Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Getting Ready for Nationals

Flying is so much easier without formalwear.

I’ve been trying to decide how I’m going to pack for next week’s conference. I’m usually a pretty good packer. Not that I can live for a month with one t-shirt and a single pair of underpants. But that packing doesn’t stress me, and I’m quite comfortable fitting stuff into a single carry-on suitcase. I even own a teeny-tiny roller bag that is absolutely perfect for a 1-2 day trip (assuming I don’t need extra shoes). For my first job out of college, I travelled a decent amount—usually for a whole week at a time, and kept things to one rolling suitcase, one carry-on (usually just toiletries), and my laptop bag. But I never needed a cocktail dress for work.

And, the airlines never charged for checking a single, normal-weight bag. No matter how I re-arrange the puzzle pieces, I’m going to be paying $15 each way on this trip.

I have a nice Samsonite garment bag that used to suffice for flying with suits (back in the day when I wore such things for work). I had even bought the longer “coat length” bag, knowing that women’s suits and coats aren’t as short as men’s when hung. But its not long enough for my two below-the-knee black dresses. I checked last night. I either get to fold up the bottom 12” of each dress and hope that a good hang and ironing fix the damage, or find another solution. Bah. I don’t want to buy a new suitcase, assuming I can even find a reasonably priced one that would hold a dress

At least I’m all set on my carry-on. My new toy (the netbook) will fit nicely into the totebag I’ve been using as a purse, along with power cords, phone, camera, iPod, and ziplog bag of 3-oz or smaller toiletries (gee I just love airline security—there’s no fear of being attacked by a fellow passenger wielding 4oz of lotion!). My roller suitcase should easily hold the rest of my clothes and things.

What I’m trying to say is that I normally don’t’ stress about packing. But I am anyway. Darnit.

No comments: