Adventures in Travel

There’s a loud talker on the flight. I’m in row 3 and this guy is across the aisle in row 4. He talks a lot - although he’s quiet now because he’s watching his digiplayer. But, he’s a talker. A loud one. I’ve been listening to my iPod because this guy is so distracting I can’t read, or even do a puzzle. If looks could kill, I swear the woman ahead of me, in row 2, wishes this guy serious harm. Okay, probably not. Just quiet. She keeps peering through the gap between her seat and her husband’s, staring arrows just over my left shoulder to the guy across the aisle in row 4. Just by looking at her face, I can just read her thoughts: “Shut the fuck up, already!”

I can’t hear anyone else around me. I don’t think it’s that they’re not talking, although the rest of first class is fairly subdued, playing solitaire on their iPads or working a Sudoku puzzle. I thought for a while that maybe this new 737 was just more quiet than other airplanes - like riding Amtrak. If you ride the train, you can hear everyone’s conversation. Even the lady discussing private medical issues with her doctor on her phone. Stuff I really don’t want to be made aware of, you know?

It’s a good thing I had something to listen to and I still had some battery life left on my iPod. I hope my new phone* has enough battery power for a 5-6 hour flight. Then, all my entertainment will be with me wherever I go - books, podcasts, and puzzles. What more could a girl need? Lotions, but I guess you can’t put that in a phone, can you?

We were gone for ten days and, as usual, I over packed. The last time we went to Hawaii, I made notes for myself so I wouldn't over pack which I didn't read again until we were already in Hawaii. I must have remembered some of it anyway because I packed in the little suitcase this time, not the big one. Still, it weighed a ton. I knew it wasn't my bathing suit. It wasn't my shoes either. (I only brought the pink flip flops Aunt J. gave me.) It probably wasn't my pillow either. And if I packed my pillow in my little suitcase, that didn't leave a whole lot of room for clothes so what made my suitcase so heavy?

Stuff I don’t need, that’s what: lotions and electronics. Okay, geerheads, before you get all excited, I didn't say all electronics but there were some I definitely could have lived without for ten days. Similarly, there were some lotions that I could have left at home. And, I’m the Lotion Queen.

This is what I brought:

• Cleansers
• One just for my face
• One for my hair
• Is shave cream a cleanser?
• Toothpaste
• (In case you’re wondering ,the body soap was provided by the hotel/condo so don’t get all lathered up about it)
• Lotions
• Hair conditioner
• Morning face lotion
• Evening face lotion
• Eye cream
• Hand/body lotion
• Body lotion with shimmer
• Other
• Self tanner
• Sunscreen (why would someone bring self tanner and sunscreen?)
• Deodorant
• Makeup
• Almond exfoliating face scrub (To be fair, this was just a sample size)
• Anti-aging seaweed facial mask to be applied twice per week (Hey, I was gone for ten days.)

Guess how much all that weighs? A freaking ton, that’s how much. So this is what I did. When I left Hawaii I left behind the sunscreen, the shampoo, conditioner, and the hand/body lotion (which gives you sense of my priorities, I suppose). You know what? My suitcase still weighed a ton. That’s because I also had:

• An electric toothbrush and charger
• A battery operated, freaking, face-cleaning device with rotating brush head
• Laptop
• Kindle
• A bigger than necessary paperback (for when I had to turn the Kindle off in flight, although I didn't need to do that this time)
• HDMI cable, for hooking up everything to everything else
• Cables for charging everything
• Camera with which I took not a single picture

Good to get away from it all, right?

Next time, I might just consider going old school and brush my teeth with a manual toothbrush and wash my face with a washcloth. And while my face probably doesn't know whether it’s day or night, my crows feet will know if I don’t bring the eye cream. And since I didn't wear any makeup or take any pictures, I can probably leave those items at home. The rest of it I can buy for a couple bucks in travel sizes at my destination and forget transporting it, especially the half gallon of sunscreen of which we used approximately one tablespoon.

Unless I forget to read this before the next time I go to Hawaii.

Oh, yeah. I also need to remember to bring a set of earplugs.

*You know, it was the apple that got Adam and Eve in all that trouble, right? And so, it is with some trepidation that I’m switching to the dark side in my choice of phones (soon). But, at least I didn't have to do it with AT&T. That would have really been sinful.