The middle

Blue Thursday

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Feb 18, 2016 at 8:20pm PST

So many thing on the list, so many things crossed off.  How I love those kinds of days.

Oh, and the forsythia are showing color! and the rogue narcissus are popping up on Montlake Boulevard.

Spring is definitely springing.

Loyalty gets you something

Everyone is treated like a king! December 2015, Park Hyatt Vendome, Paris.

Last January, Hyatt ran a somewhat targeted promotion that would guarantee their top tier status if you completed a challenge - usually a certain number of nights or stays within a period of time.  TH had by chance booked nearly the number of nights/stays that would make her eligible for this promo. The promo had been leaked by a blogger and then posted on several message boards and like with anything - people started to take advantage of it or thought they could.

TH called and asked if she was eligible. The agent on the phone couldn't even find the challenge (more on that at a later date), she was finally transferred to someone who told her that the challenge was targeted at guests who stayed a lot, but not enough to make the highest tier status, so she was ineligible.

Whatever.

She ended up moving all the stays to the Kimpton chain.

I fumed for a while, we could have lived like Queens on all our stays at the Hyatt - all the suite upgrades, the lounge access, the plushy bathrobes, the extra points! The truth be told, I was a Hyatt Diamond for about eight years and it was lovely. But the hotels that we stay at the most within the Hyatt chain already treat us well, we don't need anything else and that is what matters the most to us.

Sometimes I grow weary of all the things we read on the internet, scams, bonuses, gaming the system successes and hacks and wonder if I'm a rube for not taking advantage of them or relieved that I don't care enough. I wonder how people have the gall to game the system or spend nights coming up with loopholes to let them get away with paying nothing and getting everything.

It is a whole industry and people are happy to add their experiences and knowledge, but I'm not sure I'm game for it.

I'm looking forward to staying at two of the properties that treat us well in the next week.

Buying nothing, building community

Screw all this, we're getting things done.

It certainly doesn't happen here.

However, the buy nothing movement is something that I'm beginning to really dig.  I'm happy to part with the things I no longer need nor love (sorry, blue cashmere sweater with a stain I just couldn't get out).

I'm going through my belongings with a critical eye and trying to remember the last time I used something or even laid my hands on the object. There are things I'll never part with because of sentimental reasons. I'm not that ruthless.

My parents are starting to cull through their things - mostly things they have hauled from house to house - boxes of my artwork, toys, books they haven't opened and household goods.  My mom always tells me that the reason they do this now, is that they are saving us the pain of doing it later.

In the last week, I was able to share my Barbie furniture with some kids that just moved here from Finland.  My father's old computer chair went to someone whose husband was using a dining room chair for his computer. His spouse was delighted to get her chair back. I've been able to clean out my toiletries and some clothes I'm not likely to wear again. I've even been able to re-home some plants.

I haven't been on the receiving end of the movement - right now, I'm happy to give my stuff away and hope that it goes to a good home.  I'm amazed at what people ask and what people offer - not in a bad way, but the honesty, the humility and the graciousness of the community. Its not all about stuff- people ask for help - hanging shelves, moving things and people offer - extra soup they made, pies at the holidays. I was skeptical at first and now I'm loving it. It beats driving to the Goodwill station and watching my things get thrown in the back of a big truck.

Each Buy Nothing community is different - the guidelines are similar - nothing for sale, nothing should be illegal and you must live within the community boundaries to participate.  You can find your community through Facebook or through their website.

half assed

up in the air

My blogging feels half assed. My eating is much the same and apart from yesterday, my attempts at keeping up with a decent activity level also feels like I'm phoning it in.

I'm turning this ship around this week.

I feel a renewed vigor and I need do something (other than work and class work) to get some of this out of my system.

I had a great weekend doing a lot of nothing and something.  We left mid-day on Saturday to Orcas, where we ate good food and hung out with many dogs.  On Sunday morning, we took an inter island boat to Friday Harbor to see the Ai Wei Wei exhibit at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art. I highly recommend it.

As with many islandy things, the ferry went out of service and we were left with two and a half hours to kill.  We drank a lot of tea and coffee and read a lot of books.  This delay was nothing like the one we experienced in Greenland where we ended up chartering a boat to get back to the mainland to catch our flight. For what it is worth, chartering a whale watching boat out of Friday Harbor is not a cheap proposition unless you have forty people.

It was a small exercise in patience and one I keep on reminding myself is part of life.

This week is super busy and short. I spent much of the weekend creating lists - what I need to do, what needs doing and how we're going to do it. I hope to get a lot of it completed by Wednesday.

What is on your list this week?

Happy Valentine's Day

I do hope it was grand.

Day in the life

To the North

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Feb 13, 2016 at 1:42pm PST

Mine is pretty boring. I recommend you follow my instagram feed tomorrow to see how boring I really can be - with documentation and maybe a picture of Ernest thrown in.

Scratch and sniff

This blog post sums up my feeling about Blaise Mautin and how one person can be so in love with scent that they seek it out.

I have tiny bars of this soap squirreled away in my smalls drawers and nestled within my t-shirts.  I would follow you to the ends of the earth if you smelled like the Park Hyatt Vendome. A few years ago, they reformulated the scent. I was heartbroken.

The new stuff is fine, its better than fine, but it isn't the same. It has a lot of citrus overtones and less sandalwood.

I can't wait to immerse myself in the scent in a few weeks.

The waiting game

Way out London, December 2015.

Vacation head is starting to overtake my consulting head and my class head and mostly, my kon-mari and get my life organized head.

When you start counting down the days until you escape your hamster wheel of life to do something different, it can be hard focus.

I have six days to really focus - phone calls, spreadsheets, stuff to "thank and let go" and dogs that need walking don't give a hoot about if I should reroute myself through LAX nor where I should eat in London.

How do you cope with vacation head?

To the North

I love watching the change of seasons as I pass through the Skagit Valley.  Fields that are flooded this week will give way to thousands of snow geese and then to daffodils in a month and potatoes in five months.

I'm still unearthing bulbs that have been smothered by mulch and fallen leaves. I am hesitant to remove all the protection that the leaves provide, but it really does feel we've turned a corner.  President's Day is the start of the seed planting at Casa Ernest.  Sweet peas and lettuce will be sown next week followed by other cool weather crops.  I'll put in seedlings as well. I know that is cheating to some, but I'll take anything that looks like it is living.

It makes me hopeful.

Goals and giving up

💙💙💙💙💙 #nmnm2016 #theyearthatis2016 #2016yip #2016.017

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Jan 17, 2016 at 11:57am PST

I wish I could tell you have a slew of goals for the month. I'm just going to be delighted by making it through with healthy parents and a few nights of decent sleep.

I have been tracking my food.
I have been keeping better track of what I have accomplished.
I have been feeling much better because I am tracking my food and realizing that I do accomplish quite a bit each day.

I'm not Catholic, but in the past I've given up something I liked or spent too much time doing during Lent. I guess I could do it anytime of the year, but we talk about making these changes or sacrifices either at the beginning of the year when we're loathe to repeat old habits or patterns, or this time of year, when some believe we should suffer.

A friend posted something about the things we should really consider giving up - for Lent, for life, for whatever.  A few things that struck home for me were the following.

• Fear of failure (trust me, everything fails, get over it)
• impatience (learning this the hard way with my parents)
• people pleasing (I'm learning this from the dog)
• distraction (what? No, listen, really listen)
• bitterness (see no. 1)
• busyness (Say YES to No)
• resistance to change (be the change, and I don't mean that in a Bernie Sanders way)

I believe these things are much harder to give up than chocolate or Facebook.

Monday Inspiration

How I wish I could be this organized - Purl Soho, May 2015. 

Getting more productive is my goal.  I look to leaders like Nir Eyal to keep me motivated.

This is a great post to help you become more productive by just changing a few things in how you work and organize your information. Less stuff to see on your desktop, tablet, physical desk, phone - the less likely you'll be distracted and hopefully more productive.

I'm afraid to show you my desk, but I might just have to tomorrow.

boom

There is something about the first day you realize that 5 pm has passed and it is still light out.  That day where you decide at 4 pm that you'll go outside and rake and weed for a bit before you start making dinner.

Then there comes a time when you can barely stand being inside to make dinner let alone eat it. It is that time when all you do is look around the garden and see a hundred things that need to be taken care of NOW.

Today was one of those days.  The bulbs are going crazy in the lawn, perennials all need be cut back and every leaf needs to be carefully removed from the beds.  It is a slow process bringing the garden back to life in the Spring.

There are a lot of big projects that need tending to in the garden, just like with life, but I'm taking it slowly and savoring the stolen moments with my secateurs, the trowel and the millions of dog tooth violets emerging from the ground.

Happy Sunday.

The New Normal

Somewhere in the 11th. 

We skipped our usual November trip to Paris in 2015.  We ended up eating in the Bastille - very near where the horrific events at the Bataclan and the cafes happened. It was heartbreaking to walk by the cafe and see the flowers and cards piled up in front of the barricades.

I remember the terrorist attacks of the 80s that resulted in lots of the measures that are just part of today's Paris - the gendarmes policing the streets, the clear garbage bags in public places and the tacit understanding that everyone needs to be vigilant in crowds.  I also remember queuing up in the French embassy in London to get a visa in order to visit France.  I was traveling by myself from London to Germany via Paris.  The hassle of having my bag searched everywhere I went along with the humidity and heat of August made it a no-brainer for me - I was going to Germany sooner than I had anticipated.

Paris in December felt different. It was quieter than usual.  The shops were emptier. The streets were not as hectic.  The shopkeepers we talked to said that the bombings scared Parisians from going out. Acts of violence have a long tail.  It is not just the sharp shock of the event, but how it plays out - in the media and in our psyches.

Do we feel safe? Can things be the same? Is this the new normal?

The new normal is not something I ever expected to have to experience.

Pondering

I'm not sure I believe this to be true, but I'm willing to consider it.

Oh the places you will go!

Campo de Fiori - Sunset

I miss Rome. I miss it a lot. My friend Jennifer, who lived there for many years calls it Romesick. We had plans to go this winter, but it hasn't panned out.

There are few places on my list for this year that I've never visited that are on my list for 2016.

In no particular order:
Louisville
Cincinnati
St. Louis
Omaha
Durham
Charlottesville
Little Rock


They are all in the U.S.

Why? Some of these places are important in terms of development of the U.S., others because they are just intriguing to me.

Places I'm likely to visit this year that I go to on a regular basis (heavy rotation):
Philadelphia
Santa Fe/Albuquerque
Salt Lake City
Redlands
Washington D.C.
Kona

I'm not even going to stray from the familiar when it comes to international travel - it is a well worn path these days for various and sundry reasons.  I'm okay with that too.

For now, I'll live vicariously through friends and acquaintances gorgeous images and make plans for another day.

Tripping

Chelsea Physic Garden - a great place to see urban snowdrops.

I'm in the midst of planning my next attack on the snowdrops of England. I had such a blast last time that I convinced TH to come along with me.  Like last time, I'm going to be depending on the fine UK transport system - trains mixed with a few regional buses and some long walks.

So far it looks like I'm hitting the ground early on a Saturday and going north to Stevenage. The following day I'm heading back up north to Retford and the following day I'm going towards Crawley and then to Brighton.

That is a lot of moving around. I wish I had a week.

