with brown… but what about the nice top that goes so great with the green shoes… and well, I’ll have some walking shoes, just in case…. Some high heels, low heels if my feet hurt, slippers…. Open shoes in case it’s to warm, boots in case it’s to cold…. Oooooops! Shoes do not fit in suitcase…. I guess I have to take all my cloths out and color coordinate them so I can take only 2 or 3 pairs of shoes…. And of course one bag… because shoes HAVE to match the bag and if they don’t there has to be slight color popping out from the shoe or the bag that will go with the other… OK, you see people and I still have not left the house!!!!!! So it’s stressful and well, in 10 years I’ve improved this process and I can now travel one week to Europe with a carry on bag and pack in 30min… with the thought process explained above…. After this you might think that it will be a piece of cake to pack for when I return… BUT! There are other factors to consider…. Will I do any shopping in my destination? If yes, then whatever… just bring a bigger suitcase…. You’ll always have plenty of room, you can fit your non coordinated cloths, shoes, scarves and so on and of course I will have place in my suitcase for everything…. Of course until the day before at 12midnight I realize that there might not be space for the 3 bottles of white wine, 3 bottles of red, the crème de cassis, the 3 fois gras from the south west of France… where else would you dare to buy fois gras from? Please….. the 10 bags of green and black olives… lavender honey, calisson, navettes de flor de orange, tapenade, confit de canard 4 cuisse…. Cheese, chocolate and very important chewing gum… but not any chewing gum… Hollywood, or like my friends in France say… Ollywood J and believe it or not, it doesn’t exist in the US!!!! My friends in France are perplexed when they learn that I carry about 10 boxes of “Ollywood, because in the US we have not….
Comments
My life is simple by contrast. I only have to worry about what to wear and what to eat. Why not try the "bloke way" for a while. It's working for me, although, as a bloke, it ought to work for me.
Cmdr Vimes
(upon reading said blog) Huh?!?!?! *eyes crossed and rolling backwards in my head*
I'm impressed you manage to go anywhere! I'd have had a seizure by now! You could just pack a bottle of Febreeze to get rid of the nasty smoke odours, then Monday's outfit will still do for Wednesday after the big night out :p ....No, no! That's too many options!!
Confused? Yeah, me too. *headdesk* It all started when I read your blog....
by the way it's winter not summer :p
and OMG I love what you're bringing back !!! Fleur d'oranger, navette, foie gras, tapenade, lavender, confit...you make me so hungry !!!! there's only one thing you're forgetting : CHARCUTERIE !!! damn I can't imagine living in France without eating saussicons and saussices seches ! well and smelly tasty creamy cheese but I bet that wouldn't go well with all your outfits and those things you pack ;)
good luck in Mexico and talk to you soon !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugs
Matching shoes and bags? If that was me, I'd take only one pair of shoes and one bag. As for the clothes, you can use the same trousers or skirt with different tops, I'm not sure anyone would notice especially if they're black and classic ;)
Also, I can't believe Hollywood chewing gums don't exist in the USA! :O
Love your blog btw