Bursting at the seams

A little secret: I’m packing. Tide detergent, that is. I’ve turned into my biggest fear: a designer bag lady. Since I’m only using my sweet little Vera Bradley carry-on for my almost two-month global trek, I have no choice but to do some creative laundering. (It’s in my genes; my dad was a dry cleaner.)

And how do you pack a carry-on for summer and autumn on four continents (something else to keep track of, on top of the time differences. Try to keep up; there’s a quiz later.) Very selectively.  A sweater-jacket combo for autumn in South Africa and Australia. Only problem, from a fashion and practical standpoint is, I’ll be wearing open-toe sandals on chilly fall nights when I need to dress up. All I had room for.  Hey, at least it won’t be snowing.

My carry-on is stuffed more than me at Thanksgiving. I had to sit on it to close it, and it still took lots of huffing and puffing to get it zipped.

Why not just take normal-sized luggage and check it? Too many airlines on this trip, and too many opportunities for lost or stolen stuff. Too many baggage fees. Besides, as I said, I’m petite. I can’t be lugging any more than the essentials plus my laptop.

Welcome to 2003

The other first with this trip? Skype. Yeah, I thought I’d be good with my global phone plan. Not so, said my pardner, who convinced me to enter 2003 and download Skype so we could actually talk without my phone bill costing more than the trip.

Add some headphones, and voila!  A high-tech version of two cans and a string.