I'm tweeting to the various gardens in hopes of getting some snowdrop updates and grateful when each place updates their websites and Facebook status with snowdrop reports. It was bonkers last year and I want it to be the same awesome experience this year, especially since I've gushed about my trip and don't want to let TH down.

Somedays I wish I could just not plan and let the chips fall where they may, but I feel like there are so many places and gardens I want to see and not enough time to enjoy them all.

Here's to a colder few weeks in England to keep those snowdrops from blooming early and to fine weather to experience their beauty.

Communication Breakdown

It was truly a beautiful day even if I was stuck inside for most of it.

Things that just shouldn't happen - telling someone that they are out of a job via a text message.

This happened at the salon I frequent, 7 Salon in downtown Seattle.  It was uber convenient when I worked a block away, now not so much. It was also getting really expensive for just a haircut.  My stylist rates had gone up nearly 20 bucks in one year, so I started to space my cuts out a little further apart because I just couldn't justify that much money every six weeks.

There is a Facebook page to link up stylists with their clients and that is a great use of social networking - connecting people. I'm not sure if I'll end up doing using it, but I'm delighted to see so many stylists connecting with their clients and to see the offers of jobs come in via Facebook  and Reddit.

Getting laid off sucks, getting laid off by phone is hard (trust me), but getting laid off by text is not only tacky, its illegal.

What really saddens me is that the owner of the salon is no slouch in this area.  She comes from a family that has deep roots in the arts and business community. She should have known better.

Now, I'm in the market for a new salon and maybe a new haircut.

2016

Happy New Year. I seem to say this a lot, even now.

January was not the best of months. There was illness, there was drama, there were few naps and I'm happy to say that it is over.

 February is my least favorite month. I'm not sure why. It is my birthday month, but I still don't like it. I do love the spring bulbs that are way too early this year. I love the fact it is light until 5 pm again. I love the fact that after 28  29 days the month is over.

 I'm subbing February for January this year. Instead of making lists of all the things I wanted to accomplish in 2016, I'm focusing on finishing the relevant tasks of 2015 that are overdue and adding in a few things where I can fit them in.

 I'm still thinking about how my workflow has changed now that I'm working from home again. I'm back to using my large monitor and sitting at a desk instead of plopping down anywhere and writing/surfing/working. I'm blocking sites that I find both time and attention sucking. If I find something that works, I'll pass that along.

I think 2016 will be a year, much like the rest with a few good things tempered with the bad and sad. I'm going to continue to say "no" more than "yes", but with a little more patience than before.

Basset selfoui #dailyernest

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 15, 2015 at 10:30am PST

I need longer arms.

It feels like winter is here - must start storing acorns 

Paris

You are breaking my heart. 

Order of Operations

This is a crucial part of learning how to perform calculations and how to deal with life and all of its challenges. I'm starting to believe that the world and my fate is part of a large field calculation and that it is a good thing to step back and look at where things may go wrong and fix them. I'm also a big believer these days in object oriented living. Taking things down to their component parts and reusing and referencing them, saving time and redundancy. I wish the rest of the world felt the same way.

All of the tracking

That's my kind of #5aday - thanks @simplymeasured #liftsocial

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Oct 22, 2015 at 1:12pm PDT

I started tracking my food again - it is not helping. I am still eating way too much sugar. I'm still not getting enough of the green stuff.

I'm still eating like a four year old with a somewhat sophisticated palate.

At the same time, I'm making reservations for Michelin starred restaurants for my December trip to Paris.

Go figure.

Tuesdays

that feel like Mondays are hard.

I could use do over of Monday with part of Tuesday to boot. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.

I wish I had more to say, but my mind is filled with calculations, bar charts and thinking about what Thanksgiving will bring.

Monday musing

There is no place I would rather be today 

Although this was pretty cool to wake up to 

The only good thing about 416 pm on this day #theyearthstis2015 #2015yip #dontask

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 8, 2015 at 4:37pm PST

Welcome to Sunday.

Some days it is just better to stay in bed or carrying it with you. 

Red cupped makes no

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 6, 2015 at 4:17pm PST

Happy Holidays from Starbucks.

Real life

Dinner of the champions #theyearthstis2015 #2015yip

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 5, 2015 at 10:10pm PST

There is something to be said for flying from LA and  going straight to the office. This followed by  spending an hour in traffic  to sit for another three hours in class and then to come home to stream a sitcom and eat mediocre soup dumplings.

Nothing changes on the return to Seattle except for the 40 lbs of fruit we hauled back. There are the same bills,  bags to unpack and the same spreadsheet you were happy to close on Tuesday hasn't miraculously fixed itself. I sometimes wish this were not the case.


 I am glad to be home for the next month to deal with all of this and more.

Happy Thursday.

Hump Day

Cragtastic #inlandempire

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 4, 2015 at 3:18pm PST

This year I have seen some spectacular things - Swaths of snowdrops in Lincolnshire,  the back roads of Southeastern Tennessee, Monet's Giverny in full bloom, Great Dixter at a quiet time of year, the Columbia Gorge with its salmon heading home to spawn, the northern New Mexico landscape in the winter and fall and the view below the Golden Gate Bridge by boat. Today, I finally made it to Joshua Tree.

In one word, amazing.

We didn't hike or pull off the road to see every marker or scenic point, but the drive and views were spectacular at 35 miles an hour.  The park is not too crowded this time of year and the weather was magnificently brisk, but manageable.  It made me realize that there are so many things I have yet to experience.  It has inspired me to start thinking and planning new travel itineraries.

All in all a pretty awesome hump day.

The Inland Empire

Same sky, different state #theyearthstis2015 #2015yip #inlandempire

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 3, 2015 at 5:05pm PST

I find myself in the Redlands today. I am not down here for anything special. TH is giving a talk at a meeting and I tagged along to get some sunshine. Please note that the picture above was taken when I landed. Ontario was 2 degrees F warmer than Seattle this afternoon.

It seems weird not to be going to this specific meeting this year. I presented two years in a row, but I'm sitting it out this year and I'll tell you why.

I sometimes think we have meetings for the sake of having meetings.

I've been working at building programs and meetings for the last ten years. I strategized over time tables and room sizes and what topics will draw a good crowd. I spent a goodly three years working with an amazing group of program managers, scientists, industry folks to develop a great conference highlighting emerging technologies in weather and climate.

Here's the rub - What is the use of talking to the same people year after year? Are the same folks who lead the plenary session, sit on panels and are considered the big draws the right people to be up on the stage? I understand inspiring a crowd and hitting key points in policy or new directions, but sometimes I wonder if we should change the way we approach conferences.

--I've been involved in lightning talks - that is one way to change things up.

-- I've been on panels and that is another way to do things - but the mix of panelists and an engaged moderator are key.

 --I've stood in front of a research poster and prayed that someone would talk to me at the same time prayed that no one would talk to me.

 --I've wondered if anyone would come to my talk - the last one of the day on the last day of the conference usually placed in a session that has nothing to do with my topic.

--I've questioned if parallel tracks are effective.

 I think about ways to get people to come back at the end of the day and try and wrap up what happened. As our attention spans get shorter and shorter and we spend more of our time disseminating information during the sessions via social channels, I wonder if we're really engaging in the conference.  Sometimes I wish we could turn off the wireless (which we all begged and pleaded for in the past) in the conference rooms just to get people to pay attention to the speaker.

I know it sounds crazy, but I think it might be time that we rethink the conference/meeting framework and start thinking of new ways to engage with our peers.

Wishing and Plotting

Apes - go away, but come back for my lunch and biscuit walkabout #dailyernest

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 2, 2015 at 12:40pm PST

There is something about the first Monday of the month that fills you with such excitement for the rest of the month, even if is the beginning of the Holiday rush.

The calendar is fairly empty, the new month beckons and I'm already whooped.

I looked out the windows at work and saw the dusk at 440 pm and by the time I left it was pitch black. I broke out my new long down jacket to walk the dog and I'm wearing slippers in the house.  After our hot and relentless summer, you would think I would rejoice in this weather, but honestly - I can do without Winter this year.  Let's skip it and go right to Spring.

My dream in life is to chase Spring around the world - go from zone to zone and let bring me hope and joy - new life and all the opportunities that come with sowing seeds, cleaning house and the lightness of April mornings and May dusks.

I was lucky enough to hit Spring in four different locations in 2015. I'm going for five in 2016.

I hope Tuesday goes better than Monday.

Happy November

Five pee emm #noooooo #theyearthatis2015 #2015yip #ddd/365

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Nov 1, 2015 at 5:04pm PST

How dare October end so suddenly? I needed another week.

Happy November. It is time to get the content filled and some ideas down on the keyboard. I've missed writing and I'm not sure you have missed reading my rants.

I've been here, there and everywhere for the last six weeks.  None of it too exciting but I was happy to be grounded for eight long days. It gave me a chance to figure out what the rest of the year should look like and be ready to accept what it is going to look like.

I've been to New Mexico, Nashville and South East Tennessee, California, Portland, Yakima!, Chicago and back and forth across the city.

It is also NaPoBloMo. I will post daily (even if it kills me) and hopefully some of you will follow along.

Day 1 is over.

Go outside before it is too late

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Sep 16, 2015 at 1:11pm PDT

Today's weather was a gift. I was indoors for most of it - but I did manage to look out the window where I was working in search of eagles.  As the days grow shorter and then evenings slightly oppressive, I'll take any chance to be outside and bask in the not so warm, yet still bright sun.

I'm trying to come up with a list of things to do to make my 2015 Fall and 2016 Winter evenings feel less than jail time and more like yard time. I'm not a big lover of nesting and making stews and ragouts. I hate coming home from work and staying indoors unless the dog needs a walk.  I'm going to make the effort to get out more.  I have class once a week and god knows, I'll likely be gone one day a week traveling, but it is the other five nights I would like to fill. Watching TV is not an option, I try and limit my weekday watching to the gym.

What are your coping mechanisms for the onset of the long nights?

Why we can't have nice things

Espresso with a twist is definitely a nice thing and I have 78888 espresso cups that I could be using to make my own. Taken in January 2012 - New Orleans. 

I'm not talking about the usual response to things going wrong or getting broken that seems to elicit this response from the sarcastic me. I'm trying to turn it around and think of it this way - "Why do we  have nice things and why don't we use them" or better yet - "Is it possible to be gracious and accept a nice thing as a gift without getting all defensive and embarrassed and then dismissive because you can't just okay, thanks, bye."

Yup. That kind of nice thing.

I look around at the things I have left to shrivel and die in corners because they are too nice and I'm afraid that our lifestyle is too casual or I'm not pretty or special enough to carry something off. I let a beautiful silk nightdress sit for twenty years before I wore it. Today,  I looked longingly at a soup tureen TH gave me a million years ago that sits in a cabinet neglected instead of serving a lovely soup  to my friends and family because I'm afraid to use it because something may happen to it.

Who uses a soup tureen? I'm going to starting now.

Who wears beautiful silk to bed? Other than Rita Hayworth, I suppose I could/should.

Who should stop coveting and start using? All of us.  Things other than some wines don't really get better with time. I'm not getting all Kon-Mari on you and tell you to release your stuff, but maybe we should all release some of the fear and self-doubt that makes often makes it hard for us to enjoy what we have.

If you see me walking around in a beautiful silk robe carrying around a soup tureen, just smile and nod.

Missed day

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Sep 8, 2015 at 4:31pm PDT

I had promised to post each day, but yesterday got away from me. 


Today seems to be doing the same.


 Tomorrow should be better.

Packing is a big game of Tetris. This makes it so much easier when the Agriculture inspectors go through each item on your return to the States. 

At least my macarons arrived home safely.

The little things

There is something decadent about taking a nap in the middle of the day, even if it means skipping lunch or more sightseeing. 

There will always be Paris.

Friday Wrap Up

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Sep 4, 2015 at 7:54am PDT

Giverny - Check
La Defense/Grand Arche - Check
Parc Martin Luther King - Clichy/Batignolles - Check
Dinner at Coretta - Check
20k steps walked - Check

New territory

Can't wait for sparklemotion #nmcdgsept15 #hyattlife @hyatt_etoile

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on Sep 3, 2015 at 8:28am PDT

I either have allergies or am coming down with the summer cold. This happened to me during Snowdrop Mania in February and I was not amused, but for the most part I soldiered on. I'm going to do the best I can tomorrow to get to Giverny . I have some ibuprofen  and what I believe to be an antihistamine, so down the hatch they go.

My goal this trip is to see four things I've never seen before (not in a particular order):

Giverny
Vaux le Vicomte 
La Grande Arche
The new park for Clichy and Batignolles 
and if I'm lucky on my way home from Vaux on Saturday - I'll hit the small park near the Palais de Decouverte.

I try and plan and make sure I do things in the most efficient routing possible. I hate retracing my steps, so I make mental maps and then validate them on paper or on-line maps. I still get lost and sometimes things don't work out - delays happen, new and interesting things are discovered or you fall ill and decide that a day in bed is better than four hours on a bus.

I've got a few good decades left in me - most of these places have been around for a long time and are likely to be there next year and the year after.

Are you happy doing the same thing trip after trip or are you always looking for new things to do when you travel?

Thinking about packing

This is one in a series of boring posts,  which I hope you will find helpful about how I pack for trips so that I'm ready for anything and nothing gets wasted.  First you need to think about your trip and I give you several questions to think about before you start the process.

I wish I could say I’m a packing pro, but I’m not.  My conferences and meetings do not happen in boardrooms or ballrooms. I don’t possess a navy or black suit with three contrasting silk shells. I’m more of a skirt and sweater girl, but even that can be pushing it depending on the meeting I’m attending.  I saw more cargo shorts and polo shirts at my last meeting than business casual attire.

These days I’m doing more leisure travel which can be even more vexing in terms of packing.  I’m not confident I’ve picked the right mix of clothing types.  Will I sweat through every t-shirt I bring and what happens if I get a blister and need to swap out shoes? What if I get cold or too hot?

The great thing is most of the places like I go are in the first world and thanks to globalization – I’m likely to be within spitting distance of a GAP, so I can replenish my wardrobe if necessary.  Better yet, I can subscribe to the weather alerts for the places I’m visiting to get a better idea of what to expect on the ground. 

So, here are my rules to pack efficiently for a trip to the first world.  It takes time and a few iterations to get it right, just like product/market fit.  My objective when it comes to packing is to make sure that everything I bring get used during the trip.

Before starting to pack ask yourself these questions:

What is your packing goal for this trip?

Are you checking luggage?

How are you traveling? Will you be moving around or staying in one place long enough to dry your smalls over night?

Are you participating in an activity that requires event-specific apparel and shoe wear?

Are you the kind of person that can eat a ripe peach wearing a white t-shirt and have it remain white?

Are you averse to washing out smalls in sinks if necessary?

Are you okay wearing the same shirt or pants two days in a row?

Are you comfortable relying on hotel bathroom amenities and leaving your own stuff at home?

Are you planning or willing to buy new clothes on your trip?

How much electronic/craft equipment will you be bringing along with you?

Once you answer those questions – you can start thinking of the most efficient way to pack for your trip so that you can feel confident in your choices and not get cranky when you find you packed five pairs of socks and no smalls